Thread: Beware of creating so called amusing personal plates

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Yes, under the interstate agreement, the states divided the alphabet up for plates in the format ABC-123 some time in the early 1950s (my father in 1953 had ALC-963 in NSW). Qld started with "N", but it was well into the 1960s before they were into the "P"s. I had a car PAD-428 in 1966, but when I moved to Qld and first registered a car there in 1963, it was NRF-912; but all the motor registry paperwork still assumed that numbers were the previous system, using the format Q12345, so I suspect they may have only just adopted the system in 1963. NSW changed first (from AB-123) because they had run out of numbers.

Queensland went to alpha-numeric plates in July 1955. The straight number plates stopped about Q688-xxx. My first car with the new system was NBG-xxx first registered in Dec. 1955. The ones I can remember were NHC (2/59) NSU (4/64). PSE (12/73) PYV (mid 72) OGC (12/74. A place at Albion got the tender. First plates issued were after NAA-888. They punched out a lot getting the machinery set up. A mate's father wired the place up and he had a collection of bare metal plates as shed decorations. Initially plates were all held in Brisbane and posted out to the car owner. Later stocks were issued to regional offices and issued from there. There was a run of plates that only went to regional offices.

That means that when I registered my car in Qld in 1963, they were still using forms that assumed the first letter of the number was Q, despite their having changed the system eight years earlier. Why am I not surprised - it was Queensland!

Originally Posted by JDNSW

That means that when I registered my car in Qld in 1963, they were still using forms that assumed the first letter of the number was Q, despite their having changed the system eight years earlier. Why am I not surprised - it was Queensland!

In 1963 most vehicles would still have had "Q" plates so transfers would require this numbering system.

Hi,
In Malasia (1968) the first letter indicated the State, the second, the year and four numerals started at 0 for the numeric total as the year progressed,
Somehow that made plates easier to remember as you could identify out of state vehicles, their age and guess their renewal month.
I can't see any method/logic in our present system.
Cheers

I am not sure when it changed in WA, around 1967 or so I think. All our vehicles up until then carried Shire number plates that incorporated some connection with the Shire. We were in the Dardanup Shire and our plates were; DA ***. Some also had letters followed by a DOT, as in Albany town were just A ***, and the Shire A (dot) ***.

From time to time the WA newspaper would publish a list of all the number plates and which Shire they belonged to. As kids it was a good guessing game when out on the road trying to identify where each car came from.

Originally Posted by Old Farang

I am not sure when it changed in WA, around 1967 or so I think. All our vehicles up until then carried Shire number plates that incorporated some connection with the Shire. We were in the Dardanup Shire and our plates were; DA ***. Some also had letters followed by a DOT, as in Albany town were just A ***, and the Shire A (dot) ***.

From time to time the WA newspaper would publish a list of all the number plates and which Shire they belonged to. As kids it was a good guessing game when out on the road trying to identify where each car came from.

We still do that now when on road trips, guess the shire plate...

I think Albany Shire was AL*** and Albany Town Council was A***.

Originally Posted by cjc_td5

We still do that now when on road trips, guess the shire plate...

I think Albany Shire was AL*** and Albany Town Council was A***.

I lived there for several years, but oldtimers disease gets in the way. But what I do remember is that the first Rover car that I had was A dot 90, and that was the Shire. Later my Range Rover had A *****, cant remember the exact number but I think it was 5 digits, 16***.
And yes, I do recall AL ****, but not sure why. Maybe that became the Shire later on.

Originally Posted by Old Farang

I lived there for several years, but oldtimers disease gets in the way. But what I do remember is that the first Rover car that I had was A dot 90, and that was the Shire. Later my Range Rover had A *****, cant remember the exact number but I think it was 5 digits, 16***.
And yes, I do recall AL ****, but not sure why. Maybe that became the Shire later on.

I probably have it the wrong way around then.

Got CP plates on all of my trailers...