RESEARCHING THE HISTORY OF YOUR AUSTIN SEVEN PART 4
You should be able to work out from your DVLA V5 the date first registered and from the registration prefix the issuing authority, although there are some myths or sweeping statements regarding registrations which are not correct.
Glass’s Index provides a guide
for car registration numbers and helps to clear some of these myths and sweeping
statements.
Three letter prefixes relate to 1960’s cars and not
pre war.
This would depend on the issuing authority as the
three letter prefix was introduced when the authority ran out of two letter
prefix plates. Take Middlesex which used AHX from Dec 1932 to Feb 1933, our own
special based on a Ruby is from London DXL used from Mar 1937 to April 1937.
Two letter prefixes relate to pre war cars, a two
letter prefix on a classic car is a transferred plate of a pre war car.
The plate may be transferred but it would depend on
where the car was registered. April 1965 saw the introduction of the prefix A to
number plates to denote the year but there are exceptions such as IT and IX used
in Ireland which continued past 1965. Peebles prefix DS were still issuing in
the high DS6000’s before the registration was stopped in 1964.
The registration is two letters and two numbers so
must be a very early number plate transferred to a later car.
Registration plates commenced in 1903 eg DF in 1903, but registration plate TF28 was issued in 1930. As authorities used up the first set of two letter prefixes they were then issued a new set of two letter prefixes.
But there are always
exceptions e.g. MG which is Middlesex, the first 8000 numbers were allocated to
M.G. Car Co., I did wonder why I see a lot of MG’s with MG as a prefix.
Import vehicles had to be registered with a UK plate
which may not be in date order.
Motor traders took a block of numbers and were
responsible for this issue.
Some authorities kept back numbers, some of these
numbers have been issued to cars which have lost their numbers and are now being
reregistered.
Douglas Alderson DA7C