Number plates

[GraemeC]

I’m sure there were pressed ones - not two part like the black & silver you buy now, but with the raised digits picked out in black screen print paint.

[imack]

The original plates on my 71 clubman estate were pressed reflective plates.
The original plates on my 72 mini 1000 were reflective with riveted on painted alloy characters.

[66Traveller]

Doesn’t help that most of the new ‘pressed’ black and silver plates use the wrong, modern font.

I’m surprised people mention pressed plates back in the day though - they didn’t come in on ‘colour’ plates until later. Did they really go from riveted white/silver digits on black to pressed black & silver to riveted digit ‘colour’ plates and then back to pressed?

I thought they went from riveted digit ‘colour’ plates to the modern smooth perspex plates after that, when people got fed up with with keeping the raised digit plates clean or perhaps when the DVLA introduced a new British Standard for their quality & manufacture spec?

My wife's grandfather was an early numberplate manufacturing pioneer. The first numberplates in the UK were introduced by the Motor Car Act 1903 (the idea originated in the Netherlands five years earlier) and had to be cast (ie the digits could not be separate from the backing). This was time consuming and my wife's grandfather devised a system of precast digits that could then be peened onto a cast backing plate (Hills patent) - this made the process much simpler and quicker. He had to lobby Parliament to allow this. He subsequently founded Hills numberplates which developed a range of different styles. Other competitors - ACE, Bluemels and Jepsons also entered the market - all offering different fonts.

Pressed aluminium plates were the cheapest and therefore most popular - separate letters - either aluminium (polished, painted silver or white) or Ivorite (a quartz resin compound) were the most expensive. He went on to pioneer plastic (Flexwyt) in the 1950s. So pressed aluminium and raised aluminium and plastic digits were all options open to the car buyer / owner. The engraved perspex plates marked by Bluemels were the only new development.

The first reflective plates carried over the system from the raised digits black and white/silver plates - the digits became black plastic (available in a range of different profiles and fonts depending on the manufacturer) and the backing plates had the 3M reflective backing applied. Pressed aluminium reflective plates were subsequently marketed ( I seem to remember a late 1970s craze for "computer" font style plates). But ultimately the flat perspex ones won out....

[Simon776]

BL still used black plates in some of their publicity shots for their 1971 brochures

1971 brochure.jpg

[minimk1man]

Post by GraemeC » Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:08 pm

I’m sure there were pressed ones - not two part like the black & silver you buy now, but with the raised digits picked out in black screen print paint.

Yes there were. I still have the original pressed type on one of my vehicles

[Peter Laidler]

Tate and Lyle lorries were the first to use the reflective plates for trials by the old Ministry of Transport. There were several colour reflectives used but yellow/white were the optimum.

The good thing about black and whites that most people are not aware is that they cannot be picked up on the ANPR /unmanned speed/parking parasite scanners. Just food for thought

[Cole Liggett]

Not to get too far off topic here- I was planning on ordering a set of plates from Ace for my 63 Mini once it is finished, I have noticed the Ace website is down and has been for quite some time, did they go out of business? Who else would you guys recommend for black plates?

Cheers,
Cole

[mk1]

Website has expired, these are the telephone numbers.

Landline;00353 1 4523206. Mobile;00353 834513460.

I got a set last year & was very pleased.

[mk1]

Tippers do all types.

They can be a bit funny to deal with though.

https://www.tippersvintageplates.co.uk/ ... ent&part=2

I am always DEEPLY suspicious of a company that chooses not to publish its prices.

[imack]

Tate and Lyle lorries were the first to use the reflective plates for trials by the old Ministry of Transport. There were several colour reflectives used but yellow/white were the optimum.

The good thing about black and whites that most people are not aware is that they cannot be picked up on the ANPR /unmanned speed/parking parasite scanners. Just food for thought

Mine get picked up by the Dart charge cameras on the Dartford crossing.

[miniminor]

Doesn’t help that most of the new ‘pressed’ black and silver plates use the wrong, modern font.

I’m surprised people mention pressed plates back in the day though - they didn’t come in on ‘colour’ plates until later. Did they really go from riveted white/silver digits on black to pressed black & silver to riveted digit ‘colour’ plates and then back to pressed?

I thought they went from riveted digit ‘colour’ plates to the modern smooth perspex plates after that, when people got fed up with with keeping the raised digit plates clean or perhaps when the DVLA introduced a new British Standard for their quality & manufacture spec?

My wife's grandfather was an early numberplate manufacturing pioneer. The first numberplates in the UK were introduced by the Motor Car Act 1903 (the idea originated in the Netherlands five years earlier) and had to be cast (ie the digits could not be separate from the backing). This was time consuming and my wife's grandfather devised a system of precast digits that could then be peened onto a cast backing plate (Hills patent) - this made the process much simpler and quicker. He had to lobby Parliament to allow this. He subsequently founded Hills numberplates which developed a range of different styles. Other competitors - ACE, Bluemels and Jepsons also entered the market - all offering different fonts.

Pressed aluminium plates were the cheapest and therefore most popular - separate letters - either aluminium (polished, painted silver or white) or Ivorite (a quartz resin compound) were the most expensive. He went on to pioneer plastic (Flexwyt) in the 1950s. So pressed aluminium and raised aluminium and plastic digits were all options open to the car buyer / owner. The engraved perspex plates marked by Bluemels were the only new development.

The first reflective plates carried over the system from the raised digits black and white/silver plates - the digits became black plastic (available in a range of different profiles and fonts depending on the manufacturer) and the backing plates had the 3M reflective backing applied. Pressed aluminium reflective plates were subsequently marketed ( I seem to remember a late 1970s craze for "computer" font style plates). But ultimately the flat perspex ones won out....

Interesting history lesson there.

The last car I remember having black plastic digits fixed onto reflective yellow / white plates was a 1982 Ambassador my dad owned, its replacement a 1983 Sd1 was the first car we had with new fangled plastic plates.

[W1NG3D]

I got a set of riveted white & yellow reflective plates from Chestnut Registrations, which are excellent quality. They also offer pressed and riveted versions of older style black plates as well. http://www.chestnut-registrations.co.uk ... lates.aspx

[WMU 211G]

Reflective pressed alloy plates from new on this '69 Jensen Interceptor....

PRESS SHOT jensen-director.jpg

And '69 Jensen FF....

PLATES 117-with-Cloverleaf.jpg

[Cole Liggett]

Website has expired, these are the telephone numbers.

Landline;00353 1 4523206. Mobile;00353 834513460.

I got a set last year & was very pleased.

Thanks for the contact information!

[mnicoop63]

I bought a 1960 Austin 850 Mini a couple years ago and in one of the boxes of parts that came with it was this plate. I have always wondered if it was an actual plate off of a Mini or other car or just a replica/souvenir. The 60' Mini I bought was an original LHD export car sold here in the States so I don't think it would have ever been used on it. The plate is metal and of good quality. It's not like it is plastic or anything and the numbers aren't stickers. Does anybody know anything about it?

[WMU 211G]

I bought a 1960 Austin 850 Mini a couple years ago and in one of the boxes of parts that came with it was this plate. I have always wondered if it was an actual plate off of a Mini or other car or just a replica/souvenir. The 60' Mini I bought was an original LHD export car sold here in the States so I don't think it would have ever been used on it. The plate is metal and of good quality. It's not like it is plastic or anything and the numbers aren't stickers. Does anybody know anything about it?

It looks similar to some I remember being used on buses, coaches and ambulances where the plate was mounted behind a pane of glass.

Another oddity in period - Sainsburys petrol station in Cambridge in the '70s, the plate on this one is the 'mirrorline' engraved perspex type...

PH CAMBS CL#3.jpg

[janerick3]

I bought a 1960 Austin 850 Mini a couple years ago and in one of the boxes of parts that came with it was this plate. I have always wondered if it was an actual plate off of a Mini or other car or just a replica/souvenir. The 60' Mini I bought was an original LHD export car sold here in the States so I don't think it would have ever been used on it. The plate is metal and of good quality. It's not like it is plastic or anything and the numbers aren't stickers. Does anybody know anything about it?

White/silver-on-black, British-style plates were a popular aftermarket accessory in the U.S. during the 1960s and early 1970s. Since it is flat, it is designed to be mounted behind the U.S. plate, as this one was.

Anyone know if this letter combination was valid from 1965?

Thanks,
Jan K.

[mab01uk]

I bought a 1960 Austin 850 Mini a couple years ago and in one of the boxes of parts that came with it was this plate. I have always wondered if it was an actual plate off of a Mini or other car or just a replica/souvenir. The 60' Mini I bought was an original LHD export car sold here in the States so I don't think it would have ever been used on it. The plate is metal and of good quality. It's not like it is plastic or anything and the numbers aren't stickers. Does anybody know anything about it?

White/silver-on-black, British-style plates were a popular aftermarket accessory in the U.S. during the 1960s and early 1970s. Since it is flat, it is designed to be mounted behind the U.S. plate, as this one was.

Anyone know if this letter combination was valid from 1965?

Thanks,
Jan K.

DGW 868C
GW = London (South-East) C= 1965
"An example of a suffix plate would be ‘ABC 123A’. Here, the final letter indicates the registration year of the car, and the second and third letter indicate the registration region; in this case, BC.
The same area codes were used for prefix and suffix plates – so the following chart will help you identify the original location a registration mark comes from:-
https://www.drivearchive.co.uk/regcodes.htm

A few DGW reg numbers for sale here in UK if you search:-
https://www.platehunter.com/hunt

[Peter Laidler]

Not quite number plates but does anyone recall the 'number plates' that the dealers could order in various colours that would identify the car and model that was sat in their showroom windows? They were number plate sized, with the 'Leyland vortex' logo on the left hand side, with MGB GT V8 or ALLEGRO or MARINA etc etc, but you get the scene....., highlighted in silver. They were also attached to the various tarted-up motor show cars

The machine that punched these out and the alloy blanks was held in the rectification bay at Abingdon. I had a set in Harvest Gold for my V8 and gave a few sets to other MG owners who asked. I also got a set that read POLICE for my ex-cop Cooper S. Like most else from Abingdon, the machine is probably deep in the bowels of the earth at Drayton tip, under the golf course!

[Pete]

Number plates. To me (I passed my test in 1972 ) b&w number plates on 70s cars just look plain wrong. Here’s my genuine MK3 S. To my mind the b&w ones make it look like a 90s ringer with a ‘71 v5 .... it should have reflective to look right2B43E3FB-8F94-4F96-80FE-8A822117A91E.jpeg

Where did you buy your reflective plates from?