What's the correct style of plate

MrFoxman360 · 29-05-2017 7:46pm #1

I'm restoring a vehicle at the moment and although I'm a little off actually needing them yet, I was thinking about what is the correct style of registration plate that I should have in my case.

Its a Suzuki SJ 410, first registered in Japan on 1st September 1983. It was imported to Ireland and registered here on an 83-OY-### number in July 1993.

Am I right in thinking that the euro plate was adopted in 1991? So that would mean that when it was registered here in 1993 that it would have had euro style plate like we have today?

Would pressed aluminium or plastic plates been more common in 1993?

When I got it, one of the plates that came on the jeep (that's what I'm calling it like it or not

) was a plane white plastic plate with black printed letters under the clear front layer, no euro symbol and no Uíbh Fhailí. The other was a standard aluminium euro plate

Was there a fixed legal requirement back in 1993 for the style of plate?

aujopimur · 29-05-2017 8:25pm

The correct plate is the one that was legal on the date of reg in Ireland

Silvera · 29-05-2017 8:41pm

I wouldnt put euro plates on an '83' reg vehicle. The correct period-style plates for an '83 vehicle is either -

A. Black plates with silver or grey (large) digits

B. White front plate, red rear plate (reflective plates with black large digits on both).
I recently sourced a set like this for my '84 classic (first reg in Ireland in 2016) - with large digits from www.platecreator.com
They dont have the red plates listed on their website, I asked them to start making these and they agreed. Just contact/email them to request same.

colm_mcm · 29-05-2017 8:44pm

As it's not really the period correct reg number format, I would use the white/reflective aluminium flat plate with the numbers printed on and without the Irish county name on the top or the blue IRL at the side. I think the red rear plate would look a bit strange with the newer format. Would have been around in the late 80s cars.

Like this but metal not plastic

w124man · 29-05-2017 8:57pm

aujopimur wrote: »

The correct plate is the one that was legal on the date of reg in Ireland

Don't think so. I would have thought that the year/county/number style plate up to 31/12/1990 would suit an '83 vehicle. The style would be as the car above

Testacalda · 30-05-2017 12:04pm

Well I think what the OP is getting at here is what was the typical type of plate that would have been fitted to the car when it was registered here in 1993.

AFAIK euro plates were in in 1993 but were not a legal requirement so the plane white plate with black digits was perfectly acceptable then too. Might look better too

The importation of the car from Japan is part of the cars history as much as anything else, no disguising it with the '83 reg number!

Isambard · 30-05-2017 12:18pm

strictly speaking it's the date of reg in Ireland that should determine which plate...ie EU plates in this instance. It isn't enforced though so I would go with plain white plates.
Failing that I'd go for silver on black.
I agree red plates look odd on other than original vehicles.

w124man · 30-05-2017 6:32pm

Vehicles first brought into use on or before 31 December, 2012This Registration plate format applies to all vehicles that were first registered, on or before 31 December 2012, either in Ireland or in another state.
Vehicles first registered in another state prior to 1 January 2013, and then imported into Ireland and registered, will be given a number plate of the format outlined below. The appropriate year index, applicable to the vehicle?s date of first registration in the other state, will be assigned.
Diagram 1:

Diagram 2:

No other numbers, letters or marks, etc. should appear on the plate.

Exceptions
The Registration Plate formats above do not apply to vehicles registered prior to 1 January, 1993, or to vehicles registered in the "ZV", "ZZ" or Trade Licence series.

Isambard · 30-05-2017 8:20pm

Not convinced...you don't cite any sources and in any case it leaves it up to interpretation whether your last sentance applies to vehicles first registered in Ireland or abroad. It's moot anyway, as it is not enforced and you are free to have several styles on an appropriate vehicle.

w124man · 30-05-2017 9:09pm

Isambard wrote: »

Not convinced...you don't cite any sources

Vehicle Registration and Taxation Regulations 1992 (Statutory Instrument (S.I.) 318/1992 as amended, and Statutory Instrument (S.I.) 542/2012).

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/leaflets/format-vehicle-registration-plates.html

Will that do as a source?

Type 17 · 30-05-2017 9:21pm

W124man's text is from Revenue documentation, and means that a vehicle first registered (anywhere in the world) after 1/1/93 (the date of the inception of the EU Single Market) must carry Europlates as its Irish registration.

If a vehicle was first registered (in Ireland, or anywhere else in the world) before 1/1/93, but after 1/1/87, it must carry black-on-white plates, with the correct typeface, like the ones on the Starlet shown in post #4. It can carry Europlates if the owner desires.

If a vehicle was registered (in Ireland, or anywhere else in the world) before 1/1/87, it can carry Europlates, the 87-92 plates, the black-on-red/white plates, as used between 1/1/73 (date of Ireland's entry to EEC), or the various white-on-black or silver-on-black plates used between 1904 and 1/1/73.

There is no interpretation as to whether the Date of First registration means a vehicle's first registration anywhere, or subsequently in Ireland as a used import - it is always "First registered anywhere" for Revenue's purposes.

If this were not so, we would have the issue of a 1982 VW Golf, imported to Ireland in 1994 having to use 82-D-nnnn in a Europlate style, whereas an identical one that was imported in 1988 would have to use the black-on-white plates of that era. It would also mean that vintage and veteran cars imported after 1/1/93 would have to use Europlates, whereas ones imported before then would not.

In reality we all know that all pre-87 cars can have any legible plate mentioned above and still pass an NCT.

Type 17 · 30-05-2017 9:50pm

MrFoxman360 wrote: »

...Its a Suzuki SJ 410, first registered in Japan on 1st September 1983. It was imported to Ireland and registered here on an 83-OY-### number in July 1993...

Was there a fixed legal requirement back in 1993 for the style of plate?

There's no need to worry about legal requirements for 1993 with this vehicle - it was first registered somewhere (ie: Japan) in 1983.

This means that you can have any post-83 style of Irish reg, showing the characters 83-OY-nnn.

From an appearance point of view, I wouldn't go for the black-on-red/white as the reg itself is not from the pre-87 series (which for Offaly would have been nnn xIR or xIR nnn).

Europlates wouldn't look right on an 80's vehicle either, so I'd go with the plates that were most commonly used on imported vehicles in the late 80's & early 90's - the 87-92 black-on-white plates as seen on the Starlet in post #4 above. colm_mcm reckons you should use pressed metal, but plastic was equally popular at the time too - it just depended on what plate manufacturing system the dealer/motor factor had bought at the time.

Silvera · 30-05-2017 11:19pm

If you decide to go for pressed white metal (large digit) plates, www.eireplates.com supply the correct period plates.

i.e. the white plate at the top of this link -
http://www.eireplates.com/samplesclassicvintage.asp

MrFoxman360 · 31-05-2017 1:20pm

Type 17 wrote: »

There's no need to worry about legal requirements for 1993 with this vehicle

To be honest I'm not really concerned with whether the plate will technically be legal or not. It's authenticity that I'm after.

Type 17 wrote: »

I'd go with the plates that were most commonly used on imported vehicles in the late 80's & early 90's - the 87-92 black-on-white plates as seen on the Starlet in post #4 above.

I think you're right on this, I'll probably go for the plastic version as there was one on it when I got the jeep, so it might have been the original form '93

punisher5112 · 31-05-2017 1:25pm

I had an 85 323i convertible and fitted black/silver plates and it made the car stand out really nicely.

Our army have gone away from the black/silver since around 2009 which I think is stupid as the green vehicles look really well with them.

Silvera · 31-05-2017 3:48pm

punisher5112 wrote: »

I had an 85 323i convertible and fitted black/silver plates and it made the car stand out really nicely.

Our army have gone away from the black/silver since around 2009 which I think is stupid as the green vehicles look really well with them.

Another reason most militaries use black plates is for camouflage purposes. Having said that, I've only seen europlates on Defence Force buses, minibuses, etc.. i.e. vehicles which would only be used for on-road transport purposes.

Incidentially - not a lot of people know this (as Michael Caine would say) - Defence Force vehicles are actually exempt in law from bearing any number plates. However, in practice they've always opted to use reg numbers on their vehicles.

w124man · 31-05-2017 5:46pm

Silvera wrote: »

If you decide to go for pressed white metal (large digit) plates, www.eireplates.com supply the correct period plates.

i.e. the white plate at the top of this link -
http://www.eireplates.com/samplesclassicvintage.asp

http://imageshack.com/a/img924/7708/6UnYjf.jpg

This is the correct font used between 87 and 91. This is an original plate so it must be right. The eireplates font was never used back then although they are pushing it as being original

Type 17 · 31-05-2017 9:46pm

w124man wrote: »

http://imageshack.com/a/img924/7708/6UnYjf.jpg

This is the correct font used between 87 and 91. This is an original plate so it must be right. The eireplates font was never used back then although they are pushing it as being original

True, the Eireplates font is wider/thicker than the original Irish 87-92 font - looks like the UK pressed metal font shown at the bottom of this page: http://www.tippersvintageplates.co.uk/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/tippers?opendocument&part=5.

I'm not sure where you can get the original 87-92 font made up these days, but I don't recall ever seeing it as a pressed metal version, only in acrylic.

Silvera · 01-06-2017 2:22pm

There were a different styles of plates / fonts in use between 87-91. I worked in the motor trade back then and have several original plates from the period...in several different styles - one of which is the pressed white metal plates supplied by eireplates.

w124man · 02-06-2017 6:34pm

Type 17 wrote: »

I don't recall ever seeing it as a pressed metal version, only in acrylic.

I only ever remember acrylic plate from 87 - 91 with a few odd exceptions very early on in 87.

There were a different styles of plates / fonts in use between 87-91. I worked in the motor trade back then and have several original plates from the period...in several different styles - one of which is the pressed white metal plates supplied by eireplates.

Don't suppose you have a pic of these fonts used as original fonts on new cars?

Thinkingaboutit · 07-06-2017 11:42pm

If it's after 1991, Europlates are wholly correct. Otherwise I try black with silver lettering (on my Farina) and maybe one day light red with attached black lettering like my Dad's old Carina.

w124man · 08-06-2017 6:57pm

This was the type of font used right up to the new style plates from 87 onwards. The plates (red, white or black) were either made up like this one on a jig, holes punched and plastic letters and numbers were then spring clipped from the back. The digits were black or silver. I made hundreds of them back in the day. They other type of plate was pressed using the same colours and digit font and I think they were made by Sercks (!) in Dublin with a next day delivery. My Dad had those on his Mk1 Escort XZU652

Silvera · 08-06-2017 7:12pm

ACE plates (like above) were one style/type of plate used up to 1987 (usually on high-end cars). Others used were (heavy) pressed metal plates (white front, red rear) and plastic silver(or grey)-on-black plates.

Samples...a period silver-on-black plate, metal plates with plastic digits (as mentioned by w124man) and 'silverline' plastic plates (second two styles from eireplates)...

w124man · 09-06-2017 5:50pm

Silvera wrote: »

ACE plates (like above) were one style/type of plate used up to 1987 (usually on high-end cars). Others used were (heavy) pressed metal plates (white front, red rear) and plastic silver(or grey)-on-black plates.

Samples...a period silver-on-black plate, metal plates with plastic digits (as mentioned by w124man) and 'silverline' plastic plates (second two styles from eireplates)...

Do you own Eireplates?

Silvera · 09-06-2017 8:28pm

It would be nice if I did!

No, just that photos from his site are an easy/quick way to reference different types of 'old style plates'.

Dades · 10-06-2017 10:29pm

I've used Eireplates, too. Great service.

I don't own it either.

Silvera · 13-06-2017 6:08pm

Another example of an original pre-1987 registration plate - (heavy gauge) pressed metal 'black-on-white' plate (most likely 'black-on-red' on the rear).

Pic taken by Duke O Smiley at Mosney 2017...

What's the correct style of plate

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