Researching the history of a rare number plate
Discussion
Has anyone tried to research the history of a number plate?
Beyond Google, that is.
My father has a three letter one number registration, that he has had for the past 50 years, and been on a myriad of vehicles within our family. The previous, and first owner of the registration was a very significant public figure (not Instagram, ha ha!), and I believe that prior to my father, the registration was on just one vehicle.
Is there a source of researching the provenance of a registration?
Beyond Google, that is.
My father has a three letter one number registration, that he has had for the past 50 years, and been on a myriad of vehicles within our family. The previous, and first owner of the registration was a very significant public figure (not Instagram, ha ha!), and I believe that prior to my father, the registration was on just one vehicle.
Is there a source of researching the provenance of a registration?
As others have posted in other similar topics the DVLA has stopped the previous owner search for £5. That might leave you only one option. If you know the county or city that first issued the number plate it’s worth writing to them to see if they have any records archived. I did this for a couple of my classics and was kindly sent a photocopy if the page with the hand written entry of the registration details. It wasn’t much but I’m sure it said what the vehicle was and who registered it. Good luck.
geeman237 said:
As others have posted in other similar topics the DVLA has stopped the previous owner search for £5. That might leave you only one option. If you know the county or city that first issued the number plate it’s worth writing to them to see if they have any records archived. I did this for a couple of my classics and was kindly sent a photocopy if the page with the hand written entry of the registration details. It wasn’t much but I’m sure it said what the vehicle was and who registered it. Good luck.
Thanks for that, I actually used the same process to obtain the entire owner history of my Pantera.But I don't think the DVLA would record the other cars that the registration was on, or if they did, they aren't about to tell me now. bloody GDPR!
I like the thinking, but this numberplate was issued directly to said person, and not linked to any particular county, but its a good place to start, as they may have recorded it as 'issued'.
If the numberplate has three letters and then a number, is it the first two letters, or the second two, that dictate the county?
tch911 said:
But I don't think the DVLA would record the other cars that the registration was on, or if they did, they aren't about to tell me now. bloody GDPR!
Prior to GDPR, that's not what V888 would do in any case. As you said, it'll show you all the information related to a vehicle going back as far as their records go, including any time when it was on a different registration, but as far as I know there was never an equivalent search to stick with the registration number and show all vehicles it had been applied to.tch911 said:
If the numberplate has three letters and then a number, is it the first two letters, or the second two, that dictate the county?
The second two: CMB 1 is "MB", for Cheshire.Back in the good old days, my local library used to have a book that talked about the history of various registration numbers. One section I recall is the series of "JCB" plates owned by the manufacturer. I would imagine I'd have been taking this book out in the early to mid seventies.
droopsnoot said:
The second two: CMB 1 is "MB", for Cheshire.
Back in the good old days, my local library used to have a book that talked about the history of various registration numbers. One section I recall is the series of "JCB" plates owned by the manufacturer. I would imagine I'd have been taking this book out in the early to mid seventies.
Thanks, I will check this out.Back in the good old days, my local library used to have a book that talked about the history of various registration numbers. One section I recall is the series of "JCB" plates owned by the manufacturer. I would imagine I'd have been taking this book out in the early to mid seventies.
I remember my local library having vast amounts of random stuff on microfiche, so that's also worth a hunt. I remember back in the day, the DVLA couldn't give these plates away!
UK registration plates had one or two letters originally (and one to four digits) and the decode used to be in one's Motorists' Diary (one of which I keep for reference!). When a licencing authority had got to "9999" an extra letter could be added to the front of two-letter codes so it's the second and third letter that give you the authority concerned.
Counties and County Boroughs were not the only licencing authorities as in the case of Norwich (VG) which was the County Town of Norfolk (AH, VF, etc).
Beware of the rearrangement of the 1980s (or thereabouts) which reallocated some codes as licencing was based on Local Licencing Offices.
ETA slow tryping speed means this has been pretty well covered by others. Hey ho!
Counties and County Boroughs were not the only licencing authorities as in the case of Norwich (VG) which was the County Town of Norfolk (AH, VF, etc).
Beware of the rearrangement of the 1980s (or thereabouts) which reallocated some codes as licencing was based on Local Licencing Offices.
ETA slow tryping speed means this has been pretty well covered by others. Hey ho!
Olivergt said:
I'm not sure if you want to divulge the registration on here. There might be some old ones on here who recognise it and can give you some further information, I know it's been in your family for 50 odd years, but there are some old and bright minds on here who might be able to help?
This.If you let the forum know the plate, someone might have some link to previous cars, and/or owners.
I've researched a few plates and for example, my initials were originally issued in Scotland.
The local authority had kept records and out of the first 20 or so issued, they were registered to a motorbike dealer in Surrey!
A few of the other numbers were issued on De Dion Boutons, around 1903-1910.
I have a spreadsheet of reg letters (found on the interweb).
The second and third letter will tell us where, all 3 tell us where and when, within a few months. PM me if you don't want to publicly display the letters.
About 25 years ago I got original reg details from Shaftesbury town hall - when records were centralised at DVLA some counties kept a copy of the records and others binned them. Whether they will still give out the info I don't know - at the time it enabled me to reclaim the original reg.
The second and third letter will tell us where, all 3 tell us where and when, within a few months. PM me if you don't want to publicly display the letters.
About 25 years ago I got original reg details from Shaftesbury town hall - when records were centralised at DVLA some counties kept a copy of the records and others binned them. Whether they will still give out the info I don't know - at the time it enabled me to reclaim the original reg.
sim16v said:
This.
If you let the forum know the plate, someone might have some link to previous cars, and/or owners.
I'd prefer to keep it private, and quite understand that I might miss out on some expertise, but the plate was only ever on one relatively humdrum car, only owned by said person, before my father acquired it, so the chances are super, super slim.If you let the forum know the plate, someone might have some link to previous cars, and/or owners.
tch911 said:
I'd prefer to keep it private, and quite understand that I might miss out on some expertise, but the plate was only ever on one relatively humdrum car, only owned by said person, before my father acquired it, so the chances are super, super slim.
I fully understand, I'm paranoid when it comes to giving out information on the internet!From what you have just said, there is very little to trace!
From the two identifier letters, do you know where it should have been issued?
If you know that, check local authority archives in that area.
As you say, the plate was used by one specific person, do you know where they were based?
Try the archives there.
For the car, where was it manufactured?
Check the archives for that car/registration, it could point you in the right direction.
Here are some examples of what information can be available.
http://www.durhamrecordoffice.org.uk/article/10972...
https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/sites/default/file...
http://kitheadtrust.org.uk/scotland
https://www.newreg.co.uk/dvla-number-plate-identif...
sim16v said:
From the two identifier letters, do you know where it should have been issued?
If you know that, check local authority archives in that area.
As you say, the plate was used by one specific person, do you know where they were based?
Try the archives there.
For the car, where was it manufactured?
Check the archives for that car/registration, it could point you in the right direction.
Some excellent advice, as I know where the number should have been issued, and when. London, but whether there is one specific local authority, that's a challenge.If you know that, check local authority archives in that area.
As you say, the plate was used by one specific person, do you know where they were based?
Try the archives there.
For the car, where was it manufactured?
Check the archives for that car/registration, it could point you in the right direction.
I know the car, and the registration was provided specifically for the individual, by the manufacturer, so club archives might help there.
Been on my parents' cars for the past 50 years, so nothing in the digital era.
Thank you though, really helpful.
tch911 said:
sim16v said:
This.
If you let the forum know the plate, someone might have some link to previous cars, and/or owners.
I'd prefer to keep it private, and quite understand that I might miss out on some expertise, but the plate was only ever on one relatively humdrum car, only owned by said person, before my father acquired it, so the chances are super, super slim.If you let the forum know the plate, someone might have some link to previous cars, and/or owners.
As far as previous owners go, no one will really care, as it's not relevant any more, so what does sharing it on here do other than link it to your forum username?
Serious question because I don't get it.
keirik said:
I just don't understand that. It's on a car, unless it's never driven people see it every time it's out, so if it's anything interesting loads of people already know about it and what it's on.
As far as previous owners go, no one will really care, as it's not relevant any more, so what does sharing it on here do other than link it to your forum username?
Serious question because I don't get it.
That's the joy of it. The registration is fundamentally linked to the individual, but not immediately discernible in the same way that HRH1 or ELT1 might be. An explanation of the acronym makes wonderful sense to those that know, to everyone else, it is just another '1' plate.As far as previous owners go, no one will really care, as it's not relevant any more, so what does sharing it on here do other than link it to your forum username?
Serious question because I don't get it.
We are all entitled to our privacy, and to that end, its not on one of my cars, so you'd be a veritable super sleuth to deduce the registration from anything I have ever shared on the web.
Mostly irrelevant as we don't ever intend to part with it, but if the number/story was in the web domain, I wouldn't want the hassle of being contacted by brokers looking to buy/represent the number.
Its a fascinating back story, of a fascinating originating individual, and one that I intend to share with my two car-mad sons, when they are old enough to understand. A little more content to the story, beyond it being "another of Granpa's great stories" would be a very nice to have, hence my polite enquiry through my go-to forum.
Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff