Number Plate Stories

A plate to suit your car

by Ruby Speechley

One of the many reasons for buying a personal plate is to celebrate the make or model of car that you own. Most of us love our cars, whether it’s a Beetle or a Bentley, adding the finishing touch in this way, is the ultimate accessory for many drivers.

And it really doesn't matter how classy or clunky your motor is. Timothy Evans' Honda S2000 has the 'mirror' number plate S200 OOS. "I saw the plate S200 OTE at a Honda Club meeting and thought it was an ideal plate for me because it’s the model of my car with my initials TE. It wasn't for sale so I started looking for something similar. When S200 OOS became available, I thought it was even better because it's almost a mirror of itself. I bought it straight away. People are forever commenting on it, saying how good it looks. About three quarters of the members at the Honda Club have private plates. I'm so pleased with mine, it really turns heads."

Buying your first brand new car is quite an occasion, as it was for Richard and Anne Heather. "We ordered a VW Lupo when they were first launched in the UK. We were lucky enough to find L1 UPO for it very quickly and for a reasonable price,” said Richard, “As soon as we heard that a new style Beetle was being made, we put our names down for one. Almost two years later it arrived! Our very first car was a Beetle, back in the early 1970's, so for us it was a trip down memory lane. We're so happy to have found the number plate S50 BUG, to give it that personal touch.”

John Witcombe from Cheshire was looking for a JAG plate for his gold-coloured Jaguar for purely practical reasons, “I’ve driven almost 100,000 miles in this car, and although it is only six years old, it isn’t worth very much because of the high mileage. I bought P8 JAG for £1,000, thinking that it would help me to sell the car. The trouble is I’ve grown rather fond of the plate. I didn’t realise at the time that hanging onto the car for a bit longer now means that the plate is worth more than the motor!”

Terence Garcia from East Sussex also thinks that his Jaguar number plate is worth more than the car it is on. “I bought the plate XJS 12 for my Jaguar XJS, which has a V12 engine. Originally I was after the number V12 XJS, but that wasn’t available so I went for this one, which is just as good. Now I’m thinking of selling the car and the plate with it. The plate is definitely more valuable than the car.”

For Ivor Griffiths from Hants, finding a number plate for his special 1979 MGB GT was something he’d thought about since he bought the car. “My MGB is in original mint condition with just 28,000 miles on the clock,” said Ivor, “I wanted to express how much I adore this car and thought that adding the plate MGB 1P, was the best way to do it. When I’m driving around the New Forest, the cherished number together with the immaculate car draw many admiring glances.”

There are personal plates to suit your car, whatever the make or model. You could have MB for a Mercedes Benz for example or RR for a Rolls Royce, 911 or BOX for your Porsche, VET for a Corvette, or MAZ for a Mazda. Even PUG for a Peugeot. The possibilities are endless. As far as Jimmy Kaleth is concerned, size really doesn’t matter either. He found the perfect plate for his rare Rover Mini Cabriolet – M1 GET.