Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
It's A Mystery
Have a look at these pictures, scanned from a 1970s UK Fiat brochure for the 124 Saloon, Estate, Special and Special T models.
The 124 was a European Car Of The Year award winner, spawned beautiful coupe and gorgeous spyder derivatives, and lived on in four different countries after its death (as the Zsiguli/Lada in Russia, Premier 118E in India, SEAT 124 in Spain, and the Murat 124 in Bulgaria).
But what really intrigued me about those photos when I first saw the brochure was the number plate on each of the cars.
U - Reg?
If you're outside of the UK, or not familiar with our plate system, that probably doesn't mean anything. Between 1963 and 1983 we used the letter at the end to denote the year of the car (from August to July, the letter changing on August 1st from 1967 onward). So, a plate ending in "G" denoted a car sold between August 1968 and July 1969, for example.
However, some of the letters weren't used for various reasons. "Q" plates are used where the age of the vehicle cannot be determined and "O" wasn't used because it's easily confused with zero, for example. Similarly, "U" plates were never issued either.
So why are those cars driving around on "U" plates? They appear to be UK specification cars, and they are definitely driving around the streets of London. I initially wondered if it was some kind of error by whoever made the plates. The cars may have been photographed in the July, say, (when the cars should have been on "T" plates perhaps) but the brochure published after the changeover so the following year letters used to keep the photos contemporary, but the plate maker not knowing that it should have been "V" not "U". Illegal, but understandable.
The thing is though, the Fiat 124 was sold in the UK between 1966 and 1974, meaning that the last ones sold would have worn either "M" or "N" plates, considerably earlier than the 1978-1980 "T" to "V" plates.
Weird, eh? Maybe it's just me that notices and wonders about these things.
I sent a few e-mails to the FIAT UK press office about the mystery of the "U" plates, but unsurprisingly nobody seemed to either know or care much about the photos in a brochure published thirty years ago.
Anybody any ideas or theories? Let me know!
The 124 was a European Car Of The Year award winner, spawned beautiful coupe and gorgeous spyder derivatives, and lived on in four different countries after its death (as the Zsiguli/Lada in Russia, Premier 118E in India, SEAT 124 in Spain, and the Murat 124 in Bulgaria).
But what really intrigued me about those photos when I first saw the brochure was the number plate on each of the cars.
U - Reg?
If you're outside of the UK, or not familiar with our plate system, that probably doesn't mean anything. Between 1963 and 1983 we used the letter at the end to denote the year of the car (from August to July, the letter changing on August 1st from 1967 onward). So, a plate ending in "G" denoted a car sold between August 1968 and July 1969, for example.
However, some of the letters weren't used for various reasons. "Q" plates are used where the age of the vehicle cannot be determined and "O" wasn't used because it's easily confused with zero, for example. Similarly, "U" plates were never issued either.
So why are those cars driving around on "U" plates? They appear to be UK specification cars, and they are definitely driving around the streets of London. I initially wondered if it was some kind of error by whoever made the plates. The cars may have been photographed in the July, say, (when the cars should have been on "T" plates perhaps) but the brochure published after the changeover so the following year letters used to keep the photos contemporary, but the plate maker not knowing that it should have been "V" not "U". Illegal, but understandable.
The thing is though, the Fiat 124 was sold in the UK between 1966 and 1974, meaning that the last ones sold would have worn either "M" or "N" plates, considerably earlier than the 1978-1980 "T" to "V" plates.
Weird, eh? Maybe it's just me that notices and wonders about these things.
I sent a few e-mails to the FIAT UK press office about the mystery of the "U" plates, but unsurprisingly nobody seemed to either know or care much about the photos in a brochure published thirty years ago.
Anybody any ideas or theories? Let me know!
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Photo Gallery: The BMC/BL Annual Rally and Spares Day 2006
Some photographs from what looks like a great event! I'm going to have to get myself there for the 2007 one. I didn't take these pictures, they were supplied by Andy "Orange Rat" Hunt, a Metro owning retro-car fan.
Click to see the gallery.
Click to see the gallery.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Random Retro Detailing: Datsun Sunny 120Y
Ahhh, the 120Y. One of the best selling cars of the 1970s in the UK, yet hardly any survive. Indestructable mechanicals, rot-prone bodywork - so typical of Japanese cars from that era. But what a magnificently styled machine!
The exterior is a work of art. The grille alone is a wonderful tribute to the art of plastic moulding, featuring lots of fake chrome and intricate detailing. Check out the flattened-football hubcaps (the greatest wheeltrim design of all time?), the curious rising sill-line, the little indentations in the rear wings (not visible in the pic, but they are there), and that's the regular four door - the two door coupe is a whole other thing altogether, worthy of an essay all to itself.
My favourite touch is inside:
Check out that dashboard! Millions of people spent many, many hours sat behind that, trundling along in a world of flared trousers and the Bay City Rollers. The square dials are immediately obvious, but the highlight lurks near to the radio:
The control-knob for the fresh air vent is in the "D" shape of the Datsun typeface. I assume it's an air vent anyway, I shall have to do some research and find out!
Simply magnificent. Not even Maserati, with their famous gold clock, come close.
The exterior is a work of art. The grille alone is a wonderful tribute to the art of plastic moulding, featuring lots of fake chrome and intricate detailing. Check out the flattened-football hubcaps (the greatest wheeltrim design of all time?), the curious rising sill-line, the little indentations in the rear wings (not visible in the pic, but they are there), and that's the regular four door - the two door coupe is a whole other thing altogether, worthy of an essay all to itself.
My favourite touch is inside:
Check out that dashboard! Millions of people spent many, many hours sat behind that, trundling along in a world of flared trousers and the Bay City Rollers. The square dials are immediately obvious, but the highlight lurks near to the radio:
The control-knob for the fresh air vent is in the "D" shape of the Datsun typeface. I assume it's an air vent anyway, I shall have to do some research and find out!
Simply magnificent. Not even Maserati, with their famous gold clock, come close.
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