Motor Vehicle Registration Numbers of Great Britain 1974-2001

Description: This book is the complete and authoritative compendium of all theoriginal registration numbers issued in the years 1974–2001, an eracharacterised by a shift of the classic car scene away from GreatBritain and towards Germany, Italy, even Japan. Also listed in full are all re-registrations (‘age-related’ numbers) issued to 1974–2001vehicles up to the present day, thus marking clearly the distinctionbetween those original, authentic numbers that were issued when thevehicle was new, and the more recent replacement series issued tothose vehicles in subsequent years up to the present. Tabulated clearly,each issuing office separately, this book is the answer to ‘everythingyou ever wanted to know’ about the registration numbers of thisperiod of British motor vehicle history.By the same author:Motor Vehicle Registration Numbers of Great Britain 1963–1974 (3rd edition, 2023). Both available from seller. Review in Classic & Vintage Commercials (Feb '24): Peter mourns the loss of easily-remembered car registrations, and high-profile plate changes. Can you remember the registration number of your very first car? Mine was 484 KOG, and it was an Austin A35 van. That was replaced by Mk2 Cortina estate NAP 278F which in turn was replaced by Fiat 128 NDY 687K. Then there was Austin Maxi LUR 547L, after which my love of the BMC Farina range started with an Austin Cambridge A55 Mk2 YFN 464, followed by A60 JYF 405D, and then Morris Oxford LJJ 39D. And so on... Anyway, the point I’m making is that all these numbers were very, very memorable. Exactly the same applies to the current classic fleet – Minx 697 CKJ, MG Magnette FFB 124 and Rover P6 OFL 134J. Then there’s the Volvo 240 estate which has my personal E17 PAS mark. By contrast, my daily driver Volvo C70’s DU61 EAG is instantly forgettable. Anyway, two things started me thinking about all this. The first was that I’ve just received for review a copy of newly published Motor Vehicle Registration Numbers of Great Britain 1974-2001 by Jonathan Del Mar. This follows similar books covering the periods up to 1963 and from 1963 to 1974, and the detailed information it contains on what was issued when and where is absolutely amazing! This is the period when much of the original system of local codes began to break down for various reasons including office closures and some areas simply starting to run out of their area codes, resulting in some moving. For example, when Brighton VRO started running out of ‘W’ suffix marks in 1980, it had to ‘borrow’ some ‘PC’ marks from Guildford and some ‘BW’ marks from Oxford. This is also the period when certain numbers (including my E17 PAS) started being held back for possible eventual sale, meaning where they were issued bore no relation whatsoever to area codes. All this, and much, much more is explained in fabulous detail – this book is an absolute must for motoring historians or anyone else who wants or needs to trace where particular vehicles started their lives. I have all three, and they are all used regularly! To order, email the publisher directly at djnewall@outlook.com. Be quick though, the first edition is limited to 500 copies. The other thing that started me thinking about old- and new-style numberplates was the fact that the ‘new’ 24-plate replaced the ‘73’ year code from March 1, 2024. Did you notice? Did you even know about it? I’ve got to say that I was only vaguely aware that the plate was changing sometime about now, but it really doesn’t seem to be that much of a thing. Is this in part at least because the new year code of 24 is a significantly lower number than the outgoing 73? This is in stark contrast to the period from 1967 to 1999 when the annual plate change in August was a huge thing! Pretty-much everyone, including a lot of people with a marginal-at-best interest in cars knew about it! Many dealers sold more new cars in August than they did during the rest of the year. Eventually, ‘August 1’ became a victim of its own success, and in 1999, at the request of the motor trade (for whom having this rush at a time when many staff wanted to be on holiday was a ‘problem’), we went to twice-yearly changes, in March and September. Then, in 2001, the old system was replaced by the completely new one in use today comprising two-letter area codes, followed by two numbers indicating year and then three random letters to distinguish that particular vehicle from others. Use of letters here instead of numbers means there are many more options – numbers run from 0 to 9 (ten in total) whereas the alphabet contains 26 letters, and even after removing ‘0’ and ‘I’ which can be confused with numbers, that still leaves 24. I can’t help but think that a main reason for the reduced importance of the age-identifier change is that the 2001-on marks just aren’t so nice-looking or memorable. I get why this might be considered a good thing. As already noted, there was a need to make the plate-change less significant. In this context bear in mind that a big peak in sales during one or two months will reverberate throughout the trade because cars that were new in March, August or September will go on to need MOT testing, and quite often servicing in March, August or September of subsequent years. This is why MOT test slots can be hardest to find during these months. Additionally, I guess having standard-issue plates which aren’t that recognisable is a pretty big encouragement for those who would quite like an easily identifiable plate to buy one from the DVLA or from a dealer. I know that some people also do this because they have trouble remembering a fairly nondescript original mark such as DU61 EAG, but can recall something simple like E17 PAS much more easily. It’s also noticeable that the vast majority of numbers offered for sale in DVLA auctions are still previously-unissued old-style plates. Eventually however these will run out, after which I wouldn’t be surprised if they start on previously-issued marks from cars long- since scrapped. Which will all be fine until one of these ‘scrapped’ cars is discovered in a barn or under a hedge somewhere. There was another aspect of the old system which was quite fun. By and large, the authorities avoided anything rude or likely to cause offence appearing on plates. For example the County Borough of Leeds never issued B with its UM area code, and Wolverhampton never matched F with UK. Occasionally however, one or two slipped out. For example, ARS was issued from 1935 until someone decided in 1938 that it really shouldn’t be. Then, in Bury in 1962, someone saw no reason why its EN area code shouldn’t be used with a P and number 15. Apparently various authorities have been trying without success to reclaim mark PEN 15 ever since, and it is of course now an extremely valuable and sought-after mark.

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End Time: 2024-11-30T07:20:58.000Z

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