Old style car registrations

carchaeologist · 15-05-2009 11:39pm

I like this one!

And this too,its genuine,GTI2 is out there somewhere too.GTI205 is a peugeot 205 GTI.

Some old pics

PCPhoto · 15-05-2009 11:58pm

jaysus - patrick street has changed a bit !!!

carchaeologist · 16-05-2009 12:25am

PCPhoto wrote: »

jaysus - patrick street has changed a bit !!!

Indeed,about this much...:p

Spot the difference...

carchaeologist · 16-05-2009 12:28am

And another comparison while we are at it..
(Its a street in tralee in the 70s and now)

allthedoyles · 16-05-2009 12:37am

Yep , the Carlow Reg was IC .............so we has BIC - CIC - DIC - HIC - MIC - SIC - WIC - etc etc

carchaeologist · 17-05-2009 3:03pm

carchaeologist wrote: »

DIE666 and 666DIE were co clare issues, cant find any info on DIE666, but 666DIE is/was a ford escort.
DIE1 to DIE999 was issued from 5/62 to 4/63 and the reverse 1DIE to 999DIE from 6/79 to 10/79
Kind of a mad registration number isnt it!!!:D Cant find anything on 1DIE or 2DIE, but 3DIE is/was an Alfa Romeo GTV. I reckon 1DIE and 2DIE were not issued for obvious reasons!!

While on the subject..and its a genuine number as i know a guy whos father owned it when it was a car

Supposedly the Ambulance on duty at the karting track in kilcoran,limerick back in the 80s was reg'd 999 DIE,cant verify that though.

Number Nine · 18-05-2009 8:40pm

[quo

Firetrap wrote: »

I wonder did they ever register a 666 DIE?

In 1981 I was working for an Insurance Company that owned a garage on the long mile road . All cars damage anywhere in Dublin were towed to this location . I was looking trough a list of damage cars trying to find something worth fixing . I seen a Toyota Corolla 20 or 30 , which I can not recall . It was a mustered brown . It had very little damage . I asked one of the drivers what's the story on the Corolla ? He said they were destroying it as someone was killed in the accident . This was not normal as there was very little damage on the car . I tried to talk them out of destroying the salvage .He took me around to the boot of the car and pointed out the number plates that where in the boot . that number was 13 DIE . I watched him crush the Corolla flat with the number plates in the boot .

Hope this was some help on hunting DIE numbers :cool:

PhotosMobilePho · 19-05-2009 10:13pm

Silvera wrote: »

You guys might not be aware of this, but Cherished (sometimes called Private) registrations are big business in the UK, with former Republic of Ireland registrations particularly sought after.
(N.B. These Irish plates were transferred to the UK register prior to 1986. This is no longer possible)

Examples of Irish plates curently for sale in the UK, and their prices (in sterling):

VIP 1 (former Co.Kilkenny reg) - £95,000.
IT 1 (former Co. Leitrim reg) - £82,000.
IM 1788 (former Co. Galway reg) - £18,000.
7575 NI (former Co. Wicklow reg) - £2,595.

And some "cheap" former Irish plates :
OZO 616 - £600.
ZU 3323 - £1,295.

There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of such plates for sale in the Uk (and NI).

The old system was easy to understand if you took the time to read the list of county letters.

Silvera.

Thanks for that post (Number 12 on the first page).
Now I understand how the Zimbabwe embassy in London got "ZIM 1".
I saw it on TV months ago when Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai were in the news. The embassy car was shown on the news and I couldn't understand how they were being allowed to use a Galway registration in the UK. Now I get it.

I just came across this thread and its very interesting.
As kids in Clare, we saw lots of words on the roads: LIE, PIE, TIE and of course DIE as mentioned in other posts.

carchaeologist · 19-05-2009 11:05pm

And the ex irish embassy car.(A Chevrolet Biscayne)

carchaeologist · 19-05-2009 11:07pm

Devs Roller

Cul a cnoic · 19-05-2009 11:45pm

Question, will there ever be a time when it will be possible to use the Old Regs again, like the UK has for private/cherised numbers?

I kept the reg book for an old Leitrim number which was on a car I owned, in the hope that someday, I could "transfer" it onto a car in the future.

Well Carchaeologist (and everyone else), what do you think?

Silvera wrote: »

Great responses to my (6 yr old?!:eek:) thread/post!

excellent post Silvera

carchaeologist · 20-05-2009 7:38pm

Cul a cnoic wrote: »

Question, will there ever be a time when it will be possible to use the Old Regs again, like the UK has for private/cherised numbers?

I kept the reg book for an old Leitrim number which was on a car I owned, in the hope that someday, I could "transfer" it onto a car in the future.

Well Carchaeologist (and everyone else), what do you think?

I doubt it being honest,there would be no way to regulate it,and no money to be made from it for the government.
i have a stack of old books too,but apart from one from a MK2 escort with a nice number(iv been offered 150quid for it),they are worthless really.
A lot of "transfers" happen illegally alright,but i dont like it personally.

But some guys dont care one bit and will use a book from a scrapped car.

The escort book isnt for sale either!:p

carchaeologist · 13-09-2009 5:53pm

Heres a good one

Neilw · 31-12-2009 7:27pm

Great reading here lads

Quick one to rack your brains, LZL, what county or year was this reg?

Thanks,
Neil.

Go Harvey Go · 31-12-2009 7:51pm

Neilw wrote: »

Great reading here lads

Quick one to rack your brains, LZL, what county or year was this reg?

Thanks,
Neil.

LZL was a Dublin issue.

By my reckoning, LZL 1-999 would have been issued around late 1967, and 1-999 LZL for a few days in March 1981.

Neilw · 31-12-2009 8:05pm

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

LZL was a Dublin issue.

By my reckoning, LZL 1-999 would have been issued around late 1967, and 1-999 LZL for a few days in March 1981.

6xx LZL is the reg, 1980 I've been told, is this correct?

ghost_ie · 01-01-2010 12:12am

The only one's I can remember are ANI 587 and LZI 1. We had them in the 60's and either one or both were Hillman Minxes.

nightster1 · 01-01-2010 12:36am

cork reg's ZF, ZT, PI.

skyhighflyer · 02-01-2010 4:14am

I know that 205 GTI is on an actual Pug 205 GTI was / is owned by a chap in Naas who runs a (very good) Citroen and Peugeot service centre. I'm not sure if he still owns it but a great car and reg combo!

I suppose I'm relatively young being in my early 20s, but despite people contantly telling me how nobody in Ireland had a penny till the 90s, I still see plenty of nice original Irish cars from the 70s and 80s in shows, like that 633 CSI for instance. I've also seen an original Irish Aston DB5. Obviously someone had money but I'd imagine cars like that would have been destroyed on the roads of the time!

carchaeologist · 03-01-2010 1:28am

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

LZL was a Dublin issue.

By my reckoning, LZL 1-999 would have been issued around late 1967, and 1-999 LZL for a few days in March 1981.

LZL 1 to LZL999 was issued,literally for a few days in mid in January 1968,your right about the reversal.

Pricey! · 18-03-2010 5:26pm

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

Hi Carchaeologist,

My guess as to why IIO was not issued is because it was feared that some might take this mark to be the number 110.
OIO was also omitted and that could also have been because it was a mark that might have been misinterpreted as a number (in this case 010).
And IO looking like the number 10 could explain why Kildare skipped reverse IO and thus issued 1 ZW onwards after YZW 999.

Carchaeologist (assuming you are still following this thread), just wondering about ZFI. I lived in North Tipp in the '80s and I'm pretty sure a mate of mine bought a new Escort with a ZFI reg. I could be wrong of course, but you might want to check that. I had JIC 304, and 7535 FI, BTW

who the fug · 18-03-2010 5:50pm

nightster1 wrote: »

cork reg's ZF, ZT, PI.

PI was Cork city, the others were county

kelle · 18-03-2010 6:03pm

I knew this thread looked familiar when I started reading it, then saw it was started in 2003! Definitely Retro Boards...

I remember HI being a Donegal number, and ZN then AI being Meath regs.

I much prefer the current system.

I Love Tea · 18-03-2010 6:45pm

kelle wrote: »

I knew this thread looked familiar when I started reading it, then saw it was started in 2003! Definitely Retro Boards...

I remember HI being a Donegal number, and ZN then AI being Meath regs.

I much prefer the current system.

HI was a south tipperary reg along with GI

I Love Tea · 18-03-2010 6:50pm

Old style Irish reg numbers

kelle · 18-03-2010 8:05pm

I Love Tea wrote: »

HI was a south tipperary reg along with GI

Oops! I'll blame my dear father, he told me it was a Donegal reg!!!

carchaeologist · 18-03-2010 10:33pm

who the fug wrote: »

PI was Cork city, the others were county

ZF was the other City reg. IF,ZB,ZK and ZT were the county issues.

Pricey! · 19-03-2010 2:16pm

In a slightly-related way, here's a link to an album of photos taken in Dublin in 1961. The colour makes them look not that old, but it is 1961 all right. Interesting to see the litter-free streets, and the large number of TV Aerials in O'Connell St. Did they have RTE then, or was it for the BBC and UTV?

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/peprice1/DublinIn1961?feat=directlink

who the fug · 19-03-2010 3:10pm

31-12-61 TV started up

Pricey! · 19-03-2010 5:40pm

who the fug wrote: »

31-12-61 TV started up

Thought it was around that time. Seem to remember seeing some archive footage of Michael O'Hehir in O'Connell St doing an OB. And all the gurriers trying to get into the picture! So in 1961, they must have been watching the BBC or UTV.

We didn't get a TV until Kennedy got shot - that was Nov 1963. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad. Ended up being happy, cos I could see The Virginian.

carchaeologist · 19-03-2010 8:50pm

Pricey! wrote: »

Carchaeologist (assuming you are still following this thread), just wondering about ZFI. I lived in North Tipp in the '80s and I'm pretty sure a mate of mine bought a new Escort with a ZFI reg. I could be wrong of course, but you might want to check that. I had JIC 304, and 7535 FI, BTW

Sorry,i didnt see this post yeterday. The last issue in North Tipp before the new plates in '87 was 418 JFI,a green Bedford midivan,so maybe it was a reg from 1 AFI up to that?

Though it was possible to transfer old numbers back then legally once the original car was scrapped,so this could have happened too?

Go Harvey Go · 21-03-2010 1:52am

Pricey! wrote: »

Just wondering about ZFI. I lived in North Tipp in the '80s and I'm pretty sure a mate of mine bought a new Escort with a ZFI reg. I could be wrong of course, but you might want to check that. I had JIC 304, and 7535 FI, BTW

ZFI was indeed issued, between December 1976 and May 1977 - but apparently in error, as there was no Statutory Instrument legitimising its issue.

SI no. 128/1967, issued on 18 May 1967, only prescribed the KFI-YFI block:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1967/en/si/0128.html

I can only imagine ZFI was left out of this through oversight.

In a similar enough scenario, Donegal issued ZZP 1-407 in error in early 1982 - but here there was a good reason not to legitimise this mark, as it was seen to possibly clash with ZZ temporary registrations. When the error was discovered, ZZP was terminated and reverse IH registrations thus commenced with 408 IH.

carchaeologist · 21-03-2010 9:25pm

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

ZFI was indeed issued, between December 1976 and May 1977 - but apparently in error, as there was no Statutory Instrument legitimising its issue.

Indeed it was,but when he said a new escort in the 80s i reckon it might be just a bit of confusion with some of the other issues at that time.

In a similar enough scenario, Donegal issued ZZP 1-407 in error in early 1982 - but here there was a good reason not to legitimise this mark, as it was seen to possibly clash with ZZ temporary registrations. When the error was discovered, ZZP was terminated and reverse IH registrations thus commenced with 408 IH.

Indeed ZZP1 to ZZP 407 is one of the rarities/anomalies of the old system alright.Wonder has anyone a car nowadays with one of those numbers.
Im surprised they didnt re-register all those cars with 1 IH to 407 IH numbers to tidy it up,especially as no S.I. was issued.

Also while on the subject of that Tipperary north series,JFI 1 to JFI 999 was not issued(they call it "overlooked" in my book) but strangely 1 JFI to 418 JFI was issued in 1986 just before the new series in 1987.
Wonder what was so taboo about JFI?

Thomas828 · 22-03-2010 5:41am

Reading this thread reminds me of when I saw the odd ROI-registered car on the streets of Belfast. I wanted to have a car with a red number plate so that people would know where my loyalties lay! My aunt Brigit had a Datsun coupe with the registrarion 623 MZH.

carchaeologist · 22-03-2010 8:45pm

Thomas828 wrote: »

My aunt Brigit had a Datsun coupe with the registrarion 623 MZH.

Presumably a 100A FII?
Theres a UZH registered FII in this pic here from 1990.

carchaeologist · 22-03-2010 8:56pm

Some old pics from the early 90s ish
7908ZC.jpg?t=1269287564

And some old Garda cars,
Fiat Ritmo
FIAT20RITMO20201985.jpg?t=1269287665

And a Fiat 131,cant see what the number is though.
FIAT20MIRAFIORI201984.jpg?t=1269287734

Go Harvey Go · 22-03-2010 11:08pm

carchaeologist wrote: »

Also while on the subject of that Tipperary north series,JFI 1 to JFI 999 was not issued(they call it "overlooked" in my book) but strangely 1 JFI to 418 JFI was issued in 1986 just before the new series in 1987.
Wonder what was so taboo about JFI?

And if I'm right in thinking, Waterford City skipped UWI in 1985 - even though it was prescribed by SI no. 101/1970, issued on 11 May 1970, as part of the KWI-ZWI block (which was not finished as WWI 80 was the last issue before the change):

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1970/en/si/0101.html

I can only gather that it was thought UWI might be interpreted as "you wee" - but IMO that would be a bit like the SN07 scenario in Scotland three years ago, in that it's not all that offensive.

carchaeologist · 23-03-2010 1:03am

There was quite a few unissued marks, Kilkenny never issued KIP in either way either due to its apparent connotations with a Kiphouse,or a brothel.
IIP*** was issued in 1963,but was overlooked in the 80s in the reversal of that series for some reason.
Other unissued marks apart from the ones above we have discussed included IHI,IIO,IRI,ZMI,ZRI,ZYI,IIV,MIV,IIS,PIS,YIS

Anyone want to take guesses as to why?! Have they religious connotations perhaps? The church was ruling this country back in those days.

Strangely to my mind both DIE***(62/63) and ***DIE(79)were issued by Clare cc. Surely they wouldnt be good marks to have for the more superstitious people!

There may be more,i must check my records.

Thomas828 · 23-03-2010 1:45am

carchaeologist wrote: »

Presumably a 100A FII?
Theres a UZH registered FII in this pic here from 1990.

It might have been one of them. Her car was a 1981 or 1982 model.

carchaeologist · 23-03-2010 9:57pm

Thomas828 wrote: »

It might have been one of them. Her car was a 1981 or 1982 model.

I dont think so,623MZH june 1979 reg.Also it doesnt show on Mywheels.ie,so i guess it was scrapped prior to 1993?
Heres a pic of an irish one that was on sale on DoneDeal in the last few months

Those era Datsuns were a disaster for rot,i have a 1980 one myself,its the yellow one alongside my 76 estate.

carchaeologist · 23-03-2010 10:03pm

Heres some random pics i have on my computeer,apologies if some are reposts,and the quality isnt great from some of the phone pics.

carchaeologist · 23-03-2010 10:06pm

carchaeologist · 23-03-2010 10:09pm

carchaeologist · 23-03-2010 10:12pm

Go Harvey Go · 24-03-2010 12:22am

carchaeologist wrote: »

There was quite a few unissued marks, Kilkenny never issued KIP in either way either due to its apparent connotations with a Kiphouse,or a brothel.
IIP*** was issued in 1963,but was overlooked in the 80s in the reversal of that series for some reason.
Other unissued marks apart from the ones above we have discussed included IHI,IIO,IRI,ZMI,ZRI,ZYI,IIV,MIV,IIS,PIS,YIS

Anyone want to take guesses as to why?! Have they religious connotations perhaps? The church was ruling this country back in those days.

Strangely to my mind both DIE***(62/63) and ***DIE(79)were issued by Clare cc. Surely they wouldnt be good marks to have for the more superstitious people!

There may be more,i must check my records.

If I'm right in thinking, when three-letter marks were first issued in the mid-1950s, those that had G, S or V as the first letter were initially excluded.

Dublin didn't issue GRI, SRI, VRI, GIK, SIK or VIK, while Limerick omitted GIU, Mayo skipped GIZ, Tipperary South left out GHI and Kilkenny bypassed GIP.

This obviously had something to do with the fact that when this system was initiated for the whole of Britain and Ireland in 1903, it was decided that the letters G, S and V would only be used in Scotland. This restriction had long since become a thing of the past in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by the mid-1950s, though.

It was only in late 1955 when the Republic joined in, with the prescription, by SI no. 249/1955, of the entire AIF-ZIF block to County Cork:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1955/en/si/0249.html

carchaeologist · 24-03-2010 1:35am

Interesting point there GHG,and its one i had not previously considered or had pointed out to me.
It would seem to be the case alright,unusually enough.
Also as an aside to this,
SI****,
ZG****,
ZS**** were only issued in Dublin (S.I. 9/1/86) when they were running short of marks in the 80s, ZV**** was to have been next up but the new system was introduced in 1987 before ZS ran out at ZS8709. This series was later used from around 1992 onwards for classic car importations,and it has lately been superseded by the ZV mark with five digits,a departure from 100 years of four digits issues. I personally dont agree with that type of plate myself,i think it would have been much more in keeping with traditional issues to have used an unissued series from pre 1987.

AIS1 to HIS990 was issued in Mayo (S.I. 26/6/81)in the 80s but IS**** never was issued.
And AGI1 to CGI871 was issued in Tipp south (S.I. 26/6/81)also in the 80s but GI**** again never was,nor was there an S.I. issued to cover them as far as i know.

gipi · 24-03-2010 9:53pm

Hey Carchaeologist,
Love the 2 VW beetles with consecutive reg numbers in the pics above (OZX 90 & 91)!

carchaeologist · 24-03-2010 11:25pm

gipi wrote: »

Hey Carchaeologist,
Love the 2 VW beetles with consecutive reg numbers in the pics above (OZX 90 & 91)!

Well spotted,OZX91 was restored by emilios in dublin at some stage,and OZX90 is still around,its owned by a publican in a villiage Camp in Kerry AFAIK. Also the Blue beetle at the top of the pictures is registered OZX79,this car is also still in existance though not in great condition.

carchaeologist · 26-03-2010 11:46pm

A few more

carchaeologist · 30-03-2010 10:43pm

Anyone else have photos or scans of period pictures from long forgotten albums in yer dusty bookshelves!? Id love to see some!

Old style car registrations

Comments