[sabinesnubbing]

Predatorwheelz,
Excellent information but I have to question a couple of points - sorry.
I have a (very old looking) picture of WGI which may even be from before partition but I am just not sure.

I have 10 or so photos of WG and a third letter that don't look like they are all government vehicles. I will attach a selection here for your comments please.

The Land Cruiser WGN 254 is a UNDP (United Nations Development programme) vehicle. Could that be a government reg??

Any chance of a link to the 1950s Minor and the converted WGX buses? It would be really useful.

WGT 184 is not a taxi as you say.

All interesting stuff!
Cheers
Cedric

[Prabal]

Thanks for the clarity, predatorwheelz. These cents are absolutely sterling!

[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Predatorwheelz,
Excellent information but I have to question a couple of points - sorry.
I have a (very old looking) picture of WGI which may even be from before partition but I am just not sure.

I have 10 or so photos of WG and a third letter that don't look like they are all government vehicles. I will attach a selection here for your comments please.

The Land Cruiser WGN 254 is a UNDP (United Nations Development programme) vehicle. Could that be a government reg??

Any chance of a link to the 1950s Minor and the converted WGX buses? It would be really useful.

WGT 184 is not a taxi as you say.

All interesting stuff!
Cheers
Cedric

Cedric

I'm attaching a pic of the Morris Minor. It was discussed here earlier:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/vintag...ml#post1284819

I have seen pics of a WGX vehicle on some thread I cant recollect. Dont have ready pics of WGX BD vans, but its not that difficult to get. If nothing else, will invade my nearest CSTC depot and get pics.

The pics you posted definitely cannot be govt vehicles bought for official consumption (except the Shaktiman, which is clearly a reconditioned from scrap sale govt vehicle). Is it possible that servants of the queen (or ex governors of Bengal) were allowed to register their personal vehicles with WG registration? Otherwise how can that Rolls and Jaguar have a WG number?

This is an interesting research topic. Will speak to more "oldies" here and unearth more info in days to come.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

WGT 184 is not a taxi as you say.

I'm not certain that this car is pictured in India. The surroundings dont add up. I think this picture was posted on the website of some heritage hotel running out of a royal property. There were many great classics in the facility. This picture was probably representative, like the Lancia on that site too.

[Prabal]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

I'm not certain that this car is pictured in India. The surroundings dont add up. I think this picture was posted on the website of some heritage hotel running out of a royal property. There were many great classics in the facility. This picture was probably representative, like the Lancia on that site too.

The flag looks Swedish, maybe Valhalla descended here thinking it's Viking heritage!

[anjan_c2007]

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!!

The WMD series was in vogue in 1979 and WME came by in early 1980. My Mahindra CJ4A WME 23-- was a Sept 1980 model.

[sabinesnubbing]

Prabal,
Well spotted about the Swedish flag. Although it doesn't look quite right for a Swedish plate, I will take WGT 184 out of the India collection I have and call it Swedish. I have had problems with a few non Indian plates/cars posted on TeamBHP before but not too many thankfully. We are confused enough already!

Predatorwheelz,
I love you comment about the 'Shaktiman, which is clearly a reconditioned from scrap sale govt vehicle'. Interesting use of the word reconditioned my friend! If you want to see any of the other WG pictures, just ask.

While I am being confused by non-Indian cars, does anyone think these might be Indian registrations? I believe not but.......
They were all found on Indian or Pakistani based websites including TeamBHP.
Cheers
Cedric

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

While I am being confused by non-Indian cars, does anyone think these might be Indian registrations? I believe not but.......
They were all found on Indian or Pakistani based websites including TeamBHP.

The NP is certainly a Pak regn. (it even has the Pakwheels.com logo at the bottom ), it must stand for Northern Province or thereabouts.

The rest Iam sure arent from India either although no idea from where exactly they could be.

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

While I am being confused by non-Indian cars, does anyone think these might be Indian registrations? I believe not but.......
They were all found on Indian or Pakistani based websites including TeamBHP.

BK 10 Rolls Royce is ex Hyderabad I think, been in a German/Netherlands collection for years (subject to correction).

SVX 44 I think is an ex Mysore Rolls, long since left the country. Probably an English regn.

NP 8861 must be Pakistan.

BD 5951 (Norton ES 2?) may be Pakistan or even Sri Lanka, judging by the style of plates. Unlikely to be India.

[sabinesnubbing]

Stanher,
I did indeed get the NP photo from Pakwheels, where I do research for post 1947 Pakistani numbers and NP is not a Pakistani code unfortunately. I believe the picture was supposed to be taken in post partition India and I guess it's another UK number.

Karl,
Thanks for the info on the two RRs. I will mark them as UK numbers. The Norton BD 5951 came from TeamBHP somewhere (mc thread I guess) so I think it's either India or UK.

Cheers
Cedric

[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Predatorwheelz,
I love you comment about the 'Shaktiman, which is clearly a reconditioned from scrap sale govt vehicle'. Interesting use of the word reconditioned my friend! If you want to see any of the other WG pictures, just ask.

Cedric,

Apologies for missing the joke here. There are hundreds of these trucks originally bought for Govt/Military use, and sold off as scrap after some years. Some private operators buy these vehicles, repair the engine and drivetrain then put them to civil use - garbage trucks, construction waste etc. Under the The common trade term for the repairing process is "reconditioning".

[harit]

Just small comments.
Many registration numbers in the UK are very similar to Indian system. There were many series where there are three alphabets followed by numbers, and that too upto 4 digits.

Another peculiarity I noticed is that when cars were re-registered in 1940, many books had the old number written on the inner front cover on the upper right side. And I have seen a BMX series book where the word "new" was written in that place.

[karlosdeville]

A Model A Ford probably in India is seen here with regn X 6409

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1399550-post555.html

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

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?

While we have leads on 1967 registrations for West Bengal, Im still looking to know what year ATX dates to in Hyderabad. Any clues?

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Im still looking to know what year ATX dates to in Hyderabad. Any clues?

A family friend who was my parents' ex-colleague had a '78 Chetak reg'd ATX 25** (can't recall exactly but it definitely started with 2), bought brand new in 1978 with foreign exchange on her return from Sweden the previous year. That was the only way (besides I think 'Army quota') to get one of those at the time without being tortured by the long waiting period then!

So ATX 2927 would date to the same year, else a year later at the most.