[Shwetank]

Our Ford Prefect which we had till 2007. Jamshedpur registration. I'm sure avid BHPians would have noticed this registration number elsewhere too. Any inputs?

[FordDodo]

Originally Posted by Shwetank

Our Ford Prefect which we had till 2007. Jamshedpur registration. I'm sure avid BHPians would have noticed this registration number elsewhere too. Any inputs?

Yes, have seen many cars of BRT regn. Like mentioned below.

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Calcutta cars those days (my younger days) had WB/A B C D etc. When I bought my Amby, it had a Bihar registration (BRT 688) because it was in Jamshedpur.

[Shwetank]

Originally Posted by FordDodo

Yes, have seen many cars of BRT regn. Like mentioned below.

I meant this particular registration number, BRT-63. Anybody?

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Gents,
As far as we know, Maharashtra in the 1960s and 1970s used the same letters for temporary plates as they used for 'real' plates, just differently coloured. Temporary being red on yellow.
MHP would be a Poona temporary registration so to car must have been bought from a dealer there.
Cheers
Cedric

Are you sure Cedric? I think temp plates used a specific series like MRN, BMN in Bombay etc.

Originally Posted by Shwetank

I meant this particular registration number, BRT-63. Anybody?

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Are you sure Cedric? I think temp plates used a specific series like MRN, BMN in Bombay etc.

Karl,
BMB, BMN, MRB, MRN were dedicated temporary series. Do you know if BMB & BMN were for all vehicles, private only or commercial only. I have one photo of BMB on a commercial.
MHP was a regular Poona series as well as being used for temporary numbers. The new MHP 811 is not the first MHP temporary I have seen. I have 60 and 242 also.
I do not know is MHP 811 temporary ended up being registered as MHP 811 normal series but I rather guess not. But who knows. Maybe Jimmyjosek will find another picture of that car with it's normal plates. I hope!
Cheers
Cedric

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

I do not know is MHP 811 temporary ended up being registered as MHP 811 normal series but I rather guess not. But who knows. Maybe Jimmyjosek will find another picture of that car with it's normal plates. I hope!
Cheers
Cedric

Here I can help you - these Mark II model Ambassadors hit the roads in 1963/64, by which time 811 would have crossed. Earlier Ambys known to me are MHP 10xx.

[Shwetank]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Attachment 1273768

My gut feeling told me Karl would have something to mention here. This photograph from Auto Expo 2014 reveals more.

[karlosdeville]

Another dealer plate for Fiat, probably dating to 1953/54. Can anyone translate for us?



Picture courtesy the Fiat Millecento club's vast archives.

[karlosdeville]

Cedric, this picture will interest you

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/pre-w...ml#post3511933 (Earliest Cars seen in India - Veteran and Edwardian)

It shows a car in Bombay 1905 with small plate '113' (I assume its a Delhi plate?)

[sabinesnubbing]

Karl,
Most excellent!
That just about confirms that the very first Bombay cars had black on white plates. There was this one also posted on some thread here a while ago.
Many thanks for pointing this new one out
Cheers
Cedric

[travancore]

An "Indian" in India

[karlosdeville]

Cedric, this one's for you.

Go through post #49 in detail.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/vinta...ml#post3516988

Noteworthy points

- for the 1931 Chevrolet there is no log of registration charges or a number, though a liscence disc is mentioned.
- for the 1939 Dodge the registration seems to be MYS / A 226 (registered on 7.6.39). Cast aluminium numbers were used on the plates, 16 pieces in total at a cost of 6 annas? each. This would imply that even the stroke '/' was a distinct character on the plate, which I have never seen on a cast letters plate.

[Ricky_63]

Originally Posted by Shwetank

Hi! Any idea what car this DLA 1 was?
Thanks.

No idea which it may have been

[Shwetank]

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

No idea which it may have been

Hi Ricky. The mystery has since been solved
Please go through post #734 of this thread.
Thanks.

[harit]

Originally Posted by harit

Cedric, I guess cars came to Bombay before they had administration to issue registration numbers. As everywhere, registration numbers were issued when the automotive population rose. I believe that BOM was a series up to nos 9999 and then they started with BOM Z 0001. After a while BOM was dropped, so maybe, maybe as its a speculation, BOM Z and Z were the same series after dropping BOM.... Cheers harit

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

....... That just about confirms that the very first Bombay cars had black on white plates. There was this one also posted on some thread here a while ago.....Cheers Cedric

Originally Posted by travancore

An "Indian" in India................

That's what I said in the 1st post above. First registrations were simple numbers, other cities too may have been doing this like Calcutta, Delhi etc. As the numbers grew they had to start to distinguish the city where the vehicles were registered. Maybe intercity travel started, perhaps the RTO's started to get connected. So Bombay got BOM, Calcutta continued with numbers for a long time up to 5 digits, and so on. Once BOM was exhausted, they introduced the alphabets, Z being the first. The "Indian" above is another example of early BOM registration.
Perhaps plates were changed from black on white to white on black when BOM was introduced to help distinguish and hi-lite a new system

BTW that Indian is expensive, its available, the photo of course.

But here is a new one, KDA 496 on a bike, a Triumph? The photo is taken under Qutab Minar, I have put it up separately, though both images are from one photo. One has to take my word for it. Anyone has any clue? A visitor from next door? Lets see what gets thrown up.

Cheers harit