[FINTAIL]

Originally Posted by Stanher

(though the regn. is of a 'Madras District' though not sure which)

I had the following pics lying with me- Which are a complete guide to all the Madras Presidency/TN RTO registration series.








Due credits: I think it was the TN RTO- Not sure.

[samsag12]

Originally Posted by Senna4Ever

Spotted this bus on road just yesterday during my short visit to Lucknow. Possibly being used as a service vehicle with UPSRTC. It was impossible to identify any make but most probably Tata. Learnt form previous posts that it is a Lucknow registration but any ideas on timeline?

Another thing I must mention is the appreciable number of old vehicles (with 3 alphabet registration) in Lucknow. Is it because that maybe two alphabet (UP) regn. was implemented later compared to other states or just economics..?

USX 6664

Originally Posted by FINTAIL

Hi. The UP_ and the US_ series went on concurrently in the United Provinces (aka Uttar Pradesh!) .................................................. .................................................. ................
Conclusion: Well- For starters, the vehicle in the pic isn't a bus. It is a truck chassis- where strangely, the body length is lesser than the chassis- look at the chassis protrusion after the body.

The 'Niji -- Yaan.............................................. .................................................. .....................

Lucknowi people can clarify further if need be- Quoting samsag12 so as to obtain his response:

The vehicle spotted by Senna4Ever is a break down support vehicle ( self assistance vehicle) of the SRTC, IIRC its a Tata chassis with local coach built body. You can find a handful of these still plying on the state capital roads.
These vehicles (being Govt. property) hasn't been retired so one can still spot a few.

Regarding the registration series, we had a USX registered Fiat 1100 Delight passenger vehicle.

[anjan_c2007]

An early registration number of Sikkim. It was an independent nation till 1975. In 1975, it became an Indian State. The picture is from the period, when it was not a part of India.



(scanned from an old India Today issue)

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

An early registration number of Sikkim. It was an independent nation till 1975. In 1975, it became an Indian State. The picture is from the period, when it was not a part of India.

Attachment 1347321

(scanned from an old India Today issue)

I remember this image, it was shot by Homai Vyarawalla. It was displayed as part of an exhibition of her work a couple of years ago.

[Live To Jive]

How did these guys manage to get these numbers on their bikes?

[Jag4]

Is a two letter prefix normal ? Seeing it for the first time, it could also be a willful misrepresentation though.

Originally Posted by Live To Jive

How did these guys manage to get these numbers on their bikes?

The state of Punjab allows transfer of registration numbers to newer cars.

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by Live To Jive

How did these guys manage to get these numbers on their bikes?

LTJ, I cannot properly answer your question and am even worse at dating motorcycles than I am cars. I would like to offer you this photo that shows that something is not quite right somewhere!
Cheers
Cedric

[sabinesnubbing]

[quote=Jag4;3658836]Is a two letter prefix normal ? Seeing it for the first time, it could also be a willful misrepresentation though.

Jag,
If this is Jammu & Kashmir, it is a registration from the 1930s I would say. I do not know if you took this photo in India or found it somewhere but it looks like a home made (not officially issued) post 2000 Islamabad registration also.
Maybe J&K allow transfers?
Cheers
Cedric

[Jag4]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

LTJ, I cannot properly answer your question and am even worse at dating motorcycles than I am cars. I would like to offer you this photo that shows that something is not quite right somewhere!
Cheers
Cedric

It indeed is a fake registration plate on the bike, this registration belongs to a very famous punjabi singer. Maybe the owner of the bike was trying to emulate the icon, that said fake Number plates on two wheelers are very common these days.

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Is a two letter prefix normal ? Seeing it for the first time, it could also be a willful misrepresentation though.

Jag,
If this is Jammu & Kashmir, it is a registration from the 1930s I would say. I do not know if you took this photo in India or found it somewhere but it looks like a home made (not officially issued) post 2000 Islamabad registration also.
Maybe J&K allow transfers?
Cheers
Cedric

Sir, this was in Delhi yesterday. Maybe J&K does allow transfers but I havent seen a two letter prefix or a registration of such vintage on a modern car.

[harit]

Originally Posted by KartikeyaL

this car bears an unusual registration number. Experts can shed light ....Also posted in the nostalgic thread, mods may delete.

OT, this photo was taken off a negative, a glass negative now in my collection.

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Kartikeyal,
What a wonderful photo.
On my list I have that in the Madras Presidency from 1902 (or soon after), V was for Vizagapatam (Visakhapatnam on the Andra Pradesh coast). This is certainly the first photo from there that I know of. Well done that man!
Cheers Cedric

The car is from the later 1920's. Either the series was reissued, or the numbers of the series were reissued. Maybe this is a dealer number because the alphabet normally came first, followed by the number.

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Pondicherry had a similar single digit registration number "P" earlier......

Pondicherry was probably the only state in independent India to have a single alphabet in the registration which was valid. Chandigarh and J&K were the only ones to have two alphabets in valid registrations post independence. All others had 3 alphabets. The motor act was amended in 1939 and the 3 alphabets uniformity was introduced with compulsory registration. Later all states adopted the two alphabets system to identify the state, but the older registrations remained valid.

Originally Posted by Senna4Ever

.... Another thing I must mention is the appreciable number of old vehicles (with 3 alphabet registration) in Lucknow. Is it because that maybe two alphabet (UP) regn. was implemented later compared to other states or just economics..?

As mentioned above, older 3 alphabets remained valid, new registrations were with 2 alphabets identifying the state, throughout India...

Originally Posted by jeevan007

A very nice thread. My dad had a LML Vespa - Karnataka registered and it's number plate began with "CAO" ('C'-state code, 'AO'-specific RTO), he bought the vehicle in the 80s.

When there were 3 alphabet registrations, the first letter was not a state code. M was found in Maharashtra, Karnataka (Mysore) and Tamil Nadu (Madras). C was found in MP and Karnataka. The system was changed to 2 - letterswhen they started running out of options.

Somewhere else there was a discussion about licence plates. The earliest were painted numbers on a metal board. Then there were aluminium cast letters and numbers screwed on a metal plate. But one of the finest was an Aluminium plate cast with letters and numbers included, this was found on the BOM series. I have seen such a plate, it is one cast piece.

Much earlier we spoke about consular corps registrations, those yellow CC plates.
Today all countries have their allotted country code in the prefix. But this was not always so, in the seventies the plates were only CC followed by numbers, found in cities all over India like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata etc. Attached is a part of a registration book. In those days the consulate cars were handed over to STC who gave depreciated value and then auctioned them off. STC first registered all in their name, and then they were transferred further. But the old number was always mentioned, even today they do this on registration books. This particular car was registered CC 1261.

Cheers harit

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by harit

The car is from the later 1920's. Either the series was reissued, or the numbers of the series were reissued. Maybe this is a dealer number because the alphabet normally came first, followed by the number.


Much earlier we spoke about consular corps registrations, those yellow CC plates.
Today all countries have their allotted country code in the prefix. But this was not always so, in the seventies the plates were only CC followed by numbers, found in cities all over India like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata etc. Attached is a part of a registration book. In those days the consulate cars were handed over to STC who gave depreciated value and then auctioned them off. STC first registered all in their name, and then they were transferred further. But the old number was always mentioned, even today they do this on registration books. This particular car was registered CC 1261.

Cheers harit

Harit,
I agree entirely that it should be V-98 but I find it difficult to believe that the Visagapatam office (basically a lot of country areas) had 98 dealer plates in the 1920s. Even if they averaged 2 each, that is still 49 dealers?

Is there any way from the registration book you can tell when CC 1261 was first registered?
Cheers
Cedric

[travancore]

Here is a DLC registered car, with a small CD plate as well, ca 1955 - click and enlarge to see CD

[karlosdeville]

At the recent show in Delhi I was chatting with the owner and restorer of a superb 1921 (?) Steyr Type II. It has been in the family since new, and the car was in Hyderabad till brought to Bombay in the 1970s to be restored for the first time.

Luckily some pre-restoration photos were taken, and they show 2 different plates, both quite distinctive.



The yellow plate with 4 digits (2349) seems correct for early Hyderabad plates, but at the bottom are the words "Atraf Balda", and another number is painted on the fender, A.B. 265.

A bit of googling tells us that "Atraf Balda" was the erstwhile capital of Hyderabad State.

[Automaton]

It should be 2649, but that's a minor quibble.

Thanks for the Atraf-i-Baldah/Balda nugget. 10,000 square miles of surrounding land as personal income/revenue. That is some income to be had.

The Steyr looks amazing in the restored condition.

What would be the word/number painted on the body? H O/2 II AS something.

So would it be safe to assume that AB 265 is also Atraf-i-Baldah. And that there were 264 other cars in the capital area by 1921?

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by FINTAIL

I had the following pics lying with me- Which are a complete guide to all the Madras Presidency/TN RTO registration series.

Attachment 1340604

Attachment 1340605

Attachment 1340606


Due credits: I think it was the TN RTO- Not sure.

I have also seen TN88 XXXX. Not sure which area it belongs to. May be you include this registration in your list.