Why doesn't my 1963 car have an A reg?

[youngcamper]

Hi there,

I've just bought a project car last on the road in 1978. It is a late 1962 - 1963 model with distinctive features that prove this, it was first registered on 15 8 1963 but it doesn't have an A reg plate. Does anyone know why this might be?


Cheers.

Will

[MarkyB]

What reg does it have?
A regs are quite rare as not all licensing areas got up to speed at the same time.

It could be that the original number is a vanity plate now, and yours is age related.

[youngcamper]

reg is 659 FBE so obvioulsy the cars called phoebe, it doesn't seem like an age related plate too me?

How can I find out if its the original number?

Cheers,

Will

[alex_holden]

My traveller is about the same age and has a similar number, nnn FBU (Oldham). FBE is Lincolnshire. Some areas kept on issuing non-age-related plates until 1964 or even 1965.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_re ... 0s_to_1982
http://www.motorcycle.co.uk/Reference-m ... tters.aspx

[phurn]

yeah im lead to believe 66 was the firt year everywhere was forced to issue age plates. which makes the dissapointment of mine being xjy 67a (leeds i beleive?) all the greater, id love a 3 letter 3 number plate.

[phurn]

also i think im right in saying it cant be age related as all age issued plates start ssk *** dont they? atleast the one on my old 100e did.

[bpr81a]

yeah im lead to believe 66 was the firt year everywhere was forced to issue age plates.

1965 ('C' Plate) was the first compulsory suffix. A and B were only used where they'd run out of all their 'nnn XXX' numbers.

Some 'A' plates were used as an early type of Age related plate - my 62 saloon has an 'A' plate.

And no, not all Age related plates have 'SSK'. There are loads more than that.

[phurn]

ah seems i was wrong then..... would i atleast be right in sayign that ssk was reserved for age related plates, therefore all ssk's are an age plate rather than original registration?

[yellowbelly]

I took an avid interest in number plates from my own area (Lindsey) which includes the towns of Scunthorpe, Gainsborough and Barton upon Humber. Any car bought new in these areas would have had the BE as part of its registration. The last issued sequence I can remember being released would have been HBE in 1964 which would have been prefixed by 3 numbers. In Lincolnshire (Lindsey, Kesteven and Holland) I cannot remember any car at all with the A suffix, a few did have the B suffix but none in Lindsey and all in Lincolnshire had the C suffix when it became compulsory.
Paul

[Sidney'61]

ah seems i was wrong then..... would i atleast be right in sayign that ssk was reserved for age related plates, therefore all ssk's are an age plate rather than original registration?

All SK's will be age related plates (apart from ASK) as are all SJ and SL, also ones starting in UX are quite common replacements.http://www.fleetdata.co.uk/agerelated.html (I have a UXR and a CSJ at home!)
My blue car was registered in march 1963, although it now has an age-related A reg plate it was originally 5190 PJ. It just depends on whether the particular district had any non-suffixed plates they wished to use up before starting on A-reg.

[mike.perry]

There is a list of registration letter allocations on the Series MM website http://seriesmm.mmoc.org.uk Car Ident

[youngcamper]

Thanks Chaps that explains it all.

I was worried it had been ringed or something.

Will