[Stanher]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

This Austin belonged to my great grand uncle, probably in Madras. His first car.

Cedric and others, can you explain the registration?

I thought this had been clarfied earlier in this very thread? Someone had given the full list of pre-'39 regn. nos. in India.

[sabinesnubbing]

Karlos (& others),
The MC P plate maybe deserves explanation as Madras city originally had MC 0001 upwards in the 1902 series. After that they moved on to MC 0001 A and so on. I have only the one picture of MC 13F but have reason to believe from reports that the other letters existed. By the time the early 1930s came, they were on MC nnnn P but the style then (or one particular shop maybe) put the P below the MC. This is the third in this style I have seen although one of the others is hand painted and one is merely a report. The hand painted one belongs to a collector in the US. In 1939 they introduced a new series so how far they got with the 1902 letters I don't know.
Cheers
Cedric

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by DKG

Would anyone know if RJO is a Jhalawar reg or is it an old Jaipur no?

DKG,
assuming its a post 1947 number, RJO would be a (probably later) 1960s Jaipur number.
Cheers
Cedric

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Karlos (& others),
The MC P plate maybe deserves explanation as Madras city originally had MC 0001 upwards in the 1902 series. After that they moved on to MC 0001 A and so on.

As always, you have provided us with such priceless information and pictures. I am very grateful for your continuing contributions.

Any luck identifying the exact model of car?

[sabinesnubbing]

Karlosdeville,
Many thanks for the kind words. As for car identification, I used to work with Landies, G-wagens and some other mercs (107, 113, 114 & 115 series basically but also Unimogs) and know something about them but as for identifying cars in general, I am absolute rubbish!
Cheers
Cedric

[DKG]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

DKG,
assuming its a post 1947 number, RJO would be a (probably later) 1960s Jaipur number.
Cheers
Cedric

Thanks. I was told the car may have originally come from Jaipur

[karlosdeville]

Does anyone know where BYB numbers are from?

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1364361-post427.html

This is the first time I am seeing a BYB regn, and only once have I seen BYA and BYC. Perhaps these were cities before the formation of Gujarat, and then became GJx.

Incidentally an uncle of mine owned a 48 Austin A40, BYA 6000.

[sabinesnubbing]

Karlosdeville,
BY is listed as a 1947 series for Bombay and is said to have finished in 1960. There is something strange about the letters used and I don't fully undrstand what they were doing.
I have seen one old photo (on TeamBHP) of a possibly pre1947 car BYA, this is the first BYB and it is a much later car, then there are many BYF, BYH, BYJ and BYL (BYL on commercials). Then BYN, BYX, BYY and BYZ (BYX and BYY seem to be taxis/buses). I have seen many many photos but those are the only letters so far.
The biggest problem with dating Indian registration series is that cars got reregistered a lot so even if I was any good at dating cars (I am rubbish!) it doesn't always tell you what you need to know.
Looks like Bombay were selective with which letters they used and BYB came much later than others. Were they issuing letters by area? Certainly there was some use of reserved letters for vehicle classes but.......
If anyone wants to have a go at dating cars, let me have your email address and I will send a .zip file of 78 pictures of BY- vehicles!
Cheers
Cedric

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Karlosdeville,
BY is listed as a 1947 series for Bombay and is said to have finished in 1960. There is something strange about the letters used and I don't fully undrstand what they were doing.
I have seen one old photo (on TeamBHP) of a possibly pre1947 car BYA, this is the first BYB and it is a much later car, then there are many BYF, BYH, BYJ and BYL (BYL on commercials). Then BYN, BYX, BYY and BYZ (BYX and BYY seem to be taxis/buses). I have seen many many photos but those are the only letters so far.

Cedric, here is what I have gathered.

BYF and then BYH were Poona registrations (now Pune). At the time it came under the Bombay Presidency, before the state of Maharashtra was formed in 1960/61 (?).

BYF numbers probably started around 1947 in Pune, not sure though. They continued till early 54. My 1960 Standard Pennant was registered new by my uncle on Dec 26th, 1960. Earliest BYH registrations that I have seen are the first half of 1954, BYH 1XXX. BYH series was replaced by MHP series in Poona in 61/62. MHP 245 is a Standard Herald registered in Feb of 62, Poona. MHP 9193 is a Vespa scooter registered in 65. They did not necessarily register cars and bikes in ascending order, there is a Fiat registered in 1965 as MHP 21XX, and my Vespa was registered in 63 as MHP 7151.

As you say BY series was assigned to Bombay, this was the much larger Bombay Presidency that included parts of what is now Gujarat as well. The main Bombay city itself used BM series from the 40s (BMW, BMX, BMY, BMZ, BMU, BML, BMC, BMH etc), then MR series from the 60s (MRW, MRX, MRY, MRZ, MRA, MRC, MRD etc).

I am making a concerted effort to have documentation prepared to back up these dates. Wish me luck!

[bhasin54]

I have a Morris Major four seater tourer which came from Bengal/Bihar border .The car has a registration no BGM 10. help in identifying the RTO or district of registration.

[sabinesnubbing]

Karl,
What you say does seem to make some sense of an otherwise confused situation. It raises points that I have suspected for a while....
cars and bikes had reserved batches (0001-5000 and 5001-9999 maybe) of numbers in the same series. I suspect however that the batches varied considerably from state to state.
As for BM, I am sure that BMW was issued in about 1935, BMX in 1939 and BMY etc appear to be from 1947 onwards. WHY they issued serial letters so out of sequence is a question I would love to ask some old man from the ministry/RTO is any are still around and can be found.
I had not realized (though I should have) that BM and BY were the two halves of the system in Bombay (town and country) - obvious when you think about it. Why choose BYF for Poona? Can we find a list of possible RTOs from the 1940s that maybe would show that all the first few serial letters for BY were allocated but some were small places and few if any vehicles have survived???? It could explain why BYA, BYB etc are very rare sightings.
Maharashtra was created in 1960 from the information I have (and BY, BM ceased in 1960 supposedly although I think they were still issued into 1961). No doubt the beaurocracy took a little time to figure out what series to issue and when! :-)
I certainly wish you luck trying to figure out whatever system the civil servants decided was suitable back in the 1940s.
Any help you need, let me know.
Cheers
Cedric

[sabinesnubbing]

bhasin54,
BGM 10 is very interesting. I have lists of 1902 series registrations, 1939 and 1947 and BG (or BGM if 1902 series) doesn't appear on any of them!
I guess this is a pre 39 registration? Do you know the registration date of the Major? A photo would help also. IF I can figure out the date, I may be able to track down the location as I presume it is missing from our lists and, in those days, they were usually fairly logically coded according to the name of the place.
Cheers
Cedric

[bhasin54]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

bhasin54,
BGM 10 is very interesting. I have lists of 1902 series registrations, 1939 and 1947 and BG (or BGM if 1902 series) doesn't appear on any of them!
I guess this is a pre 39 registration? Do you know the registration date of the Major? A photo would help also. IF I can figure out the date, I may be able to track down the location as I presume it is missing from our lists and, in those days, they were usually fairly logically coded according to the name of the place.
Cheers
Cedric

I do not have the registration date but the year of mfg is 1933.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by bhasin54

I have a Morris Major four seater tourer which came from Bengal/Bihar border .The car has a registration no BGM 10.

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

bhasin54,
BGM 10 is very interesting.

There is an early Stoewer in Calcutta with one Mr Pratap Chaudhry (I think), bearing plates BGM 134, Midnapore

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1169281-post3.html

Perhaps someone known to him (John?) can ask him more?

[sabinesnubbing]

Gents,
Today while trying to research why Poona could possibly have used BYF and what other RTOs/districts existed, I found a list of the 26 districts in the Bombay Presidency on the www - undated sadly but presumably continuous from the start to the changes in 1936. I realized that my list was missing two districts - Belgaum and Bijapur. The letters for each district were VERY logical to the name (in Bombay anyway) so it is pretty fair to assume BGM would have been Belgaum from 1902 to 1939! Well I think so anyway.
If I had to guess, I would say Bijapur was BJR probably.
Cheers
Cedric