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Thu 19 Jun 2008 21:30

Tracing the history of a number plate. - 3D Engineers

I have the number plate "9 TU" and was hoping to trace the history of it.

DVLA are getting back to me, but did not seem very positive.

All I have found so far is that it was issued sometime between 1925 and 1945 at "Chester A" licencing centre.

A few people have said it may be ex-Rolls-Royce, but although I know Rolls had a few TU plates, I have not found any evidence to suggest they owned this one.

So my questions are hasanyone tried to get the history of their plates and is their some kind of plate spotters forum that may have some info that could help me.

NB:
1) It is not for sale!
2) The number has been on all sorts of cars since I got it, so it is annoying that anyone can check the car it is on currently from the Autotrader website for free - especially as it is on a humble Vectra at the moment! I can't see what benefit giving that information freely has, apart from allowing my ex-wife to see what car I am currently driving.

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Thu 19 Jun 2008 23:30

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Ben 10

I tried to find out from the DVLA how many vehicles I have owned over 25 years. They said they were unable to do it.Even providing them with previous addresses. So I think it would be neigh impossible to provide a "family tree" for a particular reg. plate. I have had numerous vehicles and it would have been nice to see what I've had and their regs. They couldn't even provide me with a total number I've owned.
As I say, it was a no go from the DVLA. Hope you have better luck.

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Thu 19 Jun 2008 23:31

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Bromptonaut

Fortunately I've not needed to trace the history as our special plate has been in the family ever since it was issued in 1951.

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Fri 20 Jun 2008 00:28

Tracing the history of a number plate. - AlastairW

The TU suffix on plates issued in Chester/Crewe traditionally signified 'Test Unit' ie: prototype RRs on road tests etc. For a long time press cars from RR/ Bentley carried 1900 TU, for example.

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Mon 27 Jan 2020 22:20

Tracing the history of a number plate. - BudgieB

I had a 1971 Ford Anglia 105E with the Reg 1974 TU

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Fri 20 Jun 2008 07:30

Tracing the history of a number plate. - L'escargot

All I have found so far is that it was issued sometime between 1925 and

1945 at "Chester A" licencing centre.

newreg.com says it was issued at some time between August 1925 and December 1928. tinyurl.com/5uc75h

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Fri 20 Jun 2008 07:57

Tracing the history of a number plate. - 3D Engineers

Thank you for all your help.

Really appreciated.

SB

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Fri 20 Jun 2008 08:04

Tracing the history of a number plate. - krs one

If you get no joy from the DVLA you should check to see if Bentley have any record of a car with that no. plate.

They may have an archive that could help.

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Fri 20 Jun 2008 09:28

Tracing the history of a number plate. - oldnotbold

Bentley may have the info, but also try the Bentley/RR owners clubs.

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Wed 25 Jun 2008 18:24

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Aretas

Probably a useless post, but I have today seen a pic of 20 TU which was on a Rolls. The pic was in a 1974 Autocar.

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Wed 25 Jun 2008 19:01

Tracing the history of a number plate. - 3D Engineers

Hi,

Thanks for the post.

DVLA may have come good in that they have told me to complete a form V888 - request for information from DVLA records - and send a fiver which I did last Saturday.

Am awaiting to see what info I get back. The DVLA guy said it should be date of issue, owners and cars it has been on. If he is right, I will be a very happy man!

Will let the forum know when it arrives.

SB

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Mon 7 Jul 2008 10:18

Tracing the history of a number plate. - 3D Engineers

Have just received a letter from DVLA.

Can't help because:
1) Under regulation 15 they can release the history of the vehicle pertaining to the number plate, but not the history of the plate. Data Protection Act reasons as it shows previous owners details.
2) Too time consuming as the plate has been on 60-70 cars since 1977. Would take 3-4 months to do - not sure if I agree with tht point, but there you go.

Rang them up to try and get the date of issue, hoping it would be on the computer, but issue date came back as 1977. They don't have the original date, as all records were centralized and computerised in an ongoing process started in 1973.

However, they do have a copy of the old log book that will show who holds the original records of the plate. Believed as stated above by someone to be Chester 1. I can then get the date of the plates issue from them. Fee approx £30 apparently.

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Mon 7 Jul 2008 10:45

Tracing the history of a number plate. - UkGuy

Have just received a letter from DVLA.

Can't help because:

2) Too time consuming as the plate has been on 60-70 cars since 1977. Would take 3-4 months to do - not sure if I agree with tht point, but there you go.

????????

Typical Civil Service jargon

If they know its been on 60-70 cars they must have already done the exercise?

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Mon 7 Jul 2008 11:37

Tracing the history of a number plate. - 3D Engineers

Apparently, it is just a figure. To get the info involves getting out the paperwork....must be one hell of a good system to take that long!

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Mon 7 Jul 2008 12:06

Tracing the history of a number plate. - henry k

>>....as the plate has been on 60-70 cars since 1977
>>
On average a change of vehicle every 6 months. May well have been on a demo car ?
Not too many owners change vehicles every 6 months ;-)
Probably the same owner all the time so really hard work to see current owner and hop back 50 owners or so to see what then.
Worth asking them again with this in mind?

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Mon 7 Jul 2008 12:35

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Optimist

You don't want the owners' details, do you? You only want the cars the plate's been on. So there's no DPA problem. is there?

See what DVLA say.

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Fri 18 Jul 2008 16:02

Tracing the history of a number plate. - 3D Engineers

DVLA just sent me a letter saying they have no info that can help and confirming that I should try Chester 1.

Rang Chester Council up and for no charge and within 5 mins was told the number plate was issued on 28th July 1963, car was a PLG 848cc Austin (in 1975 it was on a Mini - same car?) and the dealer was Kennings Ltd, King Edward Street, Macclesfield.

So no Rolls-Royce's and no tracing back to 1925.

Very impressed with how the DVLA and Chester Council helped me. A 1.5 page personally drafted letter from the DVLA must be a rarity as is a call back within 5 mins with the answer you want from the Council.

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Fri 18 Jul 2008 23:46

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Aretas

No Rolls - what a shame. Nevertheless, lovely to know the history for your family album.

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Sat 7 Mar 2015 17:51

Tracing the history of a number plate. - reg_nerps

Had to sign up to this forum just to reply... and I HAD to reply!

Between 1975 and 1982, I taught at a school in Burton-on-Trent. We had a Science teacher called Sue Blackstone, and she had a blue mini registered 9 TU.

We talked about the number once, and I seem to remember her saying it happened to be on the car when she got it - it didn't have any significance to her. Why the car had picked up that registration, I don't know, but she joked that "it might be worth something one day".

I've often wondered what happened to it, and doing a Google search today led me to this forum.

Cheers, reg_nerps.

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Sat 7 Mar 2015 18:55

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Avant

Welcome to the forum. Do stay with us.

It's worth noting (if one's going to be nerdy) that registration numbers with the figures first weren't issued by any authority until the 1950s, when they started running out of letters-first numbers.

I used to 'spot' these as a boy (well, better than train-spotting.....I think), and I believe Staffordshire and Middlesex were the first ones to issue numbers-first registrations. Numberplates.com confirms that 9 TU was indeed issued in Cheshire in 1963: it would have been TU 9 that was issued in the 1920s.

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Sun 8 Mar 2015 11:09

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Andrew-T

I believe Staffordshire and Middlesex were the first ones to issue numbers-first registrations.

Avant, I 'followed' both car reg.s and loco numbers as a kid in the 50s :-( and while Middx with the M series and Staffs with RE/RF ran out early, I'm pretty sure Essex wasn't far behind, getting OO and WC, which had not been used before as too confusing or naughty. After that we got suffix letters, and the rest is history ....

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Sun 8 Mar 2015 15:05

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Avant

Yes, and Staffs got BF for the same reasons at the start of the swinging 60s, just before the suffixes.

At the other end of the spectrum, there were a few, notably SJ (Bute) which never got beyond the two letters and four numbers; and FP (Rutland) had only just started three letters and numbers when the suffixes came in.

Edited by Avant on 08/03/2015 at 15:05

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Thu 26 Aug 2021 20:43

Tracing the history of a number plate. - reg_nerps

Yes! That's her!

reg_nerps

Edited by reg_nerps on 26/08/2021 at 20:44

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Mon 27 Jan 2020 22:21

Tracing the history of a number plate. - BudgieB

I had a 1971 Ford Anglia 105E with the number plate 1974 TU

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Mon 27 Jan 2020 22:31

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Bromptonaut

I had a 1971 Ford Anglia 105E with the number plate 1974 TU

Surely by 1971 the Anglia had been replaced by the Escort?

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Tue 28 Jan 2020 19:04

Tracing the history of a number plate. - 72 dudes

I had a 1971 Ford Anglia 105E with the number plate 1974 TU

Surely by 1971 the Anglia had been replaced by the Escort?

Correct Bromptonaut.

The first Escort came in sometime in during the F plate of 67/68.

There were a few Anglias knocking around on F plates in my youth but no Escorts on an E plate.

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Tue 28 Jan 2020 08:38

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Will deBeast

If you have the date right then it must have been a cherished numberplate rather than randomly allocated. The letter suffix was mandatory from 1965.

ie. XXX999Y Where Y identified the year.

The new year identifier was a handy way for vehicle buyers to know the age of the vehicle immediately. However, the year letter changing on 1 January each year meant that car retailers soon started to notice that buyers would tend to wait until the New Year for the new letter to be issued, so that they could get a "newer" car. This led to major peaks and troughs in sales over the year, and to help flatten this out somewhat the industry lobbied to get the scheme changed, so that the change of year letter occurred on 1 August rather than 1 January. This was done in 1967, when "E" suffixes ran only from 1 January to 31 July, before "F" suffixes commenced on 1 August.

I remember my father having an 'E' reg.

Edited by Will deBeast on 28/01/2020 at 08:41

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Tue 28 Jan 2020 16:57

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Brit_in_Germany

3500 TU is a Bentley Flying Spur, 1800 TU a Continental GT and 2000 TU a Bentayga, according to their web site.

Edited by Brit_in_Germany on 28/01/2020 at 17:00

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Tue 28 Jan 2020 17:31

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Andrew-T

3500 TU is a Bentley Flying Spur, 1800 TU a Continental GT and 2000 TU a Bentayga, according to their web site.

Those old Bentleys will have been built at the Rolls factory in Crewe, which explains the Cheshire registrations.

I always liked the tales about the factory test drives with a fitter in the boot, listening for rattles .....

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Tue 28 Jan 2020 21:55

Tracing the history of a number plate. - Sofa Spud

Here's a picture of a car that belonged to the Motor Car Division of Rolls-Royce Ltd. (as was) in the mid 1960's.

https://www.imcdb.org/v865471.html

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