Irish plates popping up in the UK

w124man

I remember back in the late '70's and early 80's press cars from the UK would get Republic plates if the type approval regs had not been completed in time for the photo work/press drives etc just before launch.

We miss out on a lot of dosh in not having a personal plate facility. :mad:

Silvera

w124man wrote: »

I remember back in the late '70's and early 80's press cars from the UK would get Republic plates if the type approval regs had not been completed in time for the photo work/press drives etc just before launch.

We miss out on a lot of dosh in not having a personal plate facility. :mad:

Do you me actual Republic plates, or temporary ZZ plates?

I agree re the personal plates btw.
The powers-that-be could even go half-way and introduce 'county plates', i.e. let owners choose any combination of numbers alongside their county of residence, e.g. you could choose (if you live in Galway?) '124-G' or 'G-124' for your car.

Capri

hi5 wrote: »

There is no mystery, its already been explained a few times.
Irish registrations including those from the 'south' of Ireland were transferable from Ireland onto the DVLA system up until the 1980's
They are still on the DVLA system and can get transferred anytime onto any UK vehicle.
For example and coincidently OIK 276 is currently available for £11,425 to buy in the UK, you can then put it on your UK Lexus or whatever, buy a ferry ticket and come over to Dublin for a week, where's the mystery?

Here is OIK 276 for sale......http://www.plates4less.co.uk/irish-number-plates/registrations.asp?searchInput=OIK&actionType=search&imageField32.x=35&imageField32.y=9

Well spotted, the mystery is explained (partially - didn't think RoI plates could be registered in the UK/NI but it seems they can be, love to see M50/NTR chasing that OIK plate for M50 toll :rolleyes: )

macplaxton

Capri wrote: »

didn't think RoI plates could be registered in the UK/NI but it seems they can could be,

...in the dim and distant past. In the present though, they can't be.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

jaysus they really like to spend money on custom reg's

https://www.plates4less.co.uk/private-number-plate/BIG1-classified

w124man

Silvera wrote: »

Do you me actual Republic plates, or temporary ZZ plates?

Actual Republic plates.

Silvera

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

jaysus they really like to spend money on custom reg's

https://www.plates4less.co.uk/private-number-plate/BIG1-classified

The UK plate '25 0' has recently set a new UK record - £518,000!

macplaxton

:eek: For 518k, I'd be wanting the Glasgow Lord Provost's plate...

rugbyman

here you go lads. Found this in newry.

Diabhalta

Irish plates popping up in the UK? This certainly requires further investigation! Let me know what the results are, hope it's not something tragic.

Type 17

Old Irish regs in the UK system seems common enough - here's an Alvis being sold by a UK collector-car retailer at Techno-Classica in Essen, Germany in 2014.



Also in 2014, while I was at the Heritage Motor Centre in the UK, there was meeting of classic trucks, including this 1980 Dublin-reg Scania with a Northern-Irish hauliers sign-writing, and with current NI windscreen discs

Red Kev

larchill wrote: »

IRL 1 appears on Motorcheck as a 1958 Chevrolet

Was mentioned here before, used to belong to the US embassy, pops up occasionally at car meets, seen it in Blackrock a few years ago but got no pic.

Silvera wrote: »

The UK plate '25 0' has recently set a new UK record - £518,000!

It has, still has a long way to go to beat the Arabs, £7.1 million for a plate FFS!

http://www.demonplates.com/plates/expensive-number-plates.php

VIP 1 was going to be a Kilkenny number but they finished up at UIP in 1986 just before the changeover. It was put on a Garda car that was used to ferry around the Pope when he was here, went ot the UK before the restrictions on plate swops were introduced in 1983 (IIRC) and now Abrahimovich has it on his Corniche.

hi5

The VIP 1 plate on the Pope mobile was a made up plate for the occasion.

John Larkin

Red Kev wrote: »

VIP 1 was going to be a Kilkenny number but they finished up at UIP in 1986 just before the changeover. It was put on a Garda car that was used to ferry around the Pope when he was here, went ot the UK before the restrictions on plate swops were introduced in 1983 (IIRC) and now Abrahimovich has it on his Corniche.

VIP 1 was issued in August 1971.

Type 17

hi5 wrote: »

The VIP 1 plate on the Pope mobile was a made up plate for the occasion.

True, especially as they also used it (IIRC) on both the Granada above and the Ford Custom truck chassis that was the popemobile for the same visit.

Silvera

Type 17 wrote: »

True, especially as they also used it (IIRC) on both the Granada above and the Ford Custom truck chassis that was the popemobile for the same visit.

I believe that Ford Truck 'Popemobile' is owned by/on display in the Wax Museum, Dublin?

Type 17

They own the bodywork that was on the back of the Ford, but it is mounted on a Mercedes chassis these days. I presume that Ford Ireland kept the Custom chassis/cab and sold it after the pope's visit.

Silvera

^^^^^ I recall seeing a newspaper pic in recent times with the original Ford truck still 'attached' to the 'popemobile' bodywork (in the Wax Museum workshop). Perhaps it's seen better days and requires restoration..

Duke O Smiley

Not quite the UK but...

Silvera

Duke O Smiley wrote: »

Not quite the UK but...

Another 'slightly Irish looking' Malaysian plate

carchaeologist

John Larkin wrote: »

VIP 1 was issued in August 1971.

Indeed it was, to a baker in Kilkenney.
The popemobile was not a Garda car, but a limousine, most probably a Coleman Mulne Dorchester going by the grille. No one is quite sure if the reg is real or fake.

Silvera

carchaeologist wrote: »

Indeed it was, to a baker in Kilkenney.
The popemobile was not a Garda car, but a limousine, most probably a Coleman Mulne Dorchester going by the grille. No one is quite sure if the reg is real or fake.

Didnt the same reg appear on the Ford 'popemobile' too?
If so, it was likely a 'fake' on one or other of these vehicles...

UK Plates in Ireland
My memory is that after the Dublin Monaghan bombings in 1974 which used cars with NI regs the law was changed so that you would be issued with a new number if you imported a used car from the UK. I assume this was to be able to identify suspect cars rapidly.
Cars which were running on existing UK regitsrations had to change as well (I could be wrong here) This meant that the car got latest sequence number plate. A neighbour got a 1975 reg on his 1957 Hilman Minx
This caused the motor industry a lot of grief when personal import were allowed in 1984, somebody purchased a say two year old car in UK brought it back got a new plate and it looked just like a new car to the neighbours.
I reckon this was the main reason the current system was put in place in 1987.

A Bristol 401 with an AIU 100 County Limerick 1955 original reg was sold last year in the UK for restoration