Out-of-date Czechs

January 24, 2013

Polymath member Kavka spent a little time in CS as a boy, so these Pemberton spottings in wartime/postwar Britain may have some resonance for him.      Rather than attempt to identify them for readers, it  is suggested that you send in your own notes:

M-OL-132

M-OL-132    Looks like London

P-14873

P-14873, probably in Copenhagen.

P-60-298 (what is this car??)

P-60-298 (what is this car??)  Oxford after the war.

 

It was a rare sight to see a Skoda ai London in 1964, using Dealer plates.    A 09-17 photo by Vic Brumby.

It was a rare sight to see a Skoda in London in 1964, using Dealer plates. A 09-17 photo by Vic Brumby.

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Trieste 1950

January 22, 2013

Another of John Pemberton’s  fine sightings in the late 1940s or early 1950s was this Austin A70 Hereford from the Allies-administered territory of Trieste.     A big, expensive car of the time, it was probably the private car of one of the senior British military administrators, who shared the duties with the USA until the sector was returned to Italy in 1954.

Trieste international zone seen in Britain c. 1950.  Austin A70 reg. TS 10333.

Trieste international zone seen in Britain c. 1950. Austin A70 reg. TS 10333.

Two other Italian sightings in Britain, immediately post-war, it is thought.  SV 4740 (Savona).

(I)_SV.4740_JP1939vb

and MI 94279, a Fiat Topolino with a low Milan number….

Fiat 500 'Mouse' cabriolet behind two Swedish cars in Park Lane, London, early 1940s.

Fiat 500 ‘Mouse’ cabriolet behind two Swedish cars in Park Lane, London, early 1940s.


Some Canadian oddities

January 22, 2013

I wonder if any members can beat this 1947 date for their first photograph of a foreign plate at the start of their hobby?     John Pemberton saw this Canadian car in Oxford when at university there  after the war and its quite a good picture for the time – perhaps a decent camera?             (66 years ago!!!!)

unknown car type from 1937 British Columbia, thanks to EU83!

unknown car type from 1947 British Columbia, thanks to EU83!

(CDN)(BC47)_11.029_c_JP1947vb

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Is it not odd that John’s sighting of another Canadian was made to mount a British Temporary Visitors’ plate?    After all, Canada was surely a signatory to the appropriate conventions?      Thierry?

60.198 Quebec 1939 carrying GB 'Q' plates, too.

60.198 Quebec 1939 carrying GB ‘Q’ plates, too.

From another source, unknown, comes this 1932 Trade plate D 9,  from B.C.

1932 British Columbia Dealer during lunch-break.

1932 British Columbia Dealer during lunch-break.

1971 in Montreal.    The Quebec Liberation Group, allied to the Austin Owner’s Club Provisional Wing, had some unofficial ‘Q’ ovals made, possibly to assist them to get privileged parking….

(CDN)(Q71)_4B5204_VB1971_resize

The journal Old Motor (now extinct) gives us this image of a Quebecois Dealer plate, probably from publicity pictures taken by the bus’ body-builder, before delivery to the purchaser and its regular registration.

AEC Coach Dealer plate in 1933 Quebec.

AEC Coach Dealer plate in 1933 Quebec.

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QUIZ – BR

January 21, 2013

QUIZ:      What kind of plate did Brazil issue before WW2, which used no legends, above or below??

An odd Brazilian, 1938, Oxford..

P 17.36      An odd Brazilian, 1938, Oxford..


South Africa items

January 20, 2013

A fine motor museum outside Franschoek, Western Cape, reveals a few early plates which are now little seen. http://www.fmm.co.za

Orange Free State - Bloemfontein, circa 1910

OB-914, Orange Free State – Bloemfontein, circa 1910 at Franschoek.    This car is a Lorraine-Dietrich.         Brumby archive

Below:  Next, BDP 795 EC, a former series Eastern Cape plate re-registering a 1920s Ford model ‘A’, using the new EC-suffixed series, but on a plain yellow ground.    Soon replaced by the multicoloured background of the current type.    A handful of these are still to be seen in use.

P1070311
BDP 795 EC interim plate design for Eastern Cape Province.    These plain plates were issued from 1996 to Oct 1998.    Brumby archive

                            Below:   NO 85 from Kwazulu-Natal (then simply Natal) coded NO to Melmoth, a small place half-way between Durban and Swaziland.NO 85 on a Natal motorcycle.     NO is from Mtonjaneni-Melmoth

NO 85 on a Natal motorcycle. NO is from Mtonjaneni-Melmoth

    Below    CC 22 FL GP –  examples of the new layout of the Gauteng (formerly Transvaal) plates, showing the square version and the long.

In 2011, starting with BB 00 AA, Gauteng had exhausted its 3-letter 3-number series.  Rear size.

In 2011, starting with BB 00 AA, Gauteng had exhausted its 3-letter 3-number series and changed to LL NN LL.  Rear size example.

(ZA)(Tv4a)_BH 26 KD  GP_cu_VB2013                                   Below:   GDF 116 G – Here is a central government series, always plain. background. Maybe 'Government Garage'.   Seen 16-1-2013, Somerset West.

Dept. of Transport national issue.    GG codes   ‘Government Garage’.    Seen 16-1-2013, Somerset West, Cape.

      and finally an archive shot from John Pemberton’s album – Natal/Durban no. 20 during the 1940s in Oxford, UK., bearing a big Royal Automobile Club oval.    (What make/model this American car?)

Unknown American car from Durban,

Unknown 1940s American car from Durban.   ND 20   Oct. 2014 – Now identified by Andre as a 1946-8 Chrysler!

Until 1981, South African Govt. departments were allocated plates from the ' Government garage'.    Here is a Ford Cortina Mk 3 estate car in Grahamstown in those days.    Brumby archive

Until 1981, South African Govt. departments were allocated plates from the ‘ Government Garage’.      Here is a Ford Cortina Mk 3 estate car in Grahamstown in those days.                 Brumby archive

DIP 123 D is of the diplomatic style of the 1970s.

DIP 123 D is of the diplomatic style of the 1970s.


French possessions in the 1940s

January 19, 2013

To see a car from Senegal, in Britain, in about 1950, would have been a big slice of luck.   Here is John Pemberton’s sighting, on an Austin A40 Devon car – unusual to find in a French territory.

Can Francoplaque help to explain why the plate is ‘dark on light’, perhaps, as we think all were white on black then?

Note that it carries the light-alloy ‘F’ ‘oval’ which was so common in early times.   As Senegal was not independent until 1960, this car could have carried an ‘AOF’ oval, is it was part of Afrique Occidentale Francai

a 1949 Austin Devon from Senegal, 7081 1.A
A 1949 Austin Devon from Senegal, French West Africa.  
7081 1.A   (1=Dakar)

1356 MA 15 in Oxford, 1940s/50s

Odd French diplomatic, 1940s-50s.

Odd French diplomatic, 1940s-50s.

This early VW also carries the alloy ‘F’ sign, because its plate is from the pre-1956 independence, French Moroccan series – 1356 MA  15.

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And concluding this foray into interesting French series, John captured a CD of an unknown type to me, carried on a rare Austin A40 Sports, made predominantly for the USA.

(Or is the car carrying the wrong international oval??)

Francoplaque! M’aider, m’aider!


CD symbol on Chinese and Taiwanese plates

January 19, 2013

More on John Pemberton’s possible China 1940s  diplomat.

03-0524 PRC CD

03-0524 PRC CD

MR(?) 172 remains unexplained for now……

 

Further to the March 2013 Post  ‘Fancy a Chinese?‘  and the subsequent identification of the Chinese character on the shield, Alex Kavka sends the Blog the Chinese ideogram for ‘ambassador’, on his Taiwan diplomatic photo 359.    It is the same as that of the current PRC diplomatic corps (not necessarily ambassador)  ideogram 01-718 and another 1972-4 Taiwanese dip. 1 50 also shows the same character.       (from ‘RG’.)

Shown below are the examples from both countries, for comparison…   (Top, RC (current),  centre, PRC,  bottom, RC historic)

(RC)(cd)_359_AK2012

Peoples' Rep. China diplomatic corps from

Peoples’ Rep. China diplomatic corps from 1970s/80s.     Brumby archive

Taiwan dip.1972-4 (RG plate)

Formosa/Taiwan dip.1972-4 (RG plate)

 

 


Maroc-Tangiers MT international zone

January 12, 2013

Another notable photo-capture of member EU83 is of the short-lived issue to the international settlement of TANGIERS, an enclave in Morocco, facing Gibraltar across the Straits.    The plates followed the British style of the times (and might have been made across in Gibraltar, half-an-hour away on the ferry.)

T-4145 is seen here in 1940s London.

(From 1661-4, TANGIERS was a possession of the British Crown.)

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

Daimler(?) T-4145 from Tangiers, in Oxford durin 1947.

Standard 14 or Daimler(?) T-4145 from Tangiers, in Oxford during 1947.  Also bearing a British Foreign-Visitor’s registration, QC 8825.

An example of a territory which was not party to the treaties permitting free circulation of foreign vehicles, was the TANGIERS international enclave, and to visit Britain after the WW2, this owner was given QC (foreign visitor to Britain) plates to permit his entry.      Q-C was allocated to, and handed out by, the the Royal Automobile Association (RAC), as were Q-D and Q-H.        The RAC and AA  auto clubs assisted travellers with the considerable documentation required for international travel in those times – Motor Insurance, Carnets (partly to prevent the sale of cars in foreign countries), supply of International Ovals (seldom available in the originating countries) and so on.

BELOW

T 50 & T 11259.   Evidence of diplomatic activity in TANGIERS is given by these pictures below, 11259, circa 1953.

The system existed until 1956, when the TANGIERS internationally-administered zone  was re-incorporated into the Kingdom of Morocco.    You have to be fairly elderly, by now, to have seen one of these in circulation!

Most interesting explanatory notes are given below, by Thierry Baudoin, who studies the Conventions regulating international vehicle movement.  (See Comments).

An early Tangiers number T 50, used by a diplomat

An early Tangiers number T 50, used by a diplomat

T 11259 from the MV archive.

T 11259 from the MV archive.


The Straits Settlements

January 12, 2013

Will sharp-eyed viewers note the  apparent error in this picture of N 3138?

The Straits Settlements were originally named for the coastal enclaves ceded to Britain by the sultans of the independent states of Malaya – lands facing the Straits of Malacca, in the Bay of Bengal.      N was the code for Negeri Sembilan state from 1948, (from 1932 it had been NS), when all the states of Malaya combined to form the Federation of Malaya (international oval FM.)      Thanks to EU83 John Henderson for this historic picture/puzzle.

Q.  Is this a German-built Ford Taunus 12M (built from 1952)?

A.  (No”), responds David Wilson  “It’s an 1949 (American) Ford, with the right-hand part of the trunk- (boot-) lid piece broken off.    With RHD, this was likely made in Australia by Ford Australia”.      (That would tie in with its presence in ‘nearby’  British Malaya and the lower duties applied to Commonwealth-built vehicles.)

Negri Sembilan N 3138, in Harwich (GB) during the early 1950s.

Negri Sembilan N 3138, in Harwich (GB) during the early 1950s.

The rare SS oval is shown twice in the Pemberton album, this second one being from Penang island, and seen in London, probably 1949.    An MG YA is parked alongside, built from 1947.

Ford Eight from Penang, Straits Settlements, London 1940s.

1939 Ford E04A Anglia from Penang, Straits Settlements, in London, 1940s.


Fancy a Chinese?

January 12, 2013

One of EU38 Pemberton’s rarest sightings is shown below – a  US Dodge from Chinese region 03 (or perhaps embassy 03?) with only four numbers, not five as expected via the para. x) in RPWO.       Thought  to have been taken 1947-1952, certainly in London.     The characters on the shield have been sent off for identification*.     Any thoughts, members?

The photographer, John Pemberton, notes that he believes the plate to be from Inner Mongolia…    RPWO gives 03 to have been for Nei Mongol (I.M.) from circa 1949-86.      We suspect that this photo is from about 1946, but it could actually be pre-war………

American Dodge sedan from postwar China.

American Dodge sedan from postwar China.

* A quick answer from  Yun Li in Hong  Kong today reads:

It depends on the context, the most common meaning can be
-messenger
-ambassador
-a certain title for soldiers / officer, used only in the past
 
The numbers below the character may be related to the context too. It reminds of something like a signpost in the old china, 1850-1900, or even older
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So perhaps it IS a diplomatic series yet undiscovered?
(PRC2)_03-0524 cu_JPvb