Number Plate Stories
Film and TV Plates
Perhaps surprisingly, the ST 1 registration was never legally assigned to any of the Saint vehicles, and the registration alone was sold in a different sale for £100,000 – more than three times as much as the car!
James Bond films have always wowed their audiences with nifty gadgets including a revolving number plate. The British agent had his own distinctive mark, JB 007, but this was only used in publicity shots. The character Goldfinger had AU 1 on his 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III Sedance de Ville. AU not only stands for the beginning of the villain’s name, Auric Goldfinger, but AU is also the symbol for gold on the periodic table.
Dedicated fans of the films have coveted Bond memorabilia since those early days. In 1964, Noel Woodhall noted in his book Car Number Galaxy, More Celebrities, that it was a humble grocer that owned the number plate OO 7. In 2000, restaurant owner Adam Kaye added 8 OND to his vast James Bond collection. “I just had to own it,” said Adam, “I’ve been a Bond fan since I was a child, collecting books, photos, models and everything Bond related ever since. The plate is a highly prized addition for me.”
Children’s programmes have their own array of superb plates on a variety of distinctive vehicles, from Thunderbirds number FAB 1 on Lady Penelope’s pink Rolls Royce, to Postman Pat’s van and PAT 1 (there’s even SAM 1 for Sam’s mobile shop.) If the plate is not available, it doesn’t matter, it’s fiction after all! The much more recent Scottish based programme, Ballamory has a special made up plate, BAL MOR1, on the school bus.
Probably the most famous of all after FAB 1 is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with the plate GEN 11. GEN 11 was intended to stand for genius because the main character in the film is an eccentric inventor called Caractacus Potts. The story is about a car that he builds that can fly and float as well as drive. It was written by Ian Fleming in 1961 while he was taking time off from writing James Bond books.
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