Perhaps it’s just my own (useless) fascination with (useless) trivia, but I can recount the reg. number of (almost) every car my Dad owned, every bike and car I’ve owned (in England and here in Oz) and every van and lorry I ever drove when I was an Englishman in Britain (and many here in Oz), whether good, bad or indifferent.
e.g.
DEL 446T (VW LT35 hi-top van I used to drive to markets)
Since the early 90’s we at Davies International transport have had bought number plates usually with double digit numbers but always ending GEL, this is a local prefix to us but we have it as we always use the GEL as “you got too GEL on”. the first three we had on new Volvo’s were K44/55/66 GEL and we let them go when we sold the trucks but ever since we have retained the plates some of which have been on four different new motors, we did this after the DVLA got greedy with the money required to get a plate in the first instance. Anyone who tunes into the DIT thread will know this, plus customers know when it is one of our own motors and also ferry operators. My own number is GEL 555 which I have had for well over 20 years.
Always been interested in number plates as when a nipper the old man had an AA book and it told you where all the prefix’s came from, we have had some numbers before GEL one of which was K9 UP U but we were stopped by the police with that although the officer did like the humour he told the driver to get me to change it which we did, my son has L1 TUP which several people have tried to buy whic is the same as R1 GEL as apparently there is a motorcycle called an RI, Cheers Buzzer
Funny how i can remember all my Dads cars number plates from growing up even the ones he had before i came along that i had only seen photos of but i can hardly remember any of mine only the current one as its a personnel reg to me.
Few truck plates i have driven over the years that i can recall,
J584 ORJ Volvo FL10
P8 DWP Volvo V1 FH
1 FJN Volvo V4 FH
N400 MNT ERF Olympic
SF09 BRX Scania R620 Topline
GEU733 Austin ffk140 first lorry my father bought 562BBX second Austin bought but got written off 6WDW Albion Revier bought s/h JBX295F SEDDON 13/4/354 bought new FEJ391F Leyland Retrevier bought s/h XYA102M Leyland Revier bought s/h XRL739J FORD D1000 bought s/h GWS554N Ford D1614 bought s/h DDH209T Leyland Clydesdale bought s/h KNT535W Mercedes 1617 bought s/h UUJ535S ERF B SERIES bought s/h These are some of the reg numbers that i can remember that the old man bought over the years
Bewick:
MEC 98K ,NEC 260K & OJM 480L the first three new Atkinson Borderers I bought at Bewick Transport in '71/72 Bewick.
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We ran many other Borderers but the Reg Nos. don’t come readily to hand like the first three
Albion Reiver 7637 WJ,Leyland Badger 9902 FZ (ex NIT),SWB 425F Albion Clydesdale,AEC MK5 Mandator AKU 384B (ex Leathers Chemicals),BWB 772H AEC Mercury tractor,AWA 322G AEC Mercury rigid,RWB 342E KM 6-legger,TGJ 530 and TWR 573 AEC MK3 Mammoth Majors,526 GYG AEC MK5 Mammoth Major,JWW 896D AEC Mandator,OKC 130M AEC Mandator,PCL 553R Marathon,DWB225V Ford Transcontinental rigid (for drag work),SKY 6Y Scania 82M rigid (for drag work) and D801 PHD ERF E14. Those were my regular wagons but drove many others,particularly at MFS Maltby who ran Scania 81s,82s,112s,92s and 93s and practically every Sheffield based wagon at A E Evans.
Chris Webb:
Albion Reiver 7637 WJ,Leyland Badger 9902 FZ (ex NIT),SWB 425F Albion Clydesdale,AEC MK5 Mandator AKU 384B (ex Leathers Chemicals),BWB 772H AEC Mercury tractor,AWA 322G AEC Mercury rigid,RWB 342E KM 6-legger,TGJ 530 and TWR 573 AEC MK3 Mammoth Majors,526 GYG AEC MK5 Mammoth Major,JWW 896D AEC Mandator,OKC 130M AEC Mandator,PCL 553R Marathon,DWB225V Ford Transcontinental rigid (for drag work),SKY 6Y Scania 82M rigid (for drag work) and D801 PHD ERF E14. Those were my regular wagons but drove many others,particularly at MFS Maltby who ran Scania 81s,82s,112s,92s and 93s and practically every Sheffield based wagon at A E Evans.
Now that is some prestigious memory Mr. W but now for the $24,000 dollar question “can thee remember what thou had for tea yesterday” Cheers Dennis.
I’m afraid I am a bit of an anorak with registrations, remembering my Dad’s cars, lorries etc, all my cars/bikes etc, but to cap it all when I started driving HGV’s in 1975 I started to keep a list of registrations and makes of vehicle I drove, I had to drive them for at least half a day to make the list it stands at around 500, and after 2017 will not get any longer.
BAY 679 S21 my first lorry
GAY 823 L ERF not a good reg, glad when she went
WUT 526 J Reiver totalled the cab,my one n only crash
PAY 127 R my only new one, Octopus 3 engines in 2yrs
BUT 540 C my mate’s brother’s brand new red mini
All the rest, including my current motor,out in La La land
Cheers coomsey
Chris Webb:
Albion Reiver 7637 WJ,Leyland Badger 9902 FZ (ex NIT),SWB 425F Albion Clydesdale,AEC MK5 Mandator AKU 384B (ex Leathers Chemicals),BWB 772H AEC Mercury tractor,AWA 322G AEC Mercury rigid,RWB 342E KM 6-legger,TGJ 530 and TWR 573 AEC MK3 Mammoth Majors,526 GYG AEC MK5 Mammoth Major,JWW 896D AEC Mandator,OKC 130M AEC Mandator,PCL 553R Marathon,DWB225V Ford Transcontinental rigid (for drag work),SKY 6Y Scania 82M rigid (for drag work) and D801 PHD ERF E14. Those were my regular wagons but drove many others,particularly at MFS Maltby who ran Scania 81s,82s,112s,92s and 93s and practically every Sheffield based wagon at A E Evans.
Now that is some prestigious memory Mr. W but now for the $24,000 dollar question “can thee remember what thou had for tea yesterday” Cheers Dennis.
RJN398G AEC Mercury owned by Dad.
NHJ850M Foden 6 wheeler (Dad)
KHM733 Chaseside shovel, first large machine I drove.
BJN398K my second car, a Rover 2000.
I do know my current car no plate, but none of the several other road reg vehicles that we have.
A few that have stayed in my mind.
Dad’s Triumph XXO 61.
My BMW 3.0 Si JGT 588N.
Ford Transit XLB 443S
Trade plates 032 and 033 MF.
Leyland Clydesdale LPF 322P.
Foden S85 Gritters GYP139-142X.
DAF 2800 FNH 958T
DAF 2300 ATI’s J857/8 NCP.
As a wagon daft youngster i could list all of Arthur Sandersons registrations and can still remember a lot of them even today, but here are just a few.
MAJ 854F Atkinson Gardner 150 my dads first new wagon he had on night trunk between North East and South Wales.
SVN 365H Atkinson Gardner 150 replacement for first also brand new.
BPY 958L Atkinson Borderer 180 Gardner dad new got this and went onto Lichfield changeover with Protheroes of Pothcawl it was his last new wagon as he then came off that job and went onto local work.
DPY 565L Atkinson Borderer Gardner 180 my uncle drove this on same Lichfield changeover.
OAJ 668, 669, 939M Atkinson Borderers Gardner 240, These were bought and used around the clock on the West Bromwich changeover and clocked up some prodigious mileage.
Buzzer:
Always been interested in number plates as when a nipper the old man had an AA book and it told you where all the prefix’s came from
I had the same interest when I was youngster. If we were on our way up to London, I’d see prefixes/ suffixes we rarely saw in Cornwall (I knew all the Cornish and Devonshire/ Plymouth codes) and, sad as it sounds, it kept me entertained.
‘EL’ used to be a Dorset registration back then along with ‘DT’; Cornish were ‘AF’, ‘CV’ and ‘RL’ (‘GL’ was added later); Devon was ‘DV’, ‘OD’ and ‘TT’ and Plymouth was ‘CO’ (I think…
BTW thanks for all your replies gents, I didn’t think this subject would be all that popular. The fact that it’s got this many replies suggests that I’m not entirely alone in my odd preoccupation: at the same time, it does suggest that you’re equally as odd as I am
Then again, what’s the difference between a fascination in number plates and trainspotting (the activity, not the film)?
Bewick.
