Old registration records

whoami1

I am trying to find out the registration number of an old motorbike, the frame of which I was given just before Christmas, but there was no associated paperwork. I know that this is the Classic Cars forum but my query isn't specific to motorbikes.

I know that the machine was shipped directly from the factory to the importers in Dublin at the start of July 1955 and would have gone from there to the dealer network. It would have therefore (presumably) been registered sometime in the second half of 1955 or in 1956. I have the frame/chassis number, the make and model and the likely colour.

I have contacted the motor tax offices in Kildare, Meath, Dublin and Wicklow and asked them to check their records. I am still awaiting a response from Dublin, but the other three kindly responded and said they could find no record of the machine. However something one of them said in the email suggested that perhaps they are looking at the vehicle database run out of Shannon. If this bike was off the road for decades, then I think it's possible that Shannon might not have a record of it in the database.

So where are the old old old paper records kept and is it possible to view them?

TrailerBob

I think without a tax book, the search will be very difficult, as I doubt the records were digitised, and may not have even been kept. I understand the issue though. I was trying to identify the garage a tractor was sold out of in 1954, and despite having the tax book, its a duplicate from the 60s, and having a conversation with the then very elderly owner of one of the two possible garages, I came up empty. Records were destroyed when the garage was modernised in the 1980s.

johnml

A friend had a similar issue with a motorcycle. He contacted IVVMCC.ie and they were incredibly helpful. He got the issue sorted with their assistance.

Best of luck

whoami1

TrailerBob wrote: »

I think without a tax book, the search will be very difficult, as I doubt the records were digitised, and may not have even been kept. I understand the issue though. I was trying to identify the garage a tractor was sold out of in 1954, and despite having the tax book, its a duplicate from the 60s, and having a conversation with the then very elderly owner of one of the two possible garages, I came up empty. Records were destroyed when the garage was modernised in the 1980s.

Thanks for that. I realise that it's difficult right enough. Of course if I had a tax book then I would have the registration number printed on it so then I wouldn't have this query.

I have some further information with the suggestion that some counties have microfiche records of very very old registration details, so perhaps that will help me. I have sent an email to the National Archives to see if they have copies of these records.

johnml wrote: »

A friend had a similar issue with a motorcycle. He contacted IVVMCC.ie and they were incredibly helpful. He got the issue sorted with their assistance.

Best of luck

Thanks johnml. I am a member of IVVMCC and they are helping me as well. You're right, they are incredibly helpful.