Vanity plate decision?

[MagnetON]

I'm also sad about plates that were sold "just before their time".

For example, My initials are GMD, or GM, depending on if you take MacDonald as MD or just M.

My father had the same initials.

He had GM 9445, gave it away when he sold the car, perhaps if he'd waited until the 944S had come on the scene.......

[johngee]

Originally Posted by nicanary

It's only a petty crime (and so were some of Tom's records - groan)

I was on your side ..... until that remark.

I happen to like Tom Petty ....... but we're now way off thread!

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by johngee

Not really YOU Tim ........ but I could see it on Uncle Eric's car?

I've already got a cherished plate and all it does is cost me £25 a year to keep it on retention.

[nicanary]

Originally Posted by johngee

I was on your side ..... until that remark.

I happen to like Tom Petty ....... but we're now way off thread!

So do I really, just couldn't resist it. I thought about the "petty" crime being when the NASCAR family built the 7/8th size car, but decided against it.

I sort of hoped I'd understood the ethos of the thread; I'll let you know of the next dire example I see.Meanwhile I've got nothing against things like the 944S suggestion - but on another "certain" forum they would call it chav.

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by nicanary

Meanwhile I've got nothing against things like the 944S suggestion - but on another "certain" forum they would call it chav.

Chav or not, I'm sure he could have got a good price for the plate as there would be a chav/ned/yobbo somewhere with a 944S with the initials GM

[nicanary]

Last night I saw a Touareg with L4 44RON, presumably his forename or surname is Aaron.

Not only is the spacing illegal, but the font had been printed in a squashed format so that the number 4s looked more like an A.

That got me thinking (Yes, my life really is that boring) about the size of lettering on plates. I believe that there is a recommended size, and also minimum sizes for depth and width. When Alfa Romeo regenerated their range with the 156 and 147 they deliberately left the position for the front plate where it would have been on their 50s models like the Giulietta.

Many owners have had small "Italian-style" plates fitted, but are they legal?

[redshoes]

Originally Posted by nicanary

That got me thinking (Yes, my life really is that boring) about the size of lettering on plates. I believe that there is a recommended size, and also minimum sizes for depth and width. When Alfa Romeo regenerated their range with the 156 and 147 they deliberately left the position for the front plate where it would have been on their 50s models like the Giulietta.

Many owners have had small "Italian-style" plates fitted, but are they legal?

See http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/forms/~/m...lets/V796.ashx
The size of the letters and the font used is now a legal requirement.

Not sure how big the Italian plates are but in theory a UK plate cut to that size could still be legal providing you used the correct font and maintained the minimum margins.

[GORDON STREETER]

I brought an Anglia off of an old lady to make into a race car with the reg number ROY 1E and although I still have the original log book I never bothered to register it in my name.
Years later when plate numbers started to go silly I tried to get it from DVLA only to find that they had flogged it,
My old man had an E93a "puddle-jumper" Prefect with the reg NKP 1 back in the early 60s and I remember him taking it to the local scrap yard and getting five quid for it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing !

[dtype38]

My Mk2 Jag has its original registration number DAK6 etched on it's windows (as was popular at one time) but that's not the registration now on the car. Seems it was sold in the '90s. Just out of interest I looked it up to see if it could be bought and how much it would cost to re-unite it with the car. Indeed it is available.... for about £8.5k!!!

Madness......

[Tim Falce]

My brother had an Anglebox in the late 60s with the reg 2 AOL, how much would that be worth to the right people now?

[nicanary]

I have to say that these last few posts have me thinking.How society has changed.

Just a few decades ago (like yesterday to me!) nobody seemed to have any interest in the "plate" business. Now they're worth a small fortune - presumably this reflects how we have all become self-oriented and want to waste (or otherwise, according to taste) our cash on fripperies/assets.

I suppose a sociologist would have the answer.

[Al Weyman]

Any guys making these plates beware! I used to do them all but not anymore. I got a letter from DVLA warning me the fine for supplying such plates is £2500 plus confiscation of all equipment used for manufacture. However a company I think in the Luton area got done the other day and the fine goes onto 6 figures I will try to find the article so all you little smart arses selling them at shows look over yer shoulder!

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by nicanary

I have to say that these last few posts have me thinking.How society has changed.

Just a few decades ago (like yesterday to me!) nobody seemed to have any interest in the "plate" business. Now they're worth a small fortune - presumably this reflects how we have all become self-oriented and want to waste (or otherwise, according to taste) our cash on fripperies/assets.

I suppose a sociologist would have the answer.

I don't think things have changed that much, it was a fairly big business when my dad bought a couple of plates in the early 70s, this was turned into a national industry when the DVLA or whatever it was then cottoned on to it later that decade and the govt realised there was money to be made from cherished plates.
He paid £25 for one which was his company's initials and a few weeks later he paid £85 for his own initials which at the time was a fair old amount of cash, we still have both plates on retention and although I have no desire to use them I wouldn't bother selling them unless I needed the money.

[GORDON STREETER]

I could be yours Tim !

[nicanary]

Good point about the DVLA sales. The hypocrisy beggars belief - one Govt. department sells them knowing that they might well be "butchered" to suit the purchaser, and then sit back whilst the police (also Govt.) duly fine the users for road Traffic offences.

After the sales, do the DVLA send out a leaflet setting out the "dos and don'ts" of "amending" the newly-purchased plate? Or do they care?

[johngee]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

Any guys making these plates beware! I used to do them all but not anymore. I got a letter from DVLA warning me the fine for supplying such plates is £2500 plus confiscation of all equipment used for manufacture. However a company I think in the Luton area got done the other day and the fine goes onto 6 figures I will try to find the article so all you little smart arses selling them at shows look over yer shoulder!

I don't quite understand that (but then I don't understand very much in life!).
There are companies that freely advertise and make 'show plates' which have anything you want on them including dodgy spacing.
How does that work then?

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by johngee

I don't quite understand that (but then I don't understand very much in life!).
There are companies that freely advertise and make 'show plates' which have anything you want on them including dodgy spacing.
How does that work then?

You just velcro them on for the day so you can fill up at the local petrol station and clear off without paying

[dtype38]

Originally Posted by johngee

There are companies that freely advertise and make 'show plates' which have anything you want on them including dodgy spacing. How does that work then?

I thought you could put anything you like on your car while it's not on the public highway. There are plenty race cars running round with company names and the like on their "number plates". I also don't understand why anyone would be fined for making plates that say whatever. Surely it's the user that's responsible?

[johngee]

Originally Posted by dtype38

I also don't understand why anyone would be fined for making plates that say whatever. Surely it's the user that's responsible?

That was exactly my point ...... unless it was proved that they were making obvious apparently 'legal' plates without any proof of ownership i.e. V5 etc.

......and thanks Gordon - knowing my luck, the Velcro would fail and the plate fall off, while I was still on camera

[garcon]

Originally Posted by MagnetON

Well as I'm not likely to move to the UK in the near future:
Attachment 36970

Not BA11 OCX then?

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Originally Posted by nicanary

I don't own a digital camera, let alone a smart-phone, but here's my local cracker -

M12 VET
M125 VET
M155 VET

All the same family, who I imagine are veterinarians by profession.The 12 and 125 have been "twisted" to look like MR and MRS - pathetic.

The local fuzz in Ulster don't seem to be so vigilant as the mainland counterparts, so dodgy "altered" Britich plates are ten-a-penny here.

Or maybe were they just big Vettel fans?

[Dave Brand]

Originally Posted by nicanary

Good point about the DVLA sales. The hypocrisy beggars belief - one Govt. department sells them knowing that they might well be "butchered" to suit the purchaser, and then sit back whilst the police (also Govt.) duly fine the users for road Traffic offences.

Consider it a tax on vanity . . . I have no problem with that!

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by garcon

Not BA11 OCX then?

Unfortunately already gone!

[GORDON STREETER]

I remember Steve Parrish had the reg no PEN 1S, I don't know if he still has it ?

[phoenix]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

I remember Steve Parrish had the reg no PEN 1S, I don't know if he still has it ?

He should gift it to Jason Plato, 'cos he drives like a cock!