Number plate too new for car ? (1950's)

[phib]

We have a landrover 1957 but it is on an A reg (1963 ish) it had the same plate on it fron 1957 -1989 then clearly some one took it off to sell it for a few Quid and it go an A reg.

Dont want to open a can of worms with DVLA but also want it back on a more period reg, has anyone experience of this ?

Thanks

Phib

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Yes, I had a TVR on a W plate which was 2 years newer than the car. The car had been imported back from Republic of Ireland and the DVLA just made a mistake. It never bothered me. I then had B6 TVR which went on the car. When I took that off the DVLA still put the W plate back on.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

In the Sweeney movie all their cars were on S reg plates. It bugged me at the time as it was before S reg was out. I wonder why they did that?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

But I've not had any experience of correcting it.

[phib]

Air only bothers me as it really shouldn’t be an A or infact any suffix (well at the end anyway)

Thanks

Phib

[mk1coopers]

At one point the DVLA were changing all the A plates (for free) they had issued when the original plates came off cars and using up old unissued sequences such as RSK ***, not sure if that is still the case

[john2443]

I've seen on the London Brighton veteran run at least one car with an A plate - hopefully they've been able to change it some something older.

[aeropilot]

phib said:

We have a landrover 1957 but it is on an A reg (1963 ish) it had the same plate on it fron 1957 -1989 then clearly some one took it off to sell it for a few Quid and it go an A reg.

There wasn't exactly a big money market in dateless plates back in 1963, given they were still (just) being issued in most parts of the country.
It was more likely the other way around and they were somehow trying to make a 6 year old Landy worth more by appearing to be newer
Or it went to Ireland, Channel Isles etc for a while and then then came back to UK in '63, which is why it ended up with a '63 plate, as back then imports got a plate relating to the year imported to UK.

If it was re-imported then you could get a dateless plate re-issued by DVLA, although in their current situation, I'd not bother trying that route for a while. If not documentation in that regard and its not clear why its on an A suffix, only route would be to buy a 3x3 dateless plate and do a transfer.

[iDrive]

Hi

The date of first registration should still show correctly on the V5 as 1957, and you are able to put a dateless plate on any almost car (except Q plates).

As was mentioned above, some DVLA Offices issued A suffix plates when replacing dateless plates taken off vehicles - exactly when that happened will vary from each DVLA (or DVLC) Office at the time.
It then became practice to issue specific non-transferable dateless plates from particular series (eg SK sequence).

Just to mix things up, some re-issued dateless plates (eg from the SK sequences) were not made non-transferable, so it is possible to purchase plates from that series.

If I recall, only London DVLC Offices issued A suffix in period (may have been a few others?), most offices started issuing with B suffix.

Also, A to D suffix were issued Jan-Dec, which moved to August with E suffix, meaning fewer were issued that year.

[iDrive]

Also

If you can show the Landy has any historical significance, DVLA may assist in linking it with its original plate (though this is painful and very unlikely).

If you are willing to post the original plate or indication of it (eg ABC 000) then it may be possible to locate a similar dateless plate for sale - That would seem most relevant where the location of the original issuing Office is local to you and you want a local identifier.

I was *very* fortunate to apply to DVLA and secure all of the records they had for my Landy on microfiche, allowing me to trace its history back to new (1969). I wrote to each keeper, and received replies from two, including photos of it as a well loved family vehicle (and as it changed colour from blue, to yellow, to black! - Now back to original blue).

I'm tempted to park it outside their house one day.

[Murph7355]

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

In the Sweeney movie all their cars were on S reg plates. It bugged me at the time as it was before S reg was out. I wonder why they did that?

Possibly to avoid any real cars getting mistaken for the on screen ones? Bit like phone numbers in US movies nearly always start '555'.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Murph7355 said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

In the Sweeney movie all their cars were on S reg plates. It bugged me at the time as it was before S reg was out. I wonder why they did that?

Possibly to avoid any real cars getting mistaken for the on screen ones? Bit like phone numbers in US movies nearly always start '555'.

UK TV now have made up plates with a slightly smaller font. UK TV phone number are 01632 and the mobiles I think are 07700.

Still weird with the S reg thing though

[phib]

Update

I phoned DVLA and got straight through !!!

I was aware that it had its original plate on it from 1957 - 1989 and then someone took it off and sold it as it was worth way more than the landy at that point, it was then given its A reg.

Basically DVLA should be able to issue me with a free period registration similar to the original one, I will see how long that takes !!!

Have to say they were very helpful ... so far !!

Phib

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

phib said:

Update

I phoned DVLA and got straight through !!!

I was aware that it had its original plate on it from 1957 - 1989 and then someone took it off and sold it as it was worth way more than the landy at that point, it was then given its A reg.

Basically DVLA should be able to issue me with a free period registration similar to the original one, I will see how long that takes !!!

Have to say they were very helpful ... so far !!

Phib

'

Great result! Let us know how it goes

[InitialDave]

Yep, good result.

I've always found the DVLA quite helpful on the phone.