Tuesday 18th September 2012
£1 million numberplate goes on sale
Let's hope they get it centred up a bit better
The £1 million number plate has gone up for sale, 99 years after it was first allocated to a prehistoric PHer.
The X1 plate is being advertised for sale by Regtransfers, and McLaren may have the ideal customer for it - the owner of the one-off X-1. Given the car’s rumoured price tag of ‘well into seven figures’, they could probably afford it, too.
McLaren's X-1 would be the obvious choice...
That £1 million price tag will stand for the next few weeks: if it doesn’t sell by then, it’ll go up for auction and most likely confirm its status as the UK’s most expensive private plate. The current record is £440,000 for F1, paid by Bradford businessman (and well-known vehicle tuner) Afzal Kahn in 2008. With transfer and auction fees, he ended up paying £500k all told. He was apparently offered £5m for it in 2010, but turned it down.
Northumberland City Council first issued the X1 registration in 1903 to, it seems, one of the UK’s first PHers, a doughty chap who was given the plate in recognition of his efforts in overturning the ‘red flag’ Locomotive Act legislation and removing the UK’s paltry 4mph speed limit. He was part of a committee based in Tynemouth, other members of which were given the successive plates X2-X5. Was it foresightedness that saw them leave out X6?
...this X1 perhaps being less obvious
Whether the X-1’s owner will take up the plate remains to be seen. Rumour has it he/she is based in the Middle East, and as such might not be interested. In which case, any well-heeled BMW X1 owner who fancies inflating the price of their car by 40 times knows where to apply.
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AA355
Original Poster
93 posts
59 months
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Forgive me for asking but why is this plate worth £1 million?
Wouldnt A1 be worth more? Nope I dont see it....
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Face for Radio
1,688 posts
37 months
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[quote]The current record is £440,000 for F1, paid by Bradford businessman (and well-known vehicle tuner) Afzal Kahn in 2008. With transfer and auction fees, he ended up paying £500k all told. He was apparently offered £5m for it in 2010, but turned it down. [/quote] s  t businessman if he turned down an offer that allowed him a £4.5million profit on something he had bought.
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Chucklehead
988 posts
78 months
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I saw X1 a while back.. posted in the good plate thread: 
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DodoRacing
301 posts
77 months
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Last week in London I saw a license plate that read "ONE". That's it! I wonder how much that would be worth?
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0a
8,528 posts
64 months
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Face for Radio said: s t businessman if he turned down an offer that allowed him a £4.5million profit on something he had bought. Maybe he likes it or thinks he can sell it for more?
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CampDavid
7,843 posts
68 months
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5 Million quid for F1. That sounds more than believable. In other news, here's a picture of Jimmy Hill 
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Fire99
8,113 posts
99 months
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Not a bad 'plate' but not £1 million good! In fact, not £50k good.
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sleep envy
59,548 posts
119 months
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I saw a plate last w/e which read 'NIC 1'
How does that work, is it an old NI plate?
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WCZ
1,506 posts
64 months
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Fire99 said: Not a bad 'plate' but not £1 million good! In fact, not £50k good. +1 extremely overpriced.
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RUSSELLM
4,901 posts
117 months
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Slightly unconnected, but I spotted 'D1' on a Cayenne Turbo recently, driving through Smethwick, West Mids.
Brave man.
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Schermerhorn
1,194 posts
59 months
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What about '1'?
or K1 NG5 (sultan of brueni)
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Pork
7,887 posts
104 months
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AA355 said: Forgive me for asking but why is this plate worth £1 million?
Wouldnt A1 be worth more? Nope I dont see it.... Quite. I love plates, but just cannot see it being worth £1m. I thought this was owned by Tom Hartley? At this risk of offending some plate buffs, I'd love to see it go for £100-150k or something. Face for Radio said: s t businessman if he turned down an offer that allowed him a £4.5million profit on something he had bought. s t business man or clever storyteller/self publicist? No matter how much you think it will be worth, if you get an offer which would return you 10 x what you paid for something, you're either mad or think that it will be worth more than that. In this case, I think he's mad either way. F1 worth £5m+? I suppose he's banking on Bernie Ecclestone wanting it, but personally, I cant see it happening.
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keith2.2
91 posts
65 months
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Pork said: hit business man or clever storyteller/self publicist? No matter how much you think it will be worth, if you get an offer which would return you 10 x what you paid for something, you're either mad or think that it will be worth more than that. ..or you like it and don't need the money...
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Pork
7,887 posts
104 months
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keith2.2 said: ..or you like it and don't need the money... I s'pose, but then thats an emotional purchase not a business purchase.
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HairbearTE
580 posts
24 months
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Not only is X1 not worth a million, it has been touted around for a lot less that half that amount for quite a while now!! One can only assume that this new publicity drive is aimed at buyers who haven't been offered the plate for a fraction of that sum already!
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minimoog
2,645 posts
89 months
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Sure I used to see this plate on a very boring silver Astra or somesuch around the Alnwick area a few years back.
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nickbee
307 posts
107 months
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Schermerhorn said: What about '1'?
or K1 NG5 (sultan of brueni) Neither of them are valid UK plates. K1 NGS was famously expensive, but I've never heard of it being bought by the Sultan. As for £1 million for X1, dream on. Typical of asking prices on Regtransfers, which are beyond optimistic most of the time. The story about turning down £5m for F1 is fantasy too.
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LARK F1 GTR
47 posts
16 months
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Schermerhorn said: What about '1'?
or K1 NG5 (sultan of brueni) 1 - is not a UK reg plate. The plate you've put down isn't even a UK reg plate. The plate was K1 NGS which sold for about £235K - Edit, just beaten to it!
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Vipers
15,629 posts
98 months
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AA355 said: Forgive me for asking but why is this plate worth £1 million?
Wouldnt A1 be worth more? Nope I dont see it.... Neither do I. 
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LARK F1 GTR
47 posts
16 months
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WCZ said: Fire99 said: Not a bad 'plate' but not £1 million good! In fact, not £50k good. +1 extremely overpriced. Agreed, silly price!!
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