Number Plate Sale

[Garry]

This number plate sold today at an auction by the State Road authority..


Very expensive.

[Cees Klumper]

"For the woman who has everything"

So many more useful ways to spend that much dough.

[zak]

Unreal! Most 113's are not even worth that much !
Here in NJ USA custom classic car collector license plates are 100 bucks.

jz

[Jonny B]

Whoa baby! That is just completely and totally silly. I could use other words, but that will suffice.

[Process999]

That is obscene.

[Garry]

You have to put into Australian perspective, you cannot buy a Pagoda rhd under $200,000 AUST dollars and up to $350,000     but maybe a LHD Euro for less but not likely under $150,000


Any original vintage 4 figures number plate here will command $80-140,000 Aust $50-70k US dollar. Average price of a house in the  Eastern States is just over $1 million.

[john.mancini]

Holy Cow!!!!!!!!! I’ve got a bunch of excellent 60’s license plates from CA and MA. Looks like it’s time to sell them!

[Garry]

John,
This an original vintage number plate made in vitreous enamel probably around the 1910 era. Just over 9000 cars had ever been registered at that point.

[john.mancini]

Amazing Garry!

[AdelaidePagoda]

Yes, what Garry says is true in Australia, my plate is worth more than my car!

[john.mancini]

Must be a southern hemisphere thing

[Cees Klumper]

I believe the same strange phenomenon can be observed in the United Kingdom ...

[AndrewB]

This number plate insanity plays out in the UK every day

[Jordan]

Yes, what Garry says is true in Australia, my plate is worth more than my car!

Dave, aren't you worried someone will steal the plate?  Or is it only of value if it's in your name and you can actually use it?

[zoegrlh]

In Virginia, you can use a vintage dated plate as long as it has no rust and is painted fresh. My 1970 Pagoda has 1970 Virginia plates. You can find these plates at car shows for sale by vendors or even at antique shops, no more then $25.

[mdsalemi]

In Virginia, you can use a vintage dated plate as long as it has no rust and is painted fresh. My 1970 Pagoda has 1970 Virginia plates. You can find these plates at car shows for sale by vendors or even at antique shops, no more then $25.

We do one better in NC, though I surely don't understand why. You can have ANY plate you want, or none at all, on an antique registered car. Just must keep the issued plate IN the car and present to ANYONE who asks...not just law enforcement.

[David Robinson]

Madness

[Cees Klumper]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

Tulip mania (Dutch: tulpenmanie) was a period during the Dutch Golden Age when contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulip reached extraordinarily high levels. The major acceleration started in 1634 and then dramatically collapsed in February 1637. It is generally considered to have been the first recorded speculative bubble or asset bubble in history.

A tulip bulb, known as "the Viceroy" was offered for sale for between 3,000 and 4,200 guilders (florins) depending on weight. A skilled craftsman at the time earned about 300 guilders a year.

[AdelaidePagoda]

Not at all. That is the beauty of these plates, they are registered to your car (transferable to any of your cars) in your name so you have full ‘ownership’ rights. If someone stole the plates and put them on their car, the police would know immediately as that car is not registers in your name.

As you own the plates, not the Department of Motor Vehicle, you can sell them on the open market like a share. The limited number of historic plates is what drives the price up as people want low numbers, Number 1, sold for over $10 million recently. Other birth year numbers and unique combinations, or plates with 8’s in them are also highly valued. Supply and demand, and unlike tulip bulbs, they are not making any more original historic plates so the value is what it is. Maybe demand will dry up but they have been rising for the last ten years, so who knows.

[Paul99]

a fact re the UK number plates.  It seems you never actually own your UK plate. The DVLA (the UK guys who issue them etc) only Lend them to you. They can be rescinded if the owner does things like alters the plate to make words etc by moving the letters.  You can get your expensive personal plate taken and replaced with a Q plate which looks terrible.

Also, they are unique in the UK. I was amazed to see two cars from USA at a show, both had the same plate. Seems each state can issue the same number/details. Is that true? 

[JamesL]

The UK us also a bit unusual in that a trailer (caravan, trailer, horsebox, 40ft container...) carries the plate of the vehicle towing it. It doesn't have an identity in it's own right.

[mdsalemi]

I was amazed to see two cars from USA at a show, both had the same plate. Seems each state can issue the same number/details. Is that true?

Yes, each state (we have 50 and just 50, plus DC) issues its own plates. So do our territories such as Guam, Samoa, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, etc. It's all administered by the state.

JonnyB and I once both had plates that read PAGODA, his was Ohio, and mine was Michigan. But despite the numbers/letters being the same, they were issued by different states thus were different plates entirely. In both those cases they were normal plates generally used for daily driver cars.

Most states have some kind of special registration for antique or older cars, and some of those registrations have certain provisions such as you cannot exceed X number of miles per year, and you cannot use the car for anything but show and car club purposes. If you have that kind of registration you can also generally get antique car insurance which also differs greatly from regular.

But, every state is different in their rules.

[john.mancini]

Back in the early 80’s I was looking for a low number, vintage plate for my 1956 Corvette. I was given the name of a gentleman in Orleans, MA (on Cape Cod). I wish I could remember his name. Anyway, I met him at his house where he showed me the most amazing license plate collection I have ever seen. He was in his 80’s then, and had been collecting license plates since he was 5 years old! A life long hobby. He had single digit MA plates from every year. Old porcelain plates to current plates. He got them from the MA RMV when cancelled plates came in. The RMV used to throw them out. He also had a connection to the MA RMV where if you bought a plate from him, he would verify that it could be registered before he sold it. He had thousands of great, low number and unique “vanity” license plates. He was big in the Model T or A club here. I wonder what happened to all of those plates? In the 80’s, a single digit, Year of Manufacture MA plate cost over a thousand dollars. I thought that was high until I saw this post!

[AdelaidePagoda]

Number 8 is about to be auctioned in South Australia, expected to go for over $1million:

https://ezyplates.sa.gov.au/news-and-events/2023/lucky-number-8-licence-plate-auction

Heavily promoted by the State Government as they receive the revenue from the sale:

https://www.premier.sa.gov.au/media-releases/news-items/history-on-a-plate-collectors-item-to-go-under-the-hammer

Wow!! Makes the Pagoda look like a very good buy.

[Cees Klumper]

No 4 even looks strange on that Pagoda.