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 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 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 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 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 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.