RPWO is back On-Line!

December 18, 2017

Good news – the Registration Plates of the World Online is back, after a hiatus of some weeks. The U.S. hosting Company, GoDaddy, ran in to snags, but our webmaster, John Northup, has bent them to his will, and somehow re-opened the door.

Members will be pleased to Resume Normal Inspection. One or two pages remain to be connected, but its only a matter of hours, we believe.

Members should send a request to Vic Brumby to access the archive on Dropbox. If you are not yet a Europlate member, join our club below! Join Europlate now

It was not the Russian navy ploughing the seabed and disturbing the Europlate cable, as we had wondered.

While you’re here – an unidentified old Russian

Member Rein Veldi comes to the rescue.. Its a 1928 AVTODOR Nami prototype Russian car of a type which did not go in to production. The plate is a 1928-30 manufacturer’s tag reading 19/ISPYTANIE, probably black on white.

===========================

Study the Historic shots from a few of our members’ photo collections, at the Dropbox location.

5 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Victor Brumby

Life after Stoel

December 13, 2017

Sorry, Bloggers, but the digitisation of the images from the Stoel and other albums has kept me away from posting new stuff on our Blog, though there’s plenty of historical material to interest us therein. So – a start to the catchup…….

We start with an American Jeep photographed in Prague between 1945 and ’47, registered P-1323, which is painted on to the tailgate.

It also carries white-on-black plate AA 161, which is not presently identified, but the stencilled UNRRA below tells us that the Jeep belongs to the (first to set up) section of the all-new United Nations. UNRRA existed from 1945 to 1947 (see Wikipedia/United NationsRRA). That international body undertook Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, to help move-on or to repatriate the myriad Displaced Persons who found themselves marooned out-of-country at the end of WW2.

This Jeep team would have been working in the Czechoslovakian/Austrian zone. Note an apparent petrol shortage?

=================KS=====================

POSNÁVACÍ ZNAČKY

Bloggers may not know of this excellent-quality book published by Czech enthusiasts Zeleny and Feuereisl which gives chapter and verse on the CS systems from 1919 to today and covered the former lands of Moravia, Bohemia, Silesia, Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia. The quantity and quality of photographs is marvellous, and the data of codes and dates is most professional. Good thing too – the history of plates there is a minefield!

The authors are friends of our own Czech Mate, Alexander Kavka, who may have copies for sale – that’s where I bought mine.

==================================

SPĒKRATU VIZITKARTE

Another extraordinary labour of love is represented by this excellent-quality book on the plates of Latvia created by the people of the Automobile Museum of Riga. Again the quality of the photos is good – some very good – and though the data is much less detailed that in the Czech book, nothing important seems to have been left out. The period covered is from 1900 to the present day.

Member Rein Valdi brought this volume to the attention of the Blog for which, thank you, Rein. He stopped in London during December 2017 and we enjoyed a few pints whilst nattering about plates. As a fluent Russian (and perfect English) speaker, he specialises in the Soviet bloc.

===============================

Titulaire Temporaire

Found among the French albums of the Stoel collection, among the red TT plate series used by foreigners in France from 1933-54, is this image of an Austin A40 Somerset from pre-independence Algeria, 32 TT ZZ. The only written reference to this series is in the all-encompassing French Club’s website, Francoplaque, and I don’t think any previous pictures have surfaced until now. The giveaway Algeria code is ‘ZZ‘ and in this case, the ‘3’ probably dates it as a 1953 issue. Temporary import no. 32!

It is all the stranger because it was never a common thing for the French motorist to buy a British car – nor really any make from outside France. Le Land-Rover was an exception, as there were no domestic manufacturers of such cross-country vehicles.

But because the TT series was also used to register used cars arriving from abroad for extended visits to France and her territories, we may perhaps guess that this Austin belonged to a Briton working in Algeria in some NGO or aid capacity, and who brought his own car with him.

============KS==============

This 1950s New Caledonia E 50 shot is of a new import to the French Pacific territory, carrying the trade plate of the importing dealer, who has just collected the Fiat Multipla from the vessel ‘Polynesie’. The NC dealer code ‘E‘ had not been previously known before this pictorial evidence! (Essai/Trial/Delivery/Dealer)

================KS===================

Seen awaiting the Corsica Ferry from Nice in the 1970s is a Morris 1100 (another British make with a French address!) in transit to the island zone B (Bastia). Its Corsica dealer plates show 104 W2B and represent the 1976-93 dealer layout.

France used the letter ‘W‘ for Dealer plates from the very beginning, probably because it is a letter which doesn’t actually exist in the French language/alphabet, except for use in imported words, such as ‘wagon’, ‘weekend’ and ‘sandwich’. All borrowed from perfidious Albion – which took its entire dictionary from The Rest Of The World – and probably 50% directly from French, and in turn, Latin……

================VB===================

Below: 20 W 2 represents the 1952-76 Corsica Dealer layout, in which 20 then coded the whole island. A new-looking Fiat 1100, circa 1957.

==============KS==================

The last French oddity is this 1950s government Delivery/Provisional. Here ‘D‘ abbreviates ‘Domaine’ or government region.

This Peugeot 203, 5805 WWD is on delivery from the supplying dealer or government motor pool to the provincial operating office, where it will spend its working life, having been first permanently registered with a simple ‘D‘ suffix

===============KS==================

This fuzzy shot of Granada GR-3454 from the 1930s could well be the legendary Karel Stoel interviewing a Spanish voyager in the Netherlands.. Is that a US Ford?

==============KS==================

Who should breeze in to London during November 2017, but James “McGuinnessy” Gordon, Honourable Member for Mount Tom Price? He had come by a rare Trieste motorcycle plate in Europe which he really wanted to show to someone, so I dashed up to the capital and the only place we could find to talk about it and xeno-autonumerology in general was a pub – so that just had to do!

Thanks for the visit, Jim!

=========Pretty Barmaid archive========

For no special reason, except that it is a little-seen San Marinese variant, here is (RSM) Dealer 195 on a Mini-Cooper a few years ago.

nb In 59 years of plate-spotting in GB, I have never seen ONE RSM vehicle !

===============anon===================

And finally, for this session, Uruguay.

The next-to-never-seen Uruguay international oval (U) in Holland in the 1960s. 7-47 on a VW Karmann-Ghia VW. The letters ‘CD’ and ‘CC’ were not shown on Uruguayan plates until the 60s or 70s. Simply ‘Montevideo’ either over or under the number, the second component of which was probably the embassy code, and the leading number, the serial. So, Mission 47, car 7.

(Now apparently using (ROU) – but we’re not likely to see that oval either!)

(ROU)(cd 50s).Montevideo_9-64_comp_(bl.w)_M-B.France1958VB

This Benz was snapped in southern France circa 1960, when the (U) dip. plate colours were light blue on white, as per the national flag.

========= (Brumby archive)==========

BELOW: 1955 saw a new ROU president taking a ride in his new company car, below. Probably in white on the light blue shades of the national flag.

(What is that car?)

19 Dec 2017 – A Dodge Custom Royal Lancer, advises member Rein.

(ROU)(off 55).Montevideo(gv-pres.)_1_(bl.w)_UScar.vbU162.KS

=========== (Stoel archive)============

And who can offer an analysis of this unusual Uruguayan plate 4-03, seen in Europe, we can assume, from the architecture and the international ‘U’ sign, carried by a mid-1940s US Ford Sedan. Possibly blue on white.

(ROU)(off 50c)_A-403(ambulance m)_(r.w)(U oval)_FordCustomSedan.vbU167KS

========= (Stoel archive)==========

THE EUROPLATE HISTORIC ARCHIVE On-Line

(TEHA2)

The RPW online-pictures site TEHA2 is full of these rare and unusual plate shots captured by the early collectors and photographers, and it is updated daily, as new material arises. It can be a useful aid to identifying your unrecognised plates.

The Blog pictures are mostly selections from that repository of about 30,000 images which covers every country from the start of motoring to the mid-seventies (save for continental USA and CDN, which would be a life’s work on their own).

All paid-up Europlate members should peruse TEHA2. In future, it will be contained within the passworded Europlate website, we earnestly hope, but for now, if you would like it sooner – just email me for the standalone link:

vicbrumby@gmail.com

==============================================

ps. No news yet on the Europlate website, which is suffering from a (nervous?) breakdown at the hosting outfit in the US. We understand that Mr, Trump is taking the matter up with them.

18/12/17 NOW RESTORED – hallelujah!

Sayonara!

VB – Streatley, Dec 14 2017.

1 Comment | Algeria-French, Corsica, Czechoslovakia, Dealer, Diplomatic, Latvia, New Caledonia, San Marino, Spain, Trieste free zone, Uruguay | Permalink
Posted by Victor Brumby

Some curiosities

August 3, 2017

Is this one of the best postings for a diplomat? This Land Rover Discovery is seen outside the British High Commission in Nuku’alofa, which is a two storey(!) beach house right next door to the mini Royal Palace on peaceful Tongatapu island.

(Tonga cd 90s~-GB)_UK 2_comp_2005VB

______________

The principal assistant to the Tongan economy is generous New Zealand, whose High Commissioner uses the CD type NZ 1.

(TO)(cd 90s~-NZ)_NZ 1_comp_2005VB

________________

The Palace roof is of corrugated iron and the household operates a few vehicles with special-issue plates; here is a 1950s King plate (1) from Jim Gordons’s photo collection.

(TO 50s)(king)_1_pl_JG

__________________________

PM 16 — Parliament people carry privileged PM plates, more recently in white and yellow, front and back.

(TO 2000c~)(off-PM)_PM 16_comp_2005VB

____________________________

And also from the early times, G 271 illustrates the tractor issue, used during the 1960s-80s:

(TO 60s-80s)(trac)_G271_comp_2005VB

C 16 DKH — This pic has been sent in from Singapore recently – any ideas?

(SGP)_C 16 DKH_-VAN BRUSSEL-2-5-2017-IMG-PLAAT

Alastair Caldwell shot these plates for tourist-sale on one of many stalls in Buenos Aires. The re-painting has created some variations on the original black-on-white format!

(RA 68-10)(cd)2-Caldwell_2013VB

________________________

CHINESE MILITARY MISSION to BERLIN

Roy Klotz made this note below in Europlate some years ago and Ray King saved it in his scrapbook, which is now part of our RPWO on-line archive. What a rare find – the only plate of its type in the world.

Or was it?

(D)(Formosa Military Mission Berlin 45-45)_article.Ray King,Roy Klotz

KB 042 846 — The Stoel albums unveil another version of that Chinese mission, carried on a Mercedes 170(?) which also bears the 1947-48 Berlin plate type issued by the Allied administration of the city in the aftermath of the war – Kommandatura Berlin (Berlin Command).

(The subject of Chinese/Formosan/Taiwanese participation in the restoration of 1940s Germany must be worthy of some research…..)

(D national 47-48).Berlin Command_KB 042-846+China Mil Miss.M-B.vb4443KS

___________________

BR 510-075 — This Mercedes’ plate ticks several boxes. It’s the Berlin 1948-56 series with BR meaning British Zone-North Rhein-Westfalia and the leading zero of the second number-set 075 shows that it is a dealer plate – as would the red-on-white colouring, if Mr. Stoel had had colour film. Then, to make the matter even more interesting, it seems to have been an embassy car! Diplomatic Dealer – quite unusual, we suggest….060117 – See Marcelo Taverna’s interesting observation on this curiosity in Comments below….

(D GBz 48-56).Nordrhein-Westfalen(dlr)_br 510-075_(r.w)(CD oval)_M-B.vb4443KS

___________________

In the 1930s, King Edward the Eighth of Great Britain visited Vienna and was driven about in A 182 (CD) which was probably the GB embassy Rolls-Royce.

Diplomats used low Vienna serials.

‘A’ coded Vienna until 1947, when ‘W’ became the capital’s identifier (Wien).

(A-H 30-38).A-Vienna(cd)_A 182_(w.b)_King_vb28KS ___________________

Below: A page from the Stoel albums, prior to breaking-up in to individual images.

0291 P is thought to be an artist’s impression, not a Russian plate type. The vintage car stuck in the mud somewhere is sporting an Asian script and is quite unidentifiable so far.

The motorcycle combination registered ‘Zh‘ 12 11 is thought to be a 1931-34 *military issue in red on white. 30.09.2017 – We now learn from reader Rein that it is a black on white normal plate from the 1931-34 USSR series, though so far, which area (Zh) is not clear. *Rein adds that pre-WW2, Russian military vehicles were unregistered.

(Rus-SU 20s).. vb01KS-DONE

And finally 24 – a Russian query. Do we know of light-on-dark Russian plates in Tsarist 1915??

Right-hand-drive – and is it a FIAT?

19Sept2017 – Well – 24 is obviously a pre-revolution (1917) registration and there wasn’t a national system yet in Russia – each town used whatever they liked. Member Rein has info that this is a rally car in Moscow from Chisinau after that long drive, so now we don’t know if it is a Russian or a Bessarabian plate!!

See his notes below:

The last plate “24” is pictured in May 1913, not 1915 as printed. The car is a Benz and it arrived to Moscow from Chisinau, Bessarabskaya guberniya (Moldova). The owner of the car was Mr Suruchan, winner of the 1913 Star Race, organized by Russian First Automobile Club. Competitors started from different cities to drive to Moscow. There were no general Russian plates at that time; every city and province had its own colours and designs. Colours were usually changed every year, to denote payment of annual vehicle tax.

q(Rus-SU 15-q)_24_(w.b)_1915photo.anonVB

finis

8 Comments | Austria, Russia, Uncategorized, USSR | Permalink
Posted by Victor Brumby

Honduran check-out

April 14, 2017

Friends having been persuaded to invest in the Honduran island of Roatan, south of Cuba, invited the Brumbys to visit in March 2017. Having little knowledge of the Central American region, save for Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, if that counts, we took them up and flew United Airlines London-Houston where one must overnight at the massive airport before taking another 2-hour island flight next morning. On arrival, the airport carpark gave up a prize immediately, with 3 of the International Mission (also titled elsewhere Aid/Non-Government Org.) MI plates. Brown rim and lettering rather than the red suggested in the guides. They must be batch-coded, as there would not be 4463 such vehicles, even in Honduras! MI 4463

(HON 99~)(aid)_MI 4463_cu_(b.br.w)_2017VB

INTERRUPTION:

Though I have always favoured pictures of plates mounted naturally on their vehicles, I find that photographing plates in countries which use small detail in their plates is seldom successful when reviewing them later. Nowadays, aided by the free-use digital cameras and phones, we can take both distance AND close-up shots.

I used to be able to then create a ‘comp’ – a composite picture for display, using Photoshop – but I have forgotten how to do it!

This is an comp. example, from a 1996 visit to an Egyptian fire station

(ET 96)(mun)(fire)_LU 4&5_comp_1996VB

Therefore, the Honduran photos shown here tend to be portraits, so that the reader can see the detail.

HONDURAS CONTINUED:

Another plate type first seen at the airport, was this National Government plate using an ‘N’ prefix. N 11905 (HON 99~)(gv)_N_11905_cur_(b.bl.w)_KIA ute1.2017VB

These National plates use the colours of the current private vehicles issue and are used by the regular police and other state offices. N 11905 is an undercover police ‘ute’ (or pick-up truck), photographed from the safety of our hire-car, as they had more guns than we..

(HON 99~)(gv)_N_11905_r_(b.bl.w)_KIA ute3.2017VB

The alpha system uses two forms of the letter ‘N’ and perhaps Honduras could be the only country to use Ñ….

PDÑ 9676 has the Private vehicle prefix P and the Dx serial was current during our visit, changing to PEA just as we left, pursued by swarms of sandflies and mosquitos, two of the islands’ most successful breeding fauna, alongside the poor but jolly villagers.

(HON 99~)_P DN 9676_(bl.w)_.Roatan2017VB

Duty-Free Imports

There are two colours of PP plates, which were thought to be for rental cars – but they use normal plates. I was told by a Thpanish-thpeaking local that the PP abbreviates ‘Placa Pimiente’ or Temporary Plate, and later, by an American whose car carried a set of them, that, to encourage retirement settlers from US and Canada to Honduras, their household equipment and cars may be brought in free of import duties, providing they are not sold within five years.

Costa Rica has a similar privilege plate for retirees.

Our esteemed Editor, Señor Barragan, who knows a good bit of Thpanish tells me there is no such word as Pimiente – so it seems that my first source spoke with forked tongue.

Anyway, most PPs are all-red but a few light pick-ups (utes) had black lettering. Why?

(HON 99~)(import 0tax)_PP 20578_c_(r.w)_.2017VB

(HON 99~)(import 0tax)_PP 17422_cr_(b,r.w)_ute.2017VB

A new discovery was a trailer system, with a leading ‘R’ as usua;, for Remorque or similar, and a serial letter. They are uncommon, yet they have reached C as a serial. Trailer R C 1429, adjuring all to ‘Protect our Forests’. The English word ‘bosky’ is a relative of this Latinate word Bosques….

(HON 99~)(tlr)_R C 1429_(bl.w)_trailer.Roatan2017VB

and trailer R A 8536

(HON 99~)(tlr)_R A 8536_cu_(bl.w)_trailer.Roatan2017VB

Motorcycles are as expected, prefixed M …

(HON 99~)(mc)_M AB 7049_(b.bl.w)_mc.2017VB

The Fire Brigade seems to have freedom of choice about what it displays!

(HON gv)(fire)_HRB-00146_f_(r.y)_Nissan ute.Roatan2017VB

(HON gv)(fire)_HRB-2409_(y.r)_mc.Roatan2017VB

(HON gv)(fire)_HRB-2401_c_(y.r)_Roatan2017VB

Ambulances enjoy a similar freedom. Same plate front and back.

(HON)(amb)_(r.w)_AMBULANCIA_c_.2017VB

A lengthy chase following a high-speed turn-round enabled the photo-capture of an unknown military plate type, Repubblica Honduras Fuerzas Navales, as I judge it to mean, and we may rely on the Placamundi contingent to bring accuracy where there is only inspired guesswork.

(HON gv)(mil-navy6)_RHFN 5718_cu_(bl.w)_Roatan2017VB

(HON gv)(mil-navy3)_RHFN 5718_cu_(bl.w)_Roatan2017VB

(HON gv)(mil-navy2)_RHFN 5718_cu_(bl.w)_Roatan2017VB

(HON gv)(mil-navy)_RHFN 5718_cu_(bl.w)_Roatan2017VB

Several small cars carried the plate below and were hired to tourists. It’s not exactly a plate, is it?

(HON)(rtl)_JAAR_(bl.w)_cu_KIA.Roatan2017VB

A special police group travel with blue plates, unlike any others and are tricky to photograph, for reasons you will understand. This is as close as my survival instinct permitted me to get to white on blue, stencilled UD 11-001….

P1070508

….from which my editing software gleans this:

(HON)(pol)_UD 11-001_ute.Roatan2017VB

The only non-Honduran plates on the island were from Guatemala. It seems that there is paid work for GCA workers if they come to the island. The authorities are still issuing 2004-dated plates!

(GCA 2004)_P 947PWS_Roatan2017VB

This GCA ute was dumped. Its P947 DWS plates were secured by self-tapping screws and are no longer attached. A brand-new ute (still 2004) P767 GJJ is seen below.

(GCA 2004)_P 767GJJ_cr_Roatan2017VB

A couple of odd US plates varied the diet:

$(USA-Tex 2016)_transit_Roatan2017VB$

(USA-Tex)(disabled)_68KBJ_(bl.w)_Chrysler SUV.Roatan2017VB

I suspect the driver of the Texas vehicle was laid low by the sandflies, the heat and the ghastly food of the island and was issued a handicapped plate by his hospital back home. Odd thing is, he went back to Honduras for more…… We won’t.

Victor Brumby, April 2017

QUIZ

For three weeks I have been dismantling the pages of Karel Stoel’s German albums and the period 1895-1945 is at last complete. A plate I cannot identify presents your chance to show us your skill as a xeno-autonumerologist: D 7090

(D 40s).q_D-7079_(l.d)_mil car.vbKS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More early German shots will appear in the next posts plus some of the Protectorates seized from the surrounding countries when Adolf got the bit between his teeth.

Here are two cars of senior government personnel, parked outside a great meeting hall in Vienna some time during 39-45. Early vanity plates! Nd 1 and W 101 are from Lower Austria and Vienna Protectorate… Vienna/Wien used white plates during the occupation.

Less exotic IIB 57022 is from Upper Bavaria (Oberbayern). How about identifying the three cars?

(D 39-45).Prot.Niederdonau-Lower Danube(A)_Nd-1 + W-101_vbKS

Now get back to work.

10 Comments | Egypt, Guatemala, Honduras, QUIZ, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Victor Brumby

German ovals.

March 29, 2017

(D 51-67)(exp).Aachen_400 Z-9170_Hanomag lorry.TG

(D 51-67)(exp).Stuttgart-East_228 Z-869_Porsche.BL

(D 51-88)(exp).Munich-West_688 Z-82_mc.BL

(D)(exp 51-88)_818 Z-9349_cu_1960sVB

Before the ubiquitous Export Z-plates of the post-war years were seen all over Europe, as Germany stepped up her motor manufacturing with vehicles the whole world wanted to buy, another, simpler form of the unique oval licence plate had been born.

(D 07-50)(temp)_01515+Illinois1931_vbKS (D 07-50)(temp).Prussia_31205_UScar.vbKS (D 07-50)(temp).Bremerhaven_219_r_UScar.vbKS (D 07-50)(temp)_01962_Henschel lorry..vbKS (D 07-50)(temp).Hamburg_5579_ (CD sign-S)_Ford Eiffel.vbKS

Reader Hassan translates: “Second to last car from Berlin… Captain Sigvard Drake of the P-4 (armoured) regiment, Skövde, narrates an exciting trip home from Berlin in his Ford Eifel Cabriolet in the letter below. (letter absent -Ed) The picture is taken outside of Hedberg’s (Ford Dealership) in Malmö” Thank you Hassan.

Who would like to write a covering piece about this historic temporary series?

**********

1 Comment | Germany, Temporary Importation, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Victor Brumby

Bali Query

March 29, 2017

29-3-17

Jake Brumby was alert one morning last week, when this very odd Indonesian Consular Corps passed him in traffic. iPhone at the ready, he grabbed this shot.

Expiry being apparently in the 68th. month of 2001 leads you to the suspicion that this false-plate maker doesn’t know a lot about his subject! Or is it something NEW? (RI)(cc)_CC_ DK 68-01_BMW.Ubud2017JB

Usually, Indonesian Consulars are thus:

where 12 is the US embassy and 22 indicates that the driver is 22nd. in line for the Big Job if it ever becomes free. His plate ran out of tax in July 2012.

(RI)(cc 92~-USA)_CC 12 22_cu_VB

But regional Consulars are coded for their locality which in this case is the DK code for Denpasar, the BALI capital. 42 tells us that there is a Mexican consulate there, and 01 would be the Consul himself. Not a bad posting!

(RI 92~).Bali(cc-MEX)_DK 42 01 CC_2008VB

Maybe they run out of consular volunteers sometimes and pull in a few Honorary Consuls, because Indonesia makes a special plate for them……

(RI)(cc honcon 77~)_L 980 CC_cu_ITvb

and before the thin tin plate design commenced years ago, the original Netherlands Indies designs were in use, and show the family history.

(RI)(cc honcon 62-77).Jakarta_B.7178 K CC_comp_mb1970sVB

Note also how cameras have improved since the 1960s!

The country sports some of the most baroque military and police plates in the world, and because it’s a laid-back place, the cops don’t mind you photographing them. Try this in Moscow!

(RI).Bali(pol)(mc)_XI 14-115_cr _2008VB

Roman numerals, indeed!

And what did Mr. Karel Stoel have to say about the Spice Islands? Plenty – including BA-439

Sumatra West – on another of those Auburns which Jean-Emmanuel found in Guadeloupe!

(RI 20-62)(IN).Sumatra west_BA-439_plKS

(Guad 20s-52)_3162 1930s Auburn.jec.jpg

Next – notes from a banana republic….

Leave a Comment » | Consular, Guadeloupe, Indonesia, Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Victor Brumby

Bhutan acquisition and rallying

February 24, 2017

Alastair C., a pal who enjoys rallying old cars in unusual places has caught the bug of plate-collecting, due to over-long exposure to your editor in bars and over dinner-tables. In 2016 he returned from Bhutan having somehow persuaded someone to let him take one of their colourful plates home, which he presented to me at the Red Lion Inn at Coleshill, GB.

Bhutan Private . 2 = Phuentsholing (Western region)

In 2009, he rode his Ducati(!) motorcycle to Senegal with some biker friends and collected a few mementos:

MAURETANIA, SENEGAL and GAMBIA plates

I asked him how he transported them, on a motor-bike, from West Africa to Maidenhead, where he lives and keeps the dozen varying vehicle types with which he pursues his hobby of world motoring. He replied, nonchalantly “Strapped ’em to me handlebars, old boy”. Across the Sahara??? Past African border officials???? On a 2-wheeled, unstable conveyance????

Yes – well, I should have known better than to ask.

At present, that worthy has just finished the Haka Rally in New Zealand, for which he used his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud – and that was with his (Kiwi) 99-year-old mother Dorothy, who frequently accompanies him as navigator (she is now in the Guinness Book of Records as the World’s Eldest Navigator).

The 2014 photo was taken in Mandalay by Australian friends visiting Burma and who saw Alastair’s Rolls parked-up during the lunch-hour, whilst he was on another rally!

Aussies Sue and Peter White took the photo to send to me for interest, and they “spoke for a while with the owner”, but no-one discovered that they had a mutual friend in England until I put 2 and 2 together weeks later, after receiving this picture!

Small world……

From a rally intended to take place in Cuba came this photo of repainted plates, which stallholders in Havana habitually prepare to sell to visitors as a memento of the island with The Worst Food In The World. When the ship carrying the rally cars arrived at Port Havana, the authorities decided to blackmail the rally organisers by refusing entry for the cars unless an arbitrary and significant bribe was offered. The organisers declined the invitation, by agreement with the competitors and as a result, the containers full of rare cars never left the ship and were returned to Europe unopened. The bankrupt country didn’t get either the bribe or the good deal of money which would have been spent by the rally crews. They have much to learn.

< This period of Cuban plate is now over and every vehicle except some government and military departments have been obliged to re-plate with the new German-style below;

Cuban repainters usually change the colours.

Below: Black-on-white, Legible but rather dull new Cuban system, uses German dies. 1930s US Ford V8 tourer?

Leave a Comment » | Cuba, Gambia, Mauretania, Senegal | Permalink
Posted by Victor Brumby

Malaysia 2017 news

February 11, 2017

Surprisingly, the series for the Wilayah of Kuala Lumpur which commenced in Sept. 2013 and which was to run for up to 20 years, W then W(A-Y) nnnn A-Y:

mal-2013-16-wilayah-kl_a-w-1973-a_c_wee2014vb mal-2013-16-wilayah-kl_w_w-4614-w_-2014vb

and after straight W, prefixed WA, WB etc nnnn L:

mal-2013-16-wilayah-kl_wa-4841-k_cu_2014vb

mal-2013-16-wilayah-kl_wb-8204-u_c_2014vb has been stopped at WD 9999 Y and replaced by a letter never previously used in Malaya – V. From 1 October 2016, V 11 started the ball rolling (1-10 are reserved for arrivistes) and V 9999 was reached soon after. The traffic in Kuala Lumpur is testimony to the overpopulation of vehicles in this prosperous, sprawling city – though I estimate that 40% of the take-up of new registrations is by small motorcycles, which are as prolific as they are in Vietnam and share the same registration system as cars and commercials.

V quickly ran out at 9999, so – on with the first set of serial letters, VA-VY 10-9999.... mal-2016-wilayah-kl_v-5913_nissan-2017vb

mal-2016-kl_vj-3786_cu_vb

By February 2017, the alpha serials have reached VQ! So – not long before we see VA 11-9999 A-Y.

*****************

The new capital, Putrajaya, built to take the strain off KL’s overgrowth, where accommodation has been built for hundreds of thousands, and where government departments have been moved, has been a white elephant; the people just aren’t interested in living 40 miles away from KL. The bizarre original plate issue Putrajaya 1-9999 for those who DO dwell in that silent city, malsi_putrajaya-3334_cu_vb

has finally been used up and from 1/6/2016 was replaced with ‘F‘ perhaps for ‘Federal’ as Putrajaya is the (supposed) HQ of the Federal Government. Not many around yet. The Sultan of Johore bought F 1 for some record fee because he associates it with Formula One and his family have been motor enthusiasts and car collectors since motoring began and they got their first chequebook.

mal-2017-putrajaya_f-122_bmwmini-vb

*************************************

Honorary Member Stoel contributes this 1950s magazine extract of Grandfather Johore’s HHSJ, one of several pre-war Mercedes 540K’s owned by the family. (?Being returned to Stuttgart for rebuild? It could be the Hamburg dockside.) mal-johorerh-sultan-40s_hhsj_m-b-640k-vbks

mal-johorerh-sultan-60sjo_jb-1_m-b300sl-vbks

Perhaps the same 540K after restoration, and bearing the ubiquitous HHSJ plates – His Highness the Sultan of Johore – still in use. Indeed, he ran a HHSJ supplementary-plated Mercedes 300 saloon in London for many years, which I photographed in circa 1960, – and lost the picture. Here another HHSJ example is seen plus Johore Bahru 1 on a then-new Benz 300SL.

mal-johorerh-sultan-50s_hhsj_cadillac-vbks

and (above) an interim HHSJ conveyance, no doubt from Lincoln or Cadillac, probably in the 1940s.

*********************************

A Malayan AA badge from early days, surmounted by the territory name. Most, if not all, Empire countries had their own AA badges.

A later type.

‘PATRIOT‘ — Here is the latest money-tree for the Malaysian Vehicle Registration Dept. (Vanity Division). It seems that whatever notion they conceive to provide a plate variation, a gullible public will adopt – at the much-increased cost over a standard plate. Perhaps they have seen the success of the Australian plate-marketing gurus – there are more dopey plates there than standard ones!

A New Discovery (but see below…)

Having once glimpsed a Royal Australian Air Force pick-up truck (ute) on a Penang ferry, but unable to capture it by camera, I located their base this time, via Google Maps, and drove over to Butterworth in the former Province Wellesley to wait at the airbase gates for any traffic carrying dedicated plates. As I arrived, a minibus left the compound and set off down the other carriageway. The plates were of an unknown configuration. Wasting time on a turn on the highway, I set off in hot pursuit, though he must have had at least a kilometre start. My hired Kia achieved some higher-than-normal revs and before long I was behind D 1242 E, whose driver, a smart young Aussie soldier, stopped at my request.

He didn’t know much about the series, or how long it has been extant, but he did know that the D is for the Defence Ministry. He kindly authorised a close-up shot – and now we all know about another Malaysian* format, which doesn’t replace the usual military ‘Z‘ plates, such as

. malmil-af-snrs_zu-3412_cu_vb

(ZU=Royal Malaysian Air Force (U=Udara=Air)

* …. 20170223 – This week I saw another of these plates, but this was near Canberra, and the penny dropped. I checked with guru Jim Gordon in West Australia and he confirms – it is an AUSTRALIAN ‘Defence Organisation’ plate – not Malaysian. New one to me. However, it is an unusual strain thereof, as the Oz-based MoD plates are blue on white as under and they have a legend below, but the Malaysian-use ones are made up in white on black, foregoing the legend, to resemble the Malaysian plates. Mea Culpa!

**********************************

Finally another Stoel picture from Malaya’s past, showing an 1940s Johore JA 1551 and two British-plated Benzes: mal-johore-48-71_ja-1551_m-b-vbks

******************************

Also finally finally – a glimpse of Stoel’s notes on the Unfederated Malay States of Kelantan and Kedah before 1948. (Improved image to follow if poss.) We see the old Kelantan code KN of which we have only read – on the Humber, no 555, and K 2400 on a c.1932 Morris Isis from Kedah which has continued its K code from inception (probably about 1905) through to today, albeit now using a suffix or two. (I observe that 2400 seems a high number for Kedah in 1928-32, the period of manufacture of the 6-cylinder Isis. That northern state was still on straight K in the 1960s, as I recall – see the early Morris Minor below.)

8 Comments | Australia, Malaysia | Permalink
Posted by Victor Brumby

Myanmar-Burma 2017

February 10, 2017

A side-trip to Myanmar from our base in Kuala Lumpur, via the cheap and excellent airline, Air Asia, gave me the long-awaited opportunity to photo the plates of that backward land. Burma re-plated in October 2013, changing from all-Burmese script to all-western alphabet, though there are still vehicles running with the original script. All military vehicles and every type of motorcycle continues with the incomprehensible Burmese only.

bur-58mc_34-ka-44226_w-b_mc-yangon2017vb

The motorcycle series is unchanged in local script, which in this case reads 34 Ya 44226.

The police continue with Burmese script on motorbikes, but their bigger vehicles switched to the standard new plates, indistinguishable from civilian plates. See NPW 6H-9883 below.

bur-58c_j-3280_sideplate-lgv-yangon2017vb

Commercial vehicles have always displayed a copy of their registrations along the sides of the vehicle and this is an former-series supplementary reg. J 3280, in Burmese, carried on a lorry with westernised translation front and rear plates J 3280 (below). (The only one such seen with mixed script formats.)

CD-4/6 — I was surprised to find a CD still carrying previous-series plates – on an old car. The new CD type has been extended from only the CD and UN prefix by adding code IO for International Organisations. No letter-prefix at all would identify non-diplomatic embassy staff – NDES. (See YGN 1-1020 below.)

burcd-2013_cd-5-5_kia-optima-2017rangoonvb

YGN CD 5-5 — CD code 5 above is from the embassy of Pakistan in Yangon.

UN plates’ leading numbers indicate a branch of the organisation – see breakdown in RPWO. UN 15-1 (1=Head of yet-unidentified Mission 15) seen at Yangon Airport (which is brand new and very impressive to those who arrive expecting a tin hut surrounded by angry generals).

YGN 1-1020 — Embassy vehicles without Diplomatic Immunity are issued no-letter-prefix CD-type plates, seemingly starting from serial 1000, and uncoded. Embassy 1 = USA, on a Toyota minibus.

YGN IO-1047 — The new International Organisation plates’ serials commence at 1000. This vehicle 1047 is attached to a German cultural Institute, though no coding shows on the plate. Not many of the 2013-srs. plates are made with the horizontal substrate reading RTAD, as this one is, but all plates seem to have the top left and right stamps (as below).

***************

bur-2015foreign-donor-yangon_3j-1815_w-g_cf1_2017vb

The least-seen (1!) of the new types was the green ‘foreign gift’ vehicle which in this case was a gift from the Red Cross/Red Crescent, YGN 3J-1815. Note that all the categories of user take their registration from the single, common pool, so that the next issue after this green plate (3J-1816) could be a red taxi plate, or a black private plate etc.etc.

bur-2013priests-yangon_rlg-6894_r_toyota-2017vb

Only two of the yellow ReLiGious vehicles were seen, issued for the transport of the many Buddhist monks. Odd code system, to my mind, but a splendid plate YGB RLG-6894…….

bur-2013comv-bus-locals-yangon_g-4617_bus-2017vb

This is an unusual ex-Japan Hino bus in that it carries a translation plate YGN G-4617 from the 1950s-2013 series, properly pressed in the latest style. It was the only one of this type seen.

bur-2013comv-txi-locals-yangon_hh-1104_cu_2017vb

Taxi YGN HH-1104 — Normal bus and taxi plates (PSV) are red and began in 2012-3 with pairs of letters preceding 1-9999. For no known reason, when AA to HH had been issued, the pairing idea was discontinued and now the Public Service Vehicles are registered in the normal run 1A-1234. The red background material is fading to dark brown on some of the earlier plates, which are said to be Chinese-made, so unlikely to be using the 3M non-fade material. The first of the AA plates were made without the regional code atop the plate (see AA 4160 below).

bur-2013comv-txi-locals-no-zone_aa-4160_toyota-2017vb

Taxi AA-4160 — One of the first 2013 new-series PSV plates, pressed without a regional code.

bur-2013comv-txi-tourist-yangon_8h-6379_2017vb

Tourist Taxi YGN 8H-6379 — Smarter, newer bus and taxi plates coloured blue are for the use of foreign visitors and these may legally accept currency other than the Burmese Kyat (with which so few visitors travel!) (The rate is about 1750:stg£1 and 1350:US$1 at month-end Jan 2017.) At last there are street ATM’s in the country and it has become easier to obtain currency at a fair rate and without showing passports or standing in long, hot queues.

YGN 7I-6590 — A foreign-tourist-authorised taxi, registered in the normal NL-NNNN system, but in blue. Both I and Q are used in Myanmar registrations.

****************

The normal Private, Police and Government plates are white on black, all taken from the common system and uncoded:

SHN 3M-9788 is from Shan District – Taunggyi. Likely to be a government car.

SGG 2F-3977, a Suzuki from Sagaing region, outside the legendary Strand Hotel on Strand Road in Rangoon/Yangon .

bur-2013-mandalay_4m-4552_hyundai-minibus2017vb

MDY 4M-4552, from Mandalay, above.

bur-2013-napidaw_6h-9883_police-lorry-2017vb

NPW 6H-9883 is a Napidaw-registered police lorry working in Rangoon, with a number taken from the normal register, and in white on black as for private vehicles.

A NEW DISCOVERY!

Heavy trailers have a white-on-red series of their own, previously unrecorded: 1 TLR 4594 at the docks.

The 6 seen all had painted plates. For the small run required, it probably isn’t worth manufacturing them…….

*********************

Some bicycles carry a plate at the front: can you translate?

burbicycleqq_1739_c_2017vb

There are no non-government 2-wheeled vehicles in central Yangon.

We were told that the ban on motorcycles in central Rangoon was brought about by the sudden recognition by the generals who ran the country (and still run it, but are now out of uniform and in to business suits) of the ease with which a Honda 50cc carrying two unhappy citizens could slide alongside their Landcruisers in the eternal traffic jam of the capital and with a single shot, bring them Early to the Pearly Gates.

****************

BELOW: A quiz subject here. A small m/c with a blue plate. What is it??

bur-qmc_to-translate_w-bl_mc2-yangon2017vb

BELOW:

Here are some examples of vehicles which have not changed their plates to the 2013 format, but instead, have fitted ‘translation plates’ from their old Burmese-script plates. They are all small-medium commercial vehicles, which may mean something……

bur-58cremake-yangon_o-7078_old4wd_2017vb

YGN O 7078 – a Land Rover clone. O, P, Q, S, T & V serial letters were seen. The apparent ‘minder’ of the government yard in which these old commercials was photographed, said that they were ‘Ministry’ vehicles and that he himself was the Minister of Publicity and Public Affairs. It may have been the local English in which he explained this to me, but I was unconvinced. I think they are simply old machines which their owners want to keep using, and to do that, the authorities tell them to translate their old plates in to western script, and add the new regional code letters. All registrations were centrally issued from Rangoon before Burma’s 1948 independence from Britain, and reached RD (from R, RA, RB, and RC) using western script. In the next years until about 1955, there was a mix of alphabets on plates. Then the ‘R’ prefix became lost and only the serial letter was given in that period. When that alphabet set was exhausted, a serial prefix number was employed, (eg 1-Ya 1234), just as today. Almost 60 years of Burmese squiggles-only then ensued, until the new, pressed, coloured-coded plates came about in 2012-3. However, there are brand-new cars circulating in Rangoon, bearing untranslated pre-2012 plates and I can only assume that these are VIPs who can buck the system. There are also quite a few very grand cars which have had their 2013 plates made up in differing western fonts, materials and sizes, to show themselves up. As usual around the world, if one is well-connected here, the laws don’t apply…..

And from history-man Karel Stoel, a blast from the Burmese past……………

bur-02-53bi_rb-1824-chev-lqbusanon1944vb

Jungle stop to exchange info on road conditions, thought to be circa 1938. Chevrolet LQ bus. RB 1824

Gha / 4?53 about 1953 on a Morris J2 half-ton van.

burcd-48-53c_rd-1802_f_52packardclipper-vbks

RD 1802 with CD oval on a 1952 Packard Clipper. No special format for diplomats then. This former British-India series for Burma RA-RD never reached RE in western script, but continued it in Burmese, and slowly dropped the initial ‘R’. Later, as the single-letter Burmese-alphabet prefixes were used up, a leading serial number was added, and still is used, by motorcycles, which retain Burmese script.

The swansong of Nuffield Group in Burma. A new Morris Oxford MO gha 2140 and and a Wolseley (6/80?) gha 2235 pose outside Rangoon’s Shwe Dagon pagoda. It is probably about 1952 and already the switch to Burmese ‘squiggles’ is evident. Due to the ban on imports, 60-year-old cars like these were still running in Burma until about six years ago, but now the slow opening-up of the country is bringing thousands of cheap, used, right-hand-drive cars in from Japan. Burma drove on the left until the 1970s, and though it now drives on the right of the road, all its vehicles remain right-hand-drive! There are now some car dealers, but no trade plates were found.

These are the sort of historic pictures the Club has gained from the acquisition of the Stoel albums. Paid-up members who wish to see the progress-to-date made in the scanning and identifications can email me for the hyperlink – which will shortly be generally distributed in any event.

VWB Kuala Lumpur 10.02.17 (and successively amended).

7 Comments | Burma, Diplomatic, Historic, Myanmar | Permalink
Posted by Victor Brumby

Karel Stoel Albums – A Historic Find.

September 30, 2016

One of our hobby’s most enduring members, Jim Fox of the USA (Eu 0095) has gathered the world’s most comprehensive collection of rare plates over many years, some of which had started life in the former legendary collection of Dutchman Karel Stoel, of Utrecht. Stoel’s may have been the first great global licence-plate assembly and it was displayed in a motor museum at Dreibergen in Holland after his death in in the 1960s. Fortunately, for posterity, a set of good b/w photos exists of those museum walls prior to the inevitable disposal – and many plates were saved from the landfill by Jim – at considerable cost.

Reg Wilson made this photo available to the editor many years ago, possibly after a visit to Dreibergen. There had been a rare ex-London Transport STL double-deck bus at the museum; I also made a pilgrimage there to view both items of interest, but by then it had closed, to my lasting chagrin.

It was known that Karel Stoel had also accumulated some thousands of photos of world plates in a set of over 20 100-page albums, which went off the radar until 2015, when a curious Mr. Fox, during a visit to Europe, joined with his old pal and veteran collector Jacques Lambin and set out to try to unearth that second, paper, tranche of Stoel’s treasure. They located retired enthusiast Joop Korf (former Europlate member #0003) of Rotterdam, who had acquired the albums from Mr Stoel’s widow after he died in the late 1960s and quietly kept them safe in his loft for over fifty years! Europlate came to know of the archive and asked Jim if he could arrange with Joop for Europlate to purchase, if Joop would be willing to part with them. A mutually satisfactory transaction ensued, thanks to Jim’s good relations with Joop.

The albums were safely stored by Joop for forty years

EU 0038 Victor Brumby immediately volunteered to drive over from GB to collect the books in early February 2016, met Mr. and Mrs. Korf at their home over excellent tea and cakes, and loaded a Volvo estate with Karel Stoel’s life’s work.
After an overnight in Bruges, Angela and Vic returned via the English Channel ferry and the albums took up their new home in Britain. Soon after, two of the albums were shown at the Easter Europlate Convention in Vaduz to general acclaim and volunteer members were sought who would be able to convert the original paper images to the modern digital form, by scanning, separating, enhancing, identifying, dating and cataloguing.
Antonio Barragan of Madrid and Jean-Emmanuel Chevry of Albi, France, nobly volunteered to share the task with Vic and each took one of the Stoel albums home from to Vaduz, to begin the process – which is quite time-consuming!
By this means every Europlate member will eventually have access to a magnificent historic archive of licence-plates of the world, from their inception at the turn of the 20th. century, to about 1970. More modern plate records are easily found from a wide variety of other sources and the special characteristic of this unique archive is the historic recording – and also, these pictures mainly illustrate the plates ON their vehicles, rather than as plate portraits.
We had already created an amalgamation of the photo collections of four Europlate earlybirds – Ray King, John Pemberton Eu 0083, Vic Brumby Eu 0038, Terry Gray Eu 0009 and Bernt Larsson Eu 0028, with more members offering their pre 1980 pictures to be added as time allows. The Stoel collection, which will be the biggest contributor to the final archive, is being merged with the ‘Earlybirds’ amalgamation, the total of which will eventually render a superlative reference facility for members present and future.
That Earlybird group is available to view on Dropbox if members care to ask for access by email to vicbrumby@gmail.com. An example page may be inspected at:
The intention is to make the entire collection available to all currently paid-up Europlate members by access through the RPWO website. When it’s up and running, we hope that more details – and corrections – might be added to individual pictures by knowledgeable members, if they will kindly communicate the new data to the editors.
Members without computer equipment or smart-phones can access the material by using a friend’s machine – in fact – any device, anywhere, which has access to the worldwide web.
The entire work will probably take two years, with so few members working on it, but countries will be released on RPOW for exhibition one at a time, as they are completed. Volunteers for sharing the project will be enthusiastically taken in, if they can perform the necessary digital functions. Members Cedric Sabine (Eu 0740) and Pieter Lommerse (Eu 0443) and John Harrison (Eu 0078) have kindly dismantled lots of digital pages for us, of the countries in which they have a special interest, and that helped to prepare the images for the subsequent sizing/editing/titling processes.
Our webmaster John Northup is working on the possibility of attaching the archive to our Association website RPWO and news of that launch must be imminent (!) UPDATE 8 Feb 2017: The inclusion of the new photo collection WITHIN the RPWO website transpires to be technically impossible, and so it will be viewable at its own web address, accessible to current, paid-up Members. It is too big to download, unless you have mega-memory, so one opts for VIEW ONLY, and as often as you please.
Finally, if any readers have early pictures of unusual plates, particularly if showing the vehicle too, they will find a good home alongside this great Members’ collection – so send them in, please! Still waiting, Members! Some of you MUST have some lovely old platepics!!!! Will you share them with us all? EMail them to : vicbrumby@gmail.com

Some of the Stoel pictures already for display are here:

Mauretania M 43 when it was part of the French Sudan, using the 1920-52 series from the AOF – French West Africa.

@@@

Government of Eritrea EG 75 circa 1951, on a Ford Zephyr Six. Assumed black on white, and in the capital, Asmara.
Ford Zephyr SixMark 1 – 1950s

@@@

Not looking good

Nigerian regional code CM 1762 from Victoria, in the British Trusteeship of the former German Kamerun (1916-1940s).

British Cameroons, aka Southern Cameroons (1940s-1960), amalgamated with the former French Trusteeship (TC) as the Cameroun Republic after independence in 1960, when the united country adopted the international oval (CAM), then, over the years, RUC, then CAM again, then CMR.

Formerly it had used TC or WAN, for either the French or the British/Nigerian sectors. Is this a record for international ovals??

(Ah – What did they use during the German period 1916-40s? D? KAM?)

CM 1762 seen here in 1950s Holland on an Austin A55 Cambridge by Mr. Karel Stoel, who was among the very first collectors of plate data, from the 1920s, and who passed away in 1966.

@@@@@@

1166 — SURINAME used this numeric-only system from the 1920s to 1954. Amazingly, a British-built Jowett Javelin (flat-four rwd) made its way there for this circa 1950 photo. Most pictures show that former Dutch Guiana mostly used painted plates – and several others show the (SME) oval.

Some interesting oddities, aren’t there?

More later…………………..

5 Comments | Stoel collection | Permalink
Posted by Victor Brumby

Europlate blog