[anjan_c2007]

A 1952 Minx registered around 1965 in Nagpur

A 1968 registration of Nagpur


A 1922 registration of Central Provinces (Nagpur)

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Attachment 157599
A 1952 Minx registered around 1965 in Nagpur

I thought MHN was Aurangabad?

[sabinesnubbing]

anjan c2007,
Although CPB is certainly Central Provinces, I am certain it is not a 1922 number original to the bike but was reregistered in 1939.
Cheers
Cedric

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

anjan c2007,
Although CPB is certainly Central Provinces, I am certain it is not a 1922 number original to the bike but was reregistered in 1939.
Cheers
Cedric

Thanks Cedric.Our family had an old Wolseley car CPR 533 -Never saw the car but the number plate was kept with my granduncle for long. Can you please tell which city and year does CPR 533 belong to?

Originally Posted by Stanher

I thought MHN was Aurangabad?

Stanher MHN was Nagpur and Aurangabad used to be MHA.MHR was Amravati.

[sabinesnubbing]

anjan,
Unfortunately we have only very little detail on the 1939 numbers and certainly none for CP. The only thing I would suggest is that in those days they usually chose the third letter to have some significance to the place. Like N for Nagpur and A for Aurangabad.

If anyone out there knows any letters vs. towns for any series, can they tell us all please?
Cheers
Cedric

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

anjan,
Unfortunately we have only very little detail on the 1939 numbers and certainly none for CP. The only thing I would suggest is that in those days they usually chose the third letter to have some significance to the place. Like N for Nagpur and A for Aurangabad.

If anyone out there knows any letters vs. towns for any series, can they tell us all please?
Cheers
Cedric

Thanks Cedric, it could have been Raipur perhaps as all these were under the Central Province.

[Stanher]

Continuing on the topic of the CP (Central Province) regn. series, would the regn. of this car come under said category (it seems to read in Hindi "CPH 308")

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1152053-post1.html

Also was it legal then to have regn. nos. in Hindi/local languages? Especially on private vehciles?

[sabinesnubbing]

Stanher,
I had actually translated (if that is the correct word for plate letters) the plate as CPS 304. I admit I do not speak or read Hindi but I have a very nice sheet of Hindi letters (Omniglot on the www) that shows the diacritics (the symbols that show how you pronounce letters) also. I read the third letter as e ce. I know it's rude to question this but are you sure it's H?

Anyway, whichever letter it is, it would be a 1939 series CP registration. From what I understand, it has never actually been legal, and still isn't, to have anything but Latin letters/numerals on plates. From the photos I see, many areas (UP especially) don't enforce the law however.
Sorry about questioning you.
Cheers
Cedric

[karlosdeville]

The regn is actually CPH 304.

[harit]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Stanher,
I had actually translated (if that is the correct word for plate letters) the plate as CPS 304. I admit I do not speak or read Hindi but I have a very nice sheet of Hindi letters (Omniglot on the www) that shows the diacritics (the symbols that show how you pronounce letters) also. I read the third letter as e ce. I know it's rude to question this but are you sure it's H?

Anyway, whichever letter it is, it would be a 1939 series CP registration. From what I understand, it has never actually been legal, and still isn't, to have anything but Latin letters/numerals on plates. From the photos I see, many areas (UP especially) don't enforce the law however.
Sorry about questioning you.
Cheers
Cedric

Well Cedric, as Karl said it is CPH. And Stanher, the number plates on many cars particularly in UP, MP, were in Hindi. I have a Humber with USA registration plate in Hindi.

Now Cedric, I took in hand the registration book of my Buick. It is the original book, not a duplicate and even has also all the war-time ration stamps. Now hear this:
Original registration was K 4008.
Re-registered to BMW 9357.
Date of registration 9th April 1940
Model registered as 1938, actually the car is a 1939.
What could be summarised is that registrations were changed in 1940. First series was BMW. So when we had single alphabet system, probably the first such series was W, then X, Y, Z. Probably K was the last or second last. And K should have been early 1939.
So re-registration was done in 1940.
All BMW series registration books, if original, will show the original number written on the inside of the cover page.

Cheers harit

[sabinesnubbing]

Gents,
First, appologies to Stanher. Hindi is damn confusing to a Westerner even with Omniglot! At least I got close (ish). The record is ammended accordingly.

The pre39 series I have for Bombay city in order are... no letter, Z, Y, X, W, T, N, K. I would have to guess that K started in maybe 1937 or 8 if yours is K4008. We have a photo of BMW 2699 that is said to have been taken in 1935. I got the photo from somewhere on TeamBHP but don't remember where. I presume therefore that BMW did actually start earlier than 1940 (I have it as 1935?) and may have been for a different area of the city or surrounds.
Out of interest, K was the first series for Karachi in 1902 ish.

Does anyone else have any old original registration books that can tell us more interesting stories?

I am attaching the BMW 1935 picture and also a nice old Karachi 1914 K plate from the New Cars, Used Cars, Buy Cars, Sell Cars, New Car Prices, Car Discussions - PakWheels site

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

I admit I do not speak or read Hindi but I have a very nice sheet of Hindi letters (Omniglot on the www) that shows the diacritics (the symbols that show how you pronounce letters) also. I read the third letter as e ce. I know it's rude to question this but are you sure it's H?
From what I understand, it has never actually been legal, and still isn't, to have anything but Latin letters/numerals on plates. From the photos I see, many areas (UP especially) don't enforce the law however.

As karl had clarified, the last alphabet is indeed a word spelling 'H' in Hindi.
Yes, maybe for the convenience of the less-English educated of that time, the letters were only written in Hindi script, while maintaining the original English series. So hence it wasnt considered objectionable I guess?

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

The regn is actually CPH 304.

Whoops, now a teeny flaw from my side too! Yes, last digit is actually '4' in Hindi!

'first took it rather casually for a half-wiped out "8".

I have a blurring memory of numbers in Devanagiri- last time I recall writing them was probably in 9th class when we were once given homework in writing the digits 1 to 10 in Hindi, which I forgot about! Next day, as we were about to leave for assembly, I hurriedly grabbed someone's notebook and, with a trembling hand, copied down the whole list....submitted just in time! : phew:

Originally Posted by harit

the number plates on many cars particularly in UP, MP, were in Hindi. I have a Humber with USA registration plate in Hindi.
Original registration was K 4008.
Re-registered to BMW 9357.

Yes, there were many in Hindi (just to add, I've heard of cars in erstwhile Nizam's Hyderabad with regns. and RC books in Urdu too! )

But in case of the Hindi regn.s, the letters were still English, only painted in Hindi.

Continuing with the topic, found a couple of old regns. in a flickr album. The Manipur one is said to be pre-Independence. Can anyone confirm?

Jammu Kashmir INDIA on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

BRITISH INDIA Manipur state 1940's on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

We have a photo of BMW 2699 that is said to have been taken in 1935. I got the photo from somewhere on TeamBHP but don't remember where. I presume therefore that BMW did actually start earlier than 1940 (I have it as 1935?) and may have been for a different area of the city or surrounds.

That picture is of a distant uncle of mine and his 1935 Standard 10. The car was bought new, and sold in the 60s after his death.

The picture is not dated, so we cannot say it was shot in 1935, and judging by his age in the picture it should be post Independance.

[harit]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

The pre39 series I have for Bombay city in order are... no letter, Z, Y, X, W, T, N, K. I would have to guess that K started in maybe 1937 or 8 if yours is K4008. We have a photo of BMW 2699 that is said to have been taken in 1935. I got the photo from somewhere on TeamBHP but don't remember where. I presume therefore that BMW did actually start earlier than 1940 (I have it as 1935?) and may have been for a different area of the city or surrounds.
Out of interest, K was the first series for Karachi in 1902 ish.

Does anyone else have any old original registration books that can tell us more interesting stories?

Hi Cedric,

Pre series BOM has been left out by you. Have no idea if BOM registered cars were re-registered or the BOM(B) was just dropped.
I feel that the BMW with BMW plate is also a re-registered car.
My car was re-registered in 1940.
All members who have BMW series original books may kindly look what is inside. And all those dear readers who are not members but have such a book, please give the details to a member friend for posting.

Cheers harit

[sabinesnubbing]

Gents,
MNS 552 is a bit of a problem plate. There was a big batch of plates that a collector must have got from some Indian shop in the 80s but I am not sure which town. Some of the plates have this fairly unique design of letters so I am pretty sure Woddy is right that it is an Indian number. MNA-MNZ is also a Pakistan 1947 series from Multan which confuses things.
MN is listed as a 1939 series Manipur number and it is listed as continuing into the 1947 series. However I have no photos of the Manipur MN at all. I have lots of photos of Multan MN but that doesn't help here.

I suspect this is one of the batch of plates made specially for an American collector and has never actually been on a vehicle at all.

Does anyone have anything on MN plates?

Cheers
Cedric