[Stanher]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Cochin State (now Kerala) used to have the "CS" series. And "MD*" was from Tamil Nadu (Madras state). Wonder what it was for Mysore.

I read in another thread that Mysore was originally MS, later on this series with an extra alphabet suffix, making it a 3-letter series, was used for Madras city, viz. MSX, MSY, MSW and so on.

[V-16]

Originally Posted by C.S.ANANTH

That Austin 7 , most probably has an incomplete registration.Madras in the 10's & 20's started with MC.This was replaced by MSC, followed by MSP, MSZ, MSY, MSX, MSV, MSS MSR, MSQ etc Thereafter came the TM series.

Wasn't MSQ Mysore. My Heckflosse is MSQ
I had a Datsun owner earlier by the Actor Balaji which was registered as MEV 5901. That was a Madras number i think. It was a 1972 1200 Coupe. I must be having pics somewhere which I can put up as soon as I find them.

I have a TNM numbered car too which is a 1977 manufacture.

Earlier bikes and cars had the same series.

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by V-16

Wasn't MSQ Mysore. My Heckflosse is MSQ
I had a Datsun owner earlier by the Actor Balaji which was registered as MEV 5901. That was a Madras number i think.

Gogi is MSQ mentioned as Mysore in the car's RC (assuming its the original one?)
Because considering its a series well after independence, MSQ is by all means Madras only.
Its possible that one of the previous owners had taken a change of address to Mysore retaining the Madras no. hence it got mentioned in the book?

MEV is a Mysore state (most likely Bangalore) number.
The grey "dharampur-6" herald here was registered MEV 8353 while in Bangalore.
Then there is this other dharampur herald (white) also currently here which is MEV 8356.
(In case this sounds confusing, the Raja of Dharampur who had these cars was based in Bangalore.)

[V-16]

Originally Posted by Stanher

Gogi is MSQ mentioned as Mysore in the car's RC (assuming its the original one?)
Because considering its a series well after independence, MSQ is by all means Madras only.
Its possible that one of the previous owners had taken a change of address to Mysore retaining the Madras no. hence it got mentioned in the book?

Yes it says Mysore...maybe what you say is right. Ill check if the first regd is MAdras or Mysore. Maybe the first owner was in Madras.

MEV is a Mysore state (most likely Bangalore) number.

Interesting. The car was bought by my Dad from Kilpauk in Madras. It ran with the same number for a few months until we changed it to a Bombay regd MMH 4545 in early 80s, i think 81-82..

[sabinesnubbing]

Gentleman,
I have just realised that this thread has been started and wish to contribute. I have a great deal of information on the registration numbers of India from 1908 (probably the start of registrations) up until the present day. There is a society for people intersted in license plates/number plates/registration plates based in the UK called Europlate and I am the keeper of the records for certain countries including the Indian sub-continent. Although I know a great deal, there is a large amount of conflicting information and many gaps for the period from 1908 to 1947. I posted what was known of the pre 1939 registrations and there is a link to it in Karlosdeville's initial post #1 of this thread. In 1939 a new system of nationwide (ish) letter combinations was started that was changed and greatly enlarged in 1947. The former colonies of Portugal and France had different systems until their inclusion in India.
One of the great problems in working out old Indian numbers is that vehicles were frequently reregistered due to moving from area to area or when the old single letter system was being got rid of in many states.
It is only really from dated photos that one can tell what the registration truly is for that date.
I would emplore (beg) all of you to post as many of the pictures as possible and not just give a list of numbers as a picture often gives away it's rough date which can help greatly. If you can't, PLEASE send anything to sabinesnubbing@hotmail.com and I will try to work out what it is.
Anyway,
Some comments to the first few posts here.......

The picture of the 1960s Beetle with CH 419 is very interesting as CH should have been issued in 1966 in Chandigarh according to our records. CH was followed by CHA etc.

French India had a number only until 1930, IF and a number from 1930 until 1939 and then used the letters C, K, M, P (Pondicherry) and Y until 1954.

Portuguese India used G and a number until 1957 and then IGA to IGD until 1961. Is the report of IG Z truly accurate? or could it have been A, B, C or D?

If Karlosdeville can post the SC picture, I will translate the Arabic or Urdu. I know of SC but we do not know where it was. If Urdu, I would suggest it could be Sindh though.

KA was issued by Karachi from 1939 onwards.

The photos with AM, one as a prefix and one as suffix, are Assam numbers.

Dominator, can you confirm the MY-Z as Mysore about 1938? and MC as being an early Madras number?

SV 9783 is almost certainly a UK number as SV is one of the series they issue for vintage vehicles newly registered and it is not a known Indian number.

UP1008AD is an early Allahabad number

The early Triumph seems to be RS or HS 236. HS is Indore but RS is unknown.

The TN number looks like an incorrectly spaced TNY7 to me.

UPL7373LW is a bit of a mystery as UP737LW would be an early Lucknow number. Does anyone know what the date of this is? The L maybe be serial? We don't know.

UP1476CE is an early Cawnpore number.

P8399 on the Charrabang is not a Pondicherry number as it is very early (1920ish) and P was issued by Punjab province in those days.

The LMP plates are known but we do not understand what they are for. LMP 60 was seen in 1939 so they are an early series. We believe that trade plates were similar to normal plates but had a D suffix.
We also know that Bombay Police had special plates in the early days and CITY POLICE 66 in black on yellow is known.

There have certainly been several occasions where letters have been reissued to a different state etc. MS for example was Mysore in the 1908 series, Madras in the 1939 series and Madras in the 1947 series. It wouldn't surprise me if, in the 1940s, there were several pairs of vehicles around the country with the same numbers on!

So that's it for tonight, any information, suggestions, photos or dates of registration will help me greatly.
Cheers all
Cedric

[karlosdeville]

My great grand uncle's first car, an Austin in Madras. Strangely it appears to be a hardtop.

[the mole]

Karl, check this photo out, its from my family archives. dates to 1924, shot at the Bombay docks, when some Japanese guests were being received. check out the number plates no Alphabet, what car is this?

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by the mole

Karl, check this photo out, its from my family archives. dates to 1924, shot at the Bombay docks, when some Japanese guests were being received. check out the number plates no Alphabet, what car is this?

Great find. The tiny lettering before the number probably reads "BOM." I really cant say which car it is. Possibly American, though RHD. See the tyre going well above the waist of the Japanese gentleman!

[JayD]

Originally Posted by V-16

Wasn't MSQ Mysore. My Heckflosse is MSQ
I had a Datsun owner earlier by the Actor Balaji which was registered as MEV 5901. That was a Madras number i think. It was a 1972 1200 Coupe. I must be having pics somewhere which I can put up as soon as I find them.

I have a TNM numbered car too which is a 1977 manufacture.

Earlier bikes and cars had the same series.

MEV is a Mysore state number. Gogi, remember the first fintail i almost bought?? That car had Reg no MEE 4833, which was from Mysore state.

[sabinesnubbing]

Gentlemen,
I have been having a discussion with Harit about early Bombay registrations and we have come up with the following list. Can anyone add anything or correct anything?

Plates with no letter just numbers 1908ish
BOM 1234 plates 1912ish
Z 1234 plates 1916 or 1917 followed by Y, X, W, T and maybe N and K but I have my doubts.
BMW 1234 plates were probably 1935 followed by BMX.
LMP plates were also seen in Bombay in the 1930s but are thought to be some special series (maybe even police)
BM 0001 or maybe BMA 0001 was introduced in 1939 and was followed by BMB etc and continued with BMZ finishing in 1960.

Does anyone owning a BMW registered car know the date of first registration?

All the best
Cedric

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

BM 0001 or maybe BMA 0001 was introduced in 1939 and was followed by BMB etc and continued with BMZ finishing in 1960.

BM_ didn't go in alphabetical order, the order probably was BMW, BMX, BMY, BMZ, BMU, BML, BMC, BMF, BMH, followed by MRW, MRX, MRY, MRZ, MRA, MRC, MRD, MRF, MRG, MRH, MRJ etc.

I would think BMA, BMG, BMK, BMP, BMQ, BMR, BMT were commercial vehicle registrations, purely from memory.

[sabinesnubbing]

Karlosdeville,
Very interesting!
I have found pictures of BMC, BMF and BML on cars, all of which look like the 1947 series. Also, BMQ and BMR on commercials post 1947 with a report of BMS on a commercial in 1949.
Sadly I have no photos of BMH or BMA, BMG, BMK, BMP or BMT.

I wonder why they a) didn't go inalphabetical order and b) what happened to the missing letters? I wonder if some are on motorcycles?

Many thanks for the information
Cedric

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Karlosdeville,
Very interesting!
I have found pictures of BMC, BMF and BML on cars, all of which look like the 1947 series. Also, BMQ and BMR on commercials post 1947 with a report of BMS on a commercial in 1949.
Sadly I have no photos of BMH or BMA, BMG, BMK, BMP or BMT.

I wonder why they a) didn't go inalphabetical order and b) what happened to the missing letters? I wonder if some are on motorcycles?

Many thanks for the information
Cedric

BMY was around 46-48, BML was around 56/57, followed by BMC in 57/58. 59/60(ish) was BMF, followed by BMH in 61. MRX started in 61/2, since the new Maharashtra state was formed from the erstwhile Bombay Presidency.

All the above are purely my estimation, so we still need to confirm with regn dates.

I too have always wondered about the random order and missing letters. I think for the missing letters, the ones unaccounted for were probably used in other cities. Every now and again I see one of the "missing" series on an old truck, so there were probably no missing letters at all. Seperate series for motorcycles made an appearance in the 70s I think.

[SuperSelect]

BMZ 2952 was the 1948 Wolseley my dad had, some years back. Therefore BMZ is 1948.
Years ago, a friend had a 1959 select, BMC 78-- , also my grandfather had a 1959 select BMC 8330. That should pin down BMC to 1957 thru 59 ??

[DHABHAR.BEHRAM]

Our cars were BMC9291 (select 1960), BMC8582 (standard 10 1960), BMC9008 (standard 10 1960) and BMC1158 (standard super 10 1958) so BMC was ending in 1960. Ravi, you are correct. I think BMC was one of the best series.

But you know they did something silly in Mumbai in 1989. They introduced BLI (Tardeo RTO), BLO (Andheri RTO) and MAX (Ghatkopar RTO) and they converted many BMCs and BMFs to these series. Our good friend Commander Vatcha's blue 1960 select used to be BMC, it got converted to BLI1116.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar