[FINTAIL]

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear Fintail - the other taxi series which had lots of cars were MRR, MRT and MRP.

Best regards,

Behram Dhabhar

MRK was very much a taxi series, no?

Did the gent in question hire a driver and ply the car as a taxi?

[harit]

Originally Posted by FINTAIL

Just for the records- A MRK registered FIAT 1100 Delight .... MRK would be a 'Sixties Bombay number.

Originally Posted by Stanher

Actually, IIRC, Mr. Behram Dhabhar had mentioned that MRK was a 70s Padmini series.
And careful- it might as well be a later model taxi sporting just the MRK plates, as was the case with many of the "body-swapped" taxis! ....

Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM

Dear Shyam - your memory is commendable. Yes, MRK8473 was registered brand new in 1978. The owner was a Parsi gentleman. He still works as one of the priests ....
Dear Fintail - the other taxi series which had lots of cars were MRR, MRT and MRP.........

Originally Posted by FINTAIL

MRK was very much a taxi series, no? Did the gent in question hire a driver and ply the car as a taxi?

Basically vehicles were registered under two categories, private and commercial. Each had their distinctive series. Commercial series included cabs, trucks, buses. Private series had most of the two wheeler's, earlier restricted to 3 digit registrations, and private cars, buses and trucks. Commercial plates were white, private black. That is reversed. 2 wheeler's can get commercial registration like in Goa where they are hired out, 2 wheeler's have their own series. And the colours of the plates have been reversed.
After the BM? series, MR? series were introduced. The first were MRP, MRQ, MRS, MRT, MRK, MRL, MRO. The latter 3 came later, and MRL registered buses ran well into the 1990's. None of these series were assigned exclusively to cabs, MRK was seen on BEST buses too.
Premier cabs were continuously fixed and after a while not much was original substance anymore. Panels were reused and new pressings were available.
Many folks including Sardar's, Parsi's etc. owned cabs, and either drove them or rented them out to drivers, maybe both options were partly practiced. And we all are aware that Priests can have a second profession.
Lots of possibilities, and no real generalization applicable.

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Ajay,
From my lists I have that Travancore from the beginning until 1939 was TVR
From 1939 to 1947 .... Cheers Cedric

Here is a nice sweet picture of a TVR series combo, maybe Travancore recognizes some people?

Cheers harit

[travancore]

Originally Posted by harit

Here is a nice sweet picture of a TVR series combo, maybe Travancore recognizes some people?

Cheers harit

Lovely photo Harit. Looks to me like a Christian couple by the lady's dress - may be even on their wedding day.

[ajay99]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Ajay,
From my lists I have that Travancore from the beginning until 1939 was TVR
From 1939 to 1947 it was TCC - Cochin, TCK - Kottayam, TCQ - Quilon, TCT - Trivandrum.
From 1947-50 it was all just TRV
1950 onwards it was TCK - Kottayam, TCR - Trichur, TCT - Travancore

If this is a special Travancore series and we just don't know what the MS is for, there were an awful lot of them if this was 7363.

I wonder (ok this is a wild guess) if this was some strange series for some kind of vehicles that were 'registered' in both Madras State and Travancore?? Like I say, a wild guess.
Cheers
Cedric

Are you sure about the registration series in the period 1939-1947 ?
According to my info TCK,TCQ, TCR and TCT was 1950 onwards after the formation of Travancore Cochin state- and these 4 registrations being granted for the 4 districts in existence then Trivandrum,Quilon,Kottayam and Trichur.eg:TCT(Travancore Cochin Trivandrum)
CS-cochin state registration ended at 1939 or 1950??

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by ajay99

Are you sure about the registration series in the period 1939-1947 ?
According to my info TCK,TCQ, TCR and TCT was 1950 onwards after the formation of Travancore Cochin state- and these 4 registrations being granted for the 4 districts in existence then Trivandrum,Quilon,Kottayam and Trichur.eg:TCT(Travancore Cochin Trivandrum)
CS-cochin state registration ended at 1939 or 1950??

Well, all I can really say is that my lists are old and usually but not always right. Pretty much everything was reregistered in 1939 and from the 1939 Madras list, there is no code for Cochin so I would say CS definitely stopped in 1939.
I agree there is a certain logic that TCC, K, Q and T would be after 1949 and the formation of Travancore-Cochin state.
I have a picture of TCK that looks very 30s to me but none of the others sadly.
Cheers
Cedric

[harit]

An Indian, apparently in some Arab country, with a Morris Oxford. Any idea which country this plate is from? In another photo there are many cars in the background, Studebaker, Austin, American Ford as seen in India in those times.

Cheers

[travancore]

Originally Posted by harit

An Indian, apparently in some Arab country, with a Morris Oxford. Any idea which country this plate is from? In another photo there are many cars in the background, Studebaker, Austin, American Ford as seen in India in those times.

Cheers

Wonder if it is an Egyptian plate.

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by harit

An Indian, apparently in some Arab country, with a Morris Oxford. Any idea which country this plate is from? In another photo there are many cars in the background, Studebaker, Austin, American Ford as seen in India in those times.

Cheers

Harit,
Well done that man! 100% guaranteed Egypt.

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Harit,
Well done that man! 100% guaranteed Egypt.

Cedric, I remember seeing the 'C.PRIVE' on car numberplates in Egypt even in 1997 on my first (and only) visit there! Any idea what that means- car priv(e)ate..??

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by Stanher

Cedric, I remember seeing the 'C.PRIVE' on car numberplates in Egypt even in 1997 on my first (and only) visit there! Any idea what that means- car priv(e)ate..??

Stanher,
The C is for Cairo. and Prive is French for private as far as anyone knows. From the old old days.
Cheers
Cedric

[travancore]

courtesy:alamy.com

This photo was supposedly taken during the Indian National Congress meeting, 1937. That meeting may have been at Faizpur, Bombay Presidency. Nehru does look a tad older for that date.

Interesting license plate on that motorcycle, though.

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by travancore

Attachment 1466549
courtesy:alamy.com

This photo was supposedly taken during the Indian National Congress meeting, 1937. That meeting may have been at Faizpur, Bombay Presidency. Nehru does look a tad older for that date.

Interesting license plate on that motorcycle, though.

Travancore,
T is one of the later Bombay city registrations so it would be towards the end of the 30s since everything changed in 1939.
Cheers
Cedric

[silversteed]

Where does 'ABC nnnn' series belong to? Saw a Royal Enfield Bullet bearing the number 'ABC 29xx' in Bangalore. Since it had all bells and whistles of the CDI 350cc, I wasn't able to figure out which vintage it was.

[sabinesnubbing]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Where does 'ABC nnnn' series belong to? Saw a Royal Enfield Bullet bearing the number 'ABC 29xx' in Bangalore. Since it had all bells and whistles of the CDI 350cc, I wasn't able to figure out which vintage it was.

Silversteed,
I have ABx as being for Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad from 73 to 79 on my lists. I suspect the 3rd serial letter was not actually serial but probably issued by district in Hyderabad as I feel they may not have issued all 3rd serial letters.
Cheers
Cedric

[slicvic]

What about HNL nnnn guys?