Private car reg plate.....is there a way to check its history?

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SkipdiverJohn

Deplorable Brexiteer
Location
London
If you want to know where in the country a Dateless plate was originally issued and in what year, the definitive source of info is a 1960's motor trade publication, Glass's Index of Registration Marks. The original County Council records, if they survive, will usually tell you who a particular number was originally issued to and to what vehicle.
Owners of vintage vehicles are often interested in tracing such history. as may be some subsequent owners of a dateless plate that has been taken off the original vehicle.
A friend of mine has a two letter-two number mark that was issued to an ancestor nearly 100 years ago and been passed down the family ever since. When he kicks the bucket his eldest boy will get the number. I've got an original one still on it's rightful vehicle and a couple of others on more modern cars that were bargain buys on the cherished market . I don't regard dateless ones as showy or chavvy, but modern year-dateable format ones with deliberately mis-spaced digits definitely are. The Northern Irish ones with an I or Z in them are normally only ever worth the £50 or £100 they cost, and are never going to turn a profit. There are thousands of the things in use as cover plates on private hire cars. Some of the mainland dateless formats can be very valuable though, and if bought wisely (say during a recession at a depressed price) they do have some investment potential - or at least won't lose money.
 
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I wonder if some plates that are instantly recognisable to rally fans are still in circulation...

Like OOO 96 M, POO 504 R, L 555 BAT and KKV 444 V...
 

classic33

Leg End Member
I wonder if some plates that are instantly recognisable to rally fans are still in circulation...

Like OOO 96 M, POO 504 R, L 555 BAT and KKV 444 V...
498687

498688


498690

498689
 
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Looks like three of them have survived - and on the original cars. :smile:

Well, POO540R *should* be an RS1800. (Geek attack here LOL)

The one that's sunk without trace is the Subaru Impreza.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Which I don't have... Will pork pie do?
This time only.
 

simongt

Guru
Location
Norwich
Would life be easier if GB did what apparently Germany do - ? Issue a reg. number to the owner, not the car. Thus the number stays with the owner for their driving life and simply transfers car to car.
 
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