Numberplate style 79-80

[benjj]

Does anyone know what 'style' plate would have been put on a 79-80 car originally?

I (obv ) know they're white/yellow but thinking about the style: whether raised letters, pressed steel and so on.

Also suggestions on suppliers would be handy.

Thanks gents.

[TooMany2cvs]

Mostly "modern-style" smooth plastic. Some pressed-ally were around, though, occasionally with a slightly "squarer" typeface. Plastic letter on ally backing had more or less died out by then. Old, fatter, typeface, obviously.

[ClaphamGT3]

Also, bear in mind that, at that time, there was a vogue to use this more modern font;

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=84...

I know that this is showing an '83/84 car but they were definitely around in '79 as I remember a friend's mother had a Chrysler Avenger estate (WAM 261T) with that style of plate

Edited by ClaphamGT3 on Tuesday 15th July 09:39

[benjj]

Ok, thanks gents, I'll get some ordered up.

[ClassicMotorNut]

Our '79 has the pressed aluminium plates with the non-square letters. They're much nicer than the plastic ones, I think.

[Poisson96]

I use this lot for plates http://www.jepsonandco.com/

[nta16]

from 1 September 2001 strictly speaking the the 79-80 style of number plate would be for off road use only

"For vehicles with new or replacement number plates fitted from 1 September 2001, registration numbers can no longer be shown over three lines (unless the vehicle was first registered before 1 January 1973). Also, the letters and numbers (characters) on number plates bought since 1 September 2001 will need to meet the following standards.

Characters must be 79mm tall

Characters (except the number 1 or letter I) must be
50mm wide

The character stroke (the thickness of the black print)
must be 14mm

The space between characters must be 11mm

The space between the age identifier and the random
letters must be 33mm

The margins at the top, bottom and side of the plate
must be 11mm

Vertical space between the age identifier and the
random numbers must be 19mm"

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...

[TooMany2cvs]

TooMany2cvs said:

occasionally with a slightly "squarer" typeface.

ClaphamGT3 said:

Also, bear in mind that, at that time, there was a vogue to use this more modern font;

Yep, they were the ones I was thinking of.

Fairly rare, even then, though.

And, yes, the "showplate" warning definitely applies.

[benjj]

Thanks gents, 'interesting' stuff

[nta16]

TooMany2cvs said:

And, yes, the "showplate" warning definitely applies.

thank you, in the past PHers have failed to follow this, more than once

however I doubt if any Police Officer would notice or care about this as it would look period correct especially to those older Offices (if any are still serving) and especially if the number plate isn't in polished up show condition looking brand new but has a light dusting of dust over it

period correct reflective plates look so much better to me than adding incorrect B&W plates as you see on even later cars

[Spottedlaurel]

My 1980 Datsun has separate plastic letters on a flat aluminium plate, they appear to have been on it from new. Quite shallow letters though, much less raised than the ones more often seen, almost to the point of being little different to a pressed aluminium plate:

Datsun Laurel 2.4 (C230) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

The squarer style letters are commonly known as Serck plates, they certainly got fitted to stuff from that era as the photo below shows but whether they would have been on there from new or a slightly later upgrade I'm not sure:

1981 Datsun Laurel 2.4 (C230) c. 1994 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I've included this shot as it shows a more rounded style letter/number which was sometimes used (most visible on the '9' here):

1979 Datsun Laurel 240L (C230) c. 2000 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

The other thing I'd say is that if your plate recess takes a larger-than-usual plate try and get one that fits it properly, i.e. this:

1978 Datsun 200L (C230) c.1996 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Vs. this:

1977 Datsun Laurel 200L (C230) c.1997/98 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Just noticed that light blue car shows a different style of '3'. Lots of options! Sorry for all the photos being of Laurels, there happened to be a suitable range of period-correct plates in that album.

[nta16]

now I'm just going on my memory of what someone put in a previous thread on this subject so I might be wrong

if I remember it correctly you could get local variances of style depending on who was making the plate, this was before the exacting 2001 regs of course

[V8forweekends]

I remember seeing a lot of those "Serck" plates at the time - they were quite trendy. I have the plates from an extinct 79 Ford Escort in the shed - they are raised block letters riveted to the reflective plates - they might or might not be original - it certainly wasn't the sort of car that anyone had "tarted up" for a while when I got it.

[V8forweekends]

[ClaphamGT3]

Spottedlaurel said:

My 1980 Datsun has separate plastic letters on a flat aluminium plate, they appear to have been on it from new. Quite shallow letters though, much less raised than the ones more often seen, almost to the point of being little different to a pressed aluminium plate:

Datsun Laurel 2.4 (C230) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

The squarer style letters are commonly known as Serck plates, they certainly got fitted to stuff from that era as the photo below shows but whether they would have been on there from new or a slightly later upgrade I'm not sure:

1981 Datsun Laurel 2.4 (C230) c. 1994 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

I've included this shot as it shows a more rounded style letter/number which was sometimes used (most visible on the '9' here):

1979 Datsun Laurel 240L (C230) c. 2000 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

The other thing I'd say is that if your plate recess takes a larger-than-usual plate try and get one that fits it properly, i.e. this:

1978 Datsun 200L (C230) c.1996 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Vs. this:

1977 Datsun Laurel 200L (C230) c.1997/98 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Just noticed that light blue car shows a different style of '3'. Lots of options! Sorry for all the photos being of Laurels, there happened to be a suitable range of period-correct plates in that album.

Wow - some amazing West Suffolk/Peterborough registered beauties there; they must have been Barclay Motors' finest!

[nta16]

V8forweekends said:

I really like the look of raised letters riveted to reflective plates

it looks like with those the letter 'V' and possibly 'W' have upright top tips to them I can't remember that style of lettering - but then I can't remember much