Europlate blog

John Pemberton found a few sandhoppers in London in the 1940s, one of the most interesting of which was this 1948 Morris Oxford registered in Israel, a country which had only just started registering its own vehicles after the British Mandated presence there came to an end in 1948.

944 H  —  The 1948-55 first-series of newly-Independent Israel plates used black-on-white numbers followed by a regional code letter, in this case, that for Haifa. Taken in London’s Hyde Park, in 1949-50, on a new Wolseley 4/50 or 6/80 (thanks, Mike Parry – we had it as a Morris Oxford MO).    Both Wolseley models (4-cylinder and 6-cylinder) were built from 1948-56..                               Pemberton archive

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Oil exploration was well under way in the 1940s and it was probably that business which took these cars  to the Middle East and then home again, when the owners’ tours of duty were ended.     First, below, a 1948  Hillman Minx Mark 3 with clearly painted plates:

IRAQ – Kirkuk

KK 1420.  Iraqi Hillman MInx from Kirkuk oilfields area.   Seen in Britain early 50s.     Pemberton archive.

IRAQ – Baghdad

Maybe a Bentley, BD 7084, at Brighton Marine Drive during the 1940s.   Iraqi plates of this period could be either black or red, and b/w photos don’t help us to decide which!                          Pemberton archive c.1940

Iraqi vehicles travelling outside the country should have carried translation plates or be made to carry ‘Q’ temporary import plates when they visited Europe and Britain.   The above cars slipped in ‘under the radar’, it  seems, but the car which carried  KK 2460 was correctly prepared for its trip, via its translation/out-of-state  plate.   The vehicle ended in a scrapyard in Amersham in 1973, where this plate was salvaged by EU38!  (Below)

Kirkuk 2460, probably a plate of the late 1950s, with its translation for use outside Iraq.    Brumby archive

BAHRAIN

Below:   Re-imported to London in December 1950 from Bahrain,  this 1947 Vanguard LXK 90 was allocated a registration from the London batches of 10 to 99, which were retained for the re-registration of used imports. Unusually, this owner chose not to dismount his original Bahrein 495 numberplate – strictly not legal, but its suits us!

(The London batches from 1-9 were then generally held for diplomats and privileged citizens.)

495  —  Standard Vanguard Phase 1, model built 1947-53.     This one had served in Bahrain and returned to Britain in 1950 to carry LXK 90 plates.     Pemberton archive.

Below;   About 13 years later, a Bahrain Mini was parked for a photo-opportunity.

Bahraini Austin Seven ‘Mini’ 11002 in Notting Hill, London in 1962.    The arabic script for ‘Bahrain’ was not usually shown in this period and it is odd that many such cars were permitted to run in Britain with these arabic-only plates, when really, they should have been given ‘Q’ temporary import plates at the UK port of entry…….          Brumby archive

Some Bahrein royal household plates were occasionally seen in London in those times, sometimes with modest cars……

A circa 1960 Austin A55 Cambridge 12405, with the serrated red and white plates of the Bahrain ‘royal household’  members.            Brumby archive.

….and sometimes with the grandes voitures which would become the hallmark of Gulf visitors in later years……

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facel_Vega_Facel_II

644  —  A French Facel-Vega ‘Facel 2’  supercar in London during the 1960s, bearing ‘royal house’ red/silver die-cast plates – with a minor error of spelling!    Only 180 of this car were made, in their 2 years of production 1962-4
Vic Brumby archive

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 3rd, 2013 at 2:38 am and is filed under Bahrein, Historic, Iraq, Israel, Royal House. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.