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Old 17th July 2009, 11:50   #136
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Harit,
Indeed I had left BOM off the list. Quite how it fits in with the single letter series I am not sure. There is a terrible quality 1914 photo of BOM 4770 with Winston Churchill said to be in it. There are some others also from probably the 1920s. Your photo of BOM 6832 seems to be a very early car also. Since BOM also appears with Z on the plates as well, I just wonder if the letters were additionally applied to plates that the official registration was 4770 or Z 9154 etc???

Karl,
That sorts the BMW problem then as you have pretty much dated the photo from the age of the gentleman. BMW now moves into the 1939 series. Excellent! One day we may sort out the truth about the early numbers!

Cheers
Cedric
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Old 17th July 2009, 11:57   #137
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing View Post
One day we may sort out the truth about the early numbers!
Allow me to shift focus to later numbers for a while.

I have a 1967 Fiat, purchased some time back from Stanher. It was first registered in West Bengal, then re registered in Hyderabad as ATX 2927. Dates of registration are not given in the new 'smart card' RC system.

Could you tell me what series ran in WB in 67, and what year ATX dates to?
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Old 17th July 2009, 14:10   #138
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First of all, registration numbers aren't my scene, really. Nonetheless...

Quote:
Originally Posted by harit View Post
You mentioned that BRA 1 was transferred onto other cars. That is not allowed under our laws.
I know of people retaining old favourite registration numbers and using them on subsequent vehicles. I would like to believe that there's a legal provision for doing this, because some of them are rather respectable folks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing View Post
Indeed Midnapur is listed as WBM - interesting!

Is it possible that at any time during the late 20s and early thirties (or maybe even before) that West & East Bengal could have been officially called simply Bengal with the code BG (and a serial letter indicating the area) and then at some time later - I would like to think maybe 1935???? - changed to East & West Bengal and BG became EB & WB?
I would think that the W series started post independence, in 1947. Although the allocation of new numbers did follow some retrospective dating logic, it wasn't completely sacrosanct. WBD I would think, for instance, normally be for vehicles registered from 51/52 till 57/58 but I have seen many cars of the 60s sporting WBA, WBB and WBC plates as well (Fiats mostly, Selects and Super Selects for some reason!) Anyway, coming back to East Bengal and West Bengal (and other areas in the undivided larger Bengal province, Bihar included) before 1947, I'd guess that they were all going with some B series or the other depending on the exact identification system, if any, for the place in particular. I wish this subject had come up two years ago. My father would have had the answer in a snap. Anyway, I'll try to get some insights from the other elders next time I'm in Calcutta. Motor-oil runs in the veins of many of my lot!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing View Post
If anyone out there knows any letters vs. towns for any series, can they tell us all please?
WBH was for Howrah and WBP for the police! WBT, WGT, WMT, etc. everyone knows were for taxis.

Quote:
Originally Posted by karlosdeville View Post
Could you tell me what series ran in WB in 67, and what year ATX dates to?
WB in '67 is likely to have been WBJ (if first registered there before anywhere else). WBH is possible too (I'm not sure if there was a WBI in between!). If I'm not mistaken one of these - WGU, WGJ and WGX - was a mid-60s West Bengal series as well, of around '67.

An interesting thing I just remembered - hopefully correctly - that vehicles re-registered from another state/diplomatic nos., etc usually had their four-digit numeric part starting with 6,7,8 and 9 only depending on availability but never with 1 to 5 even if available. Someone once told me that this was an RTO system in Delhi. I don't know if it's correct and whether it was applied all over the country.

Last edited by Prabal : 17th July 2009 at 14:12.
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Old 17th July 2009, 14:27   #139
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Many thanks Prabal.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prabal View Post
WBH was for Howrah and WBP for the police! WBT, WGT, WMT, etc. everyone knows were for taxis.
My 1958 Standard Super 10 was registered new as WBP 2270 in early October 58, and in 67 re-registered in Pune as MHJ 9922. I think it was in Kharagpur.

The first owner of the car (who I also purchased it from) has always been an educationist, and I am sure had nothing to do with the police. I wonder what the Calcutta cops would do pottering about in a Super 10 anyways.

Incidentally the gentleman's birthday was on the 6th of October, my birthday on the 7th, and the car was registered on the 8th. And I purchased it on the cars 50th birthday last year.
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Old 17th July 2009, 14:52   #140
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Quote:
Originally Posted by karlosdeville View Post
My 1958 Standard Super 10 was registered new as WBP 2270 in early October 58. I think it was in Kharagpur.
I could be wrong, like I said registration numbers ain't my scene. However, WBP would be a district number then (like Kharagpur)? Since Calcutta main had WBD/WBE at that time. But, do I also remember many police vehicles running on WBP plates? Maybe it was the original Wild West - anything went!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by karlosdeville View Post
The first owner of the car (who I also purchased it from) has always been an educationist, and I am sure had nothing to do with the police.
The police aren't completely bereft of an education. Maybe they wanted some more, from him!

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Originally Posted by karlosdeville View Post
I wonder what the Calcutta cops would do pottering about in a Super 10 anyways.
Think undercover agent/decoy!

Last edited by Prabal : 17th July 2009 at 15:04. Reason: Wren and Martin!
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Old 17th July 2009, 16:21   #141
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Prabal View Post
Maybe it was the original Wild West - anything went!!

The police aren't completely bereft of an education. Maybe they wanted some more, from him!

Think undercover agent/decoy!
Trust you to come up with retorts like those

My grandfather had an Amby in Calcutta (one of 13 he went through in his tenure at Central Bank!) I think regn was WBJ 2352.
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Old 17th July 2009, 22:51   #142
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Karl,
I think more information than I can supply has been posted by Prabal although I can date some WBJ to 1967 also. However I want to throw a spanner in the works and suggest that originally in 1947 the third letter indicated a place. I have a feeling that at some time later this may have changed as the 60s vehicles seem to be more according to date rather than place. If you look at my WB photos I particularly mean WBY 9 as looking like it is indeed a 1947 number but many of the lower letters are 60s.
I think they may have fiddled with the system at some point!
Cheers
Cedric
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Old 18th July 2009, 22:55   #143
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Quote:
Originally Posted by karlosdeville View Post
Many thanks Prabal.
My 1958 Standard Super 10 was registered new as WBP 2270 in early October 58, and in 67 re-registered in Pune as MHJ 9922. I think it was in Kharagpur.

The first owner of the car (who I also purchased it from) has always been an educationist, and I am sure had nothing to do with the police. I wonder what the Calcutta cops would do pottering about in a Super 10 anyways.
Maybe the criminals were slower in the 1950's to only deserve Standard Super Ten as a police car. Thats the joke of the day .
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Old 19th July 2009, 19:55   #144
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing View Post
Karl,
I think more information than I can supply has been posted by Prabal although I can date some WBJ to 1967 also. However I want to throw a spanner in the works and suggest that originally in 1947 the third letter indicated a place. I have a feeling that at some time later this may have changed as the 60s vehicles seem to be more according to date rather than place. If you look at my WB photos I particularly mean WBY 9 as looking like it is indeed a 1947 number but many of the lower letters are 60s.
I think they may have fiddled with the system at some point!
Cheers
Cedric
Kolkata Proper Registrations: In the 1970's and 80's there was WBY and WMY for tourist taxis.
WBZ, WMZ were for two wheelers.
WBV was for commercial vehicles.
I had a 1969 Jeep CJ3B of WBJ series, two Mahindra CJ 4A's of
WMD (1978) and WME (1980)series.
WMA followed WBJ for private cars in 1970.Our relative had one 1970 Ambassador Mark II WMA 1744.
WMB (1972), WMC(1975), WMD (1977),WME(1980),WMF,WNC,WNF in that order followed WMA for private cars and went on till the mid 1980's.
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Old 19th July 2009, 21:23   #145
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We had a 1961 Ambassador with WBX registration
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Old 20th July 2009, 12:33   #146
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My father retired from Army in 1967 and he had a friend who sold him a Premier President in late 70's with a Regn No MNS 1110 which had been bought by the gentleman from Manipur during his service.This car was with us till 1999 and number was later changed to a Delhi Regn Number.
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Old 20th July 2009, 14:44   #147
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Hello Cedric,

Since we have gone on about Bengal registrations, I see no harm to increase the confusion.
I have just received another bunch of photos involving an establishment in Calcutta.
In one picture there is a pre 1930 Oldsmobile
with trade plates:
Oldsmobile..........................written on top, white background
168X.................................the registration, white on black background
MT Ltd..............................again on white background.

But other cars in the workshop for repairs have just 4 and 5 digit numbers, without nay alphabets.
Hope confusion has increased. Actually, it is more details comming out and being observed, earlier we never bothered much about registration numbers.

Cheers harit

Last edited by harit : 20th July 2009 at 14:49.
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Old 21st July 2009, 10:23   #148
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harit View Post
In one picture there is a pre 1930 Oldsmobile
with trade plates:
We welcome this sort of confusion

Do share the picture with us, I am curious to see.
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Old 21st July 2009, 11:25   #149
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We had an '61 Amby with WBE plates. We still have a '59 also with WBE plates! And to add to the confusion, our '72 Beetle has WMB registration, but we imported her (and thereby registered here) in 1979, by when the WME/WMF series was probably already in commission!!

To move to Punjab now, my father bought a Fiat 1100D in 1971 from Prince Automobiles, Jalandhar, (after a 5 or 6 year wait, post booking - but that's another story). This was the closest Fiat dealership from Pathankot where father was posted, and we drove back there afterwards. I don't remember exactly, but I think the car was registered in Pathankot itself. The number was PNP 3446. Could the last 'P' therefore have been for Pathankot (sorry for unpegging you, Patiala!)?
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Old 21st July 2009, 12:33   #150
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My 2 cents:

First of all, WG series was a special series allocated only for Government Vehicles. I'll quote 3 vehicles as proof (pics on other threads in the forum):

The 1950 Morris Minor that I posted in the Kolkata thread had a WGJ registration. It was the company car of a govt servant, and rewarded to him after retirement.

The 1970s Land Cruiser FJ55 lying at UBS' garage belonged to fisheries or some such dept, and sported WGN registration.

Some old CSTC buses (now converted into breakdown vans, still running) sport WGX registration.

Secondly, there have been many confusions of a new series coming in while the old series was still in force. Refer Prabal's quote below:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prabal View Post
WBD I would think, for instance, normally be for vehicles registered from 51/52 till 57/58 but I have seen many cars of the 60s sporting WBA, WBB and WBC plates as well (Fiats mostly, Selects and Super Selects for some reason!)
The primary reason for this was because West Bengal did not have separate registration numbers for Alipore and Beltala MV authorities back then. My aunt bought a Fiat 1100 in the late 70s, and it still sported WBJ registration because she had registered it from Alipore. Beltala had moved on to WM by then.

Quote:
Originally Posted by anjan_c2007 View Post
Kolkata Proper Registrations: In the 1970's and 80's there was WBY and WMY for tourist taxis.
WBZ, WMZ were for two wheelers.
WBV was for commercial vehicles.
I had a 1969 Jeep CJ3B of WBJ series, two Mahindra CJ 4A's of
WMD (1978) and WME (1980)series.
WMA followed WBJ for private cars in 1970.Our relative had one 1970 Ambassador Mark II WMA 1744.
WMB (1972), WMC(1975), WMD (1977),WME(1980),WMF,WNC,WNF in that order followed WMA for private cars and went on till the mid 1980's.
Thats extremely accurate timelines, but specific to Beltala MV. Our 72 Amby (owned) was a WMB 1257 registration, while Dad's 84 company Amby was a WNC 5322.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prabal View Post
We had an '61 Amby with WBE plates. We still have a '59 also with WBE plates! And to add to the confusion, our '72 Beetle has WMB registration, but we imported her (and thereby registered here) in 1979, by when the WME/WMF series was probably already in commission!!
I think my second "cent" answers your question.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prabal View Post
I know of people retaining old favourite registration numbers and using them on subsequent vehicles. I would like to believe that there's a legal provision for doing this, because some of them are rather respectable folks!
There's a renowned collector from Kolkata who prefers registering all his cars with a "7272" registration. Definitely something to do with good luck. Dunno if there's a legal provision at all. You pay extra to book the number.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prabal View Post
WBH was for Howrah and WBP for the police! WBT, WGT, WMT, etc. everyone knows were for taxis.

WB in '67 is likely to have been WBJ (if first registered there before anywhere else). WBH is possible too (I'm not sure if there was a WBI in between!). If I'm not mistaken one of these - WGU, WGJ and WGX - was a mid-60s West Bengal series as well, of around '67
The numbering system for public taxis moved directly from WBT to WMT, followed by the computerized number which had to have a T.

WGT was definitely not for public taxis. If such a registration existed at all, it could have been for vehicles chartered for govt use (my guess).

There was no WBI no. Even under the computerized regime, when the govt moved from WB02H to WB02J (sometime in early 99) they avoided the I letter to avoid confusion with its numeric counterpart.
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