ZV numbers running out ??

Silvera

Jay28 mention in his 'Datsun Z' thread that when he was getting his ZV number plate the guy at the registration office said they were running out of ZV numbers?!

Though he didn't say whether that just applies to Wicklow or countrywide?!


Wonder what the 'powers that be' will issued next?


Will they -

- issue ZV 100000+ numbers ?

- reversed ZV numbers, i.e. 101 ZV, 102 ZV etc etc?

- start a completely new series .... e.g. 'IV' has never been used?

(actually, 'IV' might be appropriate - "Irish Vintage":D )


I'm guessing they will go with the easiest solution (and follow the unrelated 'ZZ' (temporary) series, which has gone ZZ 100000+) .......and issue ZV 100000+ numbers ?!:(


The vintage clubs should lobby for an appropriate and well-thought out series to replace ZV.
e.g. a series which reserves low numbers for pre-1930 vehicles.

For example, at present you can often see a 1920's car with a ZV **** (four digit) number, which looks wrong on such an old car, and yet see 1960's or 1970's cars with ZV *** (three digit) numbers ..which should have been reserved for older cars!

maidhc

I dunno. When I was registering my car I went for the modern style e.g. 74 C 1234. Personal taste perhaps, but i prefer it.

andreas_220D

Silvera wrote:

- start a completely new series .... e.g. 'IV' has never been used?

(actually, 'IV' might be appropriate - "Irish Vintage":D )

would match the "Imported Vintage" as well

MercMad

IV - Irish Vintage
Imported Vehicle
Imported Vintage
Important Vehicle

......I agree that it would be nice if someone from the classic car world was involved, and also that the 3 digits should be reserved for older cars, however I seriously doubt that the ZV's are anywhere near running out. Maybe in certain Counties they are getting near their quota but surely 100,000 30 year old cars haven't been imported yet ??

Besides could they not come up with some other combos ?

corktina

why not just charge €500 for an old series number approite to the cars age...there must be loads of unused numbers.

hi5

It should go AZV 1 and so on,THEN ****ZV,but then if they intended doing this they wouldnt have gone to 5 numbers.They could also re-issue the old reg's that have been recorded as crushed/ written off.

andreas_220D

corktina wrote:

why not just charge €500 for an old series number approite to the cars age...there must be loads of unused numbers.

i'd rather spend €500 in service, spare parts etc.

DarenO

hi5 wrote:

It should go AZV 1 and so on,THEN ****ZV,but then if they intended doing this they wouldnt have gone to 5 numbers.They could also re-issue the old reg's that have been recorded as crushed/ written off.

AZV 1 was issued in 1985, so they will have to look for another approach, don't forget QI and IQ, if its IQ would anyone want a low number though

Darren

Dades

I'm confused... The VRO gave me a number "ZV 8XXX" back in February. Can they not go to 5 digits without a problem?

Reserveable numbers would be kinda cool. But they'd have to do it within some form of a lottery basis (with a big fee of course).

corktina

depends on your county...many are already in 5 digitss and they look awful....all my cars are 7x C xxx

jay28

I went with the zv plate just personal choice. I think it suits and older car's better, but would have gone for 74 ww 260 (260z) but that number was already taken so went with the zv, I dont think the 5 digits look that bad on a blck plate:rolleyes: .......seen some old cars with modern irish plates and I think they look out of place......

Jay.

Silvera

I too would like to see old Irish registrations (unused or from scrapped cars) re-issued to vintage imports.

With so many vintage car owners and clubs out there I reckon there would be a good chance of sucessfully lobbying for such a change if owners and clubs got together on this issue.

For the record, Dublin is still issuing 4-digit ZV numbers as part of their second ZV allocation.....whereas other counties are now issuing 5-digit ZV numbers as part of their second allocation.

G Luxel

IV is a limerick reg. Remember those HIV plates from the 80s......
There was a vehicle parked in front of me yesterday with PZV xxx on the plate and it wasnt vintage, just an ordinary Mk2 Fiesta.

MercMad

G Luxel wrote:

IV is a limerick reg. Remember those HIV plates from the 80s......
There was a vehicle parked in front of me yesterday with PZV xxx on the plate and it wasnt vintage, just an ordinary Mk2 Fiesta.

..........1985 Dublin !

Silvera

Correct. But the letters 'IV' alone have never been issued. Just as the letters 'ZV' were not issued alone until 1992, when the 'vintage' registration series began.

The problem with the ZV series is that it was extended by some bureaucrat in a govt department who had no idea (interest?) in how it would actually look on a vintage car.

If the IVVCC/classic car clubs had been consulted Im sure we would have gotten a better system in place, e.g.

- ZV *** (3 digit) plates reserved for pre-1930 vehicles
- ZV **** (4 digit) plates for 1930 - 1969 vehicles
- **** ZV (Reversed ZV) plates for c.1970's+ vehicles

etc etc

corktina

that makes sense and if the ZV 4 digit numbers are all gone, maybe ZVA xxx would be acceptable?

Wishbone Ash

G Luxel wrote:

There was a vehicle parked in front of me yesterday with PZV xxx on the plate and it wasnt vintage, just an ordinary Mk2 Fiesta.

I occasionally see a PZV plated Hino tipper truck in my area still earning it's keep.

maidhc

Silvera wrote:

- ZV *** (3 digit) plates reserved for pre-1930 vehicles
- ZV **** (4 digit) plates for 1930 - 1969 vehicles
- **** ZV (Reversed ZV) plates for c.1970's+ vehicles

But I think the problem is that there are definitely more than 9999 1970s+ cars in Ireland, and probably more than 9999 1930-1969 cars.

ZVA, ZVB, ZVC would be a better solution imo.

But I still don't see anything wrong with the "modern" style reg. The ZV plates are not original anyway, so to be honest I fail to see the attraction in them except to fool the ignorant.

Silvera wrote:

For the record, Dublin is still issuing 4-digit ZV numbers as part of their second ZV allocation.....whereas other counties are now issuing 5-digit ZV numbers as part of their second allocation.

I don't understand this. How can there be two or more allocations of ZV numbers? Surely the point of a numberplate is that is unique. Also how could Dublin be on lower digits than the rest of the country? There must be more classics registered in the greater Dublin area than anywhere else.

macplaxton

They should try and keep the plates down to less than 6 digits, whatever format they use. It should have been 2 letters / 4 digits then reversing before going to 3 letters / 3 digits before reversing those too. The "powers the be" need to be lobbied to get a system that works. (The UK scheme for "age-related" registration numbers is generally okay and much better than the "A" plate system they used to slap on registration transfers. I think the FBHVC had a hand in that) They should also devise some sort of transfer scheme as it's a big money spinner.

I chose 73-D-XXX because I can get it to fit on a 21" plate in 3½" high lettering. There's no room for 7 digits in that size of font without ending up with an overly-narrow border.

The plate style matter more the number to me. I see lots of cars going around with "French style" plates. They don't look right to me - except perhaps on the odd Citroën . Big rear red reflective with black digits please!

(Even though permitted in the UK White/Silver on black doesn't look right to me for a post-1968 UK car either. Black raised plastic digits on a reflective surface aluminium backplate look much better)

Just my tuppence / cents worth

Esel

Didn't read whole thread.

I'd say the council guy meant the range allocated to his council was nearly exhausted. Presumably they will be given another range.

There can hardly be nearly 100,000 vintage cars registered?

Blue850

esel wrote:

Didn't read whole thread.

I'd say the council guy meant the range allocated to his council was nearly exhausted. Presumably they will be given another range.

There can hardly be nearly 100,000 vintage cars registered?

AFAIK the first 2 digits on a ZV reg denote the county ie Galway was 16 so there were only 99 registations available ZV 1600 to ZV 1699, Galway is now 5 digit begining with ZV 33***

johnf2020

I rang my local regitration office yesterday about getting ZV's in Kilkenny.
He said it was now gone to 5 digits ie ZV 12345 which in his own opinion looked Sh--t.. He thought that 70 KK ETC looked better plus you had the option of getting ZV at a later date if you wanted, but if I got ZV now I couldn't rereg. it as KK later. I dont know which looks better but at least by going 70kk it gives you the option.

John

corktina

Blue850 wrote:

AFAIK the first 2 digits on a ZV reg denote the county ie Galway was 16 so there were only 99 registations available ZV 1600 to ZV 1699, Galway is now 5 digit begining with ZV 33***

cork started at 1000 or lower and went into the 1100;s at least (I had 1058 and 1112 at the minimum....

Esel

There are still a total of 99,999 numbers in the full range though.