A comment for our older members to ponder.
How many remember collecting registration numbers at the side of the road and entering them into a small red Silverline notebook. Another item disposed of by my mother !
Family car registrations ending AN were issued in West Ham.
The number which really sticks in my memory as an Essex teenager was on a Mini which was taking part a local Autocross meeting driven by a lad called Swift. UPU 2. I wonder if it was it really issued in Chelmsford?
Jan 66 was the compulsory start date for the D plate across the UK. I had GRX 579 D as one of the first in Berkshire. Having said that, some County tax offices carried on, into '66 for a while until it came to a convenient change/adoption point
hanlminiman wrote: ↑Thu Mar 13, 2025 6:34 pm
A comment for our older members to ponder.
How many remember collecting registration numbers at the side of the road and entering them into a small red Silverline notebook. Another item disposed of by my mother !
Yes, I remember doing that as the easier alternative to 'trainspotting', often finding the 'rare hard to find' reg numbers as listed in the 'reg no. spotters book' when sitting in the back seat of my dad's car. It kept my brothers and I occupied on what we thought were 'long' journeys to the British seaside or when the car often broke down, while my dad was fixing it at the roadside.
The ones we had in the early 1960's were like the “I-Spy” books that you could get for spotting birds, traffic signs, cars, vehicle types and others. The general idea was to check off all the items before your friends/brothers/sisters got them.
Found this photo below online of children collecting registration numbers outside a plumbers/bathroom shop in New King's Road, London back in 1954.
hanlminiman wrote: ↑Thu Mar 13, 2025 6:34 pm
A comment for our older members to ponder.
How many remember collecting registration numbers at the side of the road and entering them into a small red Silverline notebook. Another item disposed of by my mother !
Family car registrations ending AN were issued in West Ham.
The number which really sticks in my memory as an Essex teenager was on a Mini which was taking part a local Autocross meeting driven by a lad called Swift. UPU 2. I wonder if it was it really issued in Chelmsford?
On that note Fiona Richmond's Yellow Jag would have been an interesting spot for any young lad. But the 'craze' had died out by the 1970s lol.
Apparently sold by Bonhams for crazy money in 2016. (The registration that is).
gettyimages-973775674-612x612.jpg
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I have a February '64 1071 that was registered in Glamorgan, Wales. It is three numbers and three letters, with no B suffix, so they couldn't have changed in that part of the country at that time.
Correct, Glamorgan made the change on the 1st May, first issue was ANY 1B, but Jonathan notes there were many anomalies suggesting that the registration office was at best a tad chaotic...
'S'-type wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 10:16 am
On that note Fiona Richmond's Yellow Jag would have been an interesting spot for any young lad. But the 'craze' had died out by the 1970s lol.
Apparently sold by Bonhams for crazy money in 2016. (The registration that is).
Peter Laidler wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 9:37 am
Jan 66 was the compulsory start date for the D plate across the UK. I had GRX 579 D as one of the first in Berkshire. Having said that, some County tax offices carried on, into '66 for a while until it came to a convenient change/adoption point
Actually Jan 65 was the cut-off for the non suffix plates. ie C plates. There was a schedule for councils to make the change, but for a multitude of reasons quite a few made the break early and a few later than scheduled.
hanlminiman wrote: ↑Thu Mar 13, 2025 6:34 pm
A comment for our older members to ponder.
How many remember collecting registration numbers at the side of the road and entering them into a small red Silverline notebook. Another item disposed of by my mother !
Family car registrations ending AN were issued in West Ham.
The number which really sticks in my memory as an Essex teenager was on a Mini which was taking part a local Autocross meeting driven by a lad called Swift. UPU 2. I wonder if it was it really issued in Chelmsford?
On that note Fiona Richmond's Yellow Jag would have been an interesting spot for any young lad. But the 'craze' had died out by the 1970s lol.
Apparently sold by Bonhams for crazy money in 2016. (The registration that is).
gettyimages-973775674-612x612.jpg
A regular sight outside the vicarage where our band used to practice in Cornwall - as her dad was the vicar!
woodypup59 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:36 pm
I have replied. Late October 1963 I reckon.
I read your DM, thank you!
The manufacturing date of wiper motor is 2'64, why is that?
Did it take a long time from making the body to assembling it into the vehicle?
Peter Laidler wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 5:58 pm
Further to the last answers. The period 1963 to 66 or so was a time of many changes within the UK vehicle registration number system. I'm sure the real experts will say - as they have - that some counties/cities were still using the numbers/letters, some were running out of allocated letters, say 999 YBL and were going over to the new series, of year marker, with a year letter after the number. So 999YBL would soon become ABL 1 D (for 1966)
During the same period, other Counties were STILL using up old combinations such as 1234 PL (a 1963 number). So you see, that what you are hoping to find is all dependent on where it was registered.
In truth, that period was mind numbing for the motor trade. That was until the Dept of Transport took the bull by the horns and introduced the year suffix across the board. Even then, the trade were not happy and had the year suffix changed to indicate..........
Anyway, best of luck but I don't anticipate a great deal of success for you
It's going to be a tough road until we know the real numbers....
woodypup59 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 12, 2025 3:36 pm
I have replied. Late October 1963 I reckon.
I read your DM, thank you!
The manufacturing date of wiper motor is 2'64, why is that?
Did it take a long time from making the body to assembling it into the vehicle?
The wiper motor could have been an early failure/faulty component and replaced by the Dealer in their PDI (Pre-Delivery Inspection) or under the customer warranty period. BMC and BL cars were often delivered to Dealers with faults that had not been picked up by Quality Control inspections at the factory or when cars had been built during industrial disputes/strikes or when outside suppliers delivered poor quality components.
eg. Lucas were well known back in the day for producing unreliable electrical components...
