Number Plate Stories

It’s not unusual to see personal plates featured in films or on TV these days. The rise in the popularity of personal number plates began in the 1960’s. Stars of the day, such as Frankie Vaughan, Max Bygraves and Harry Secombe, all had their own private numbers, so it wasn’t a surprise to see fictional characters being given personal numbers of their own.

Roger Moore played the handsome playboy Simon Templar in the television series The Saint from 1963 – 1969. The character travelled all over Europe on his adventures in a white Volvo P1800 sports coupe, with the number plate ST 1. The Volvo Corporation supplied five P1800’s in total, for use on the show. A 1962 model had the registration number 71 DXC, a 1964 model had the plate 77 GYL and two 1967 models carried the numbers NUV 647E and NUV 648E. ST 1 was attached to whichever car was being used during filming. The 1964 car (together with its registration 77 GYL) can be viewed at the ‘Cars of the Stars’ museum in Cumbria. It has been fully restored and carries a giant Saint logo on the hood (which was never actually used in the programme, but was a popular feature on the Corgi toy car).

The Return of the Saint was made during the 1970’s, starring Ian Ogilvy. Again a white car was used, this time a Jaguar XJS with the same number plate, ST 1. Simon Dutton took over the role for a short run of feature films called The Saint in 1989 -1990, focusing this time on Templar’s alter ego. His car was a dark blue Jensen Interceptor with the reverse number plate 1 ST.

In June 2005, one of the original Volvos used on screen sold for £32,000. The car was driven by Roger Moore not only in the series, but also privately. A company in Cambridgeshire spent a total of 520 hours restoring the car for its new owner, an American film enthusiast living in Virginia, before it was shipped over to its new home in the USA.

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