Low Digit Number Plates Increasing In Price

LOW digit number plates are become the ultimate status symbol down south, with the latest auction bringing $226,000 for "251”.

The New South Wales number plate was one of 30 sold at Monday's Shannon's Autumn Classic Auction, which collectively raised more than $4.2 million.

Setting a new record for a five-digit plate was "88688” which went under the hammer for $85,000. Another top seller was "1.777” at $133,000.

Star of the auction was an extensively refurbished right-hand drive 1971 Ferrari Dino 246 GT Coupe. Coming from long-term ownership, it was passed in and later sold within its $620,000-$680,000 guiding range for an undisclosed amount.

An Australian-built car proved another highlight, with $275,000 paid for a yellow 1977 Holden LX Torana A9X Hatchback that had been hidden in a Sydney northern suburbs storage cage for 27 years before going to auction.

It had only 94,184km showing on its odometer. The Torana had period Simmons alloy wheels, with its original steel spare still in the boot, while its interior retained its original upholstery and trim.

Modern classics also performed strongly, with a record $112,000 paid for a 1995 Mazda RX-7 SP Coupe - one of just 25 homologation models built for racing in Australia.

Meanwhile, a well-kept 2005 BMW M3 manual Competition Coupe with a rare manual gearbox sold for $77,000.

Another big sale was $187,000 paid for a 1960 Mercedes-Benz 190SL Convertible with white and red leather interior and matching hardtop, while $181,000 was achieved by a low kilometre Australian-delivered 1982 Porsche 930 Turbo Coupe.

One buyer paid $86,000 for a first-generation 1969 Holden HK Monaro 186 Automatic Coupe that had been in the hands of its long-term lady owner for 47 years, and $72,000 was paid for a 1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Limousine that had been laid-up on axle stands in a Sydney eastern suburbs garage since the early 1980s.

Shannons said other highlights were $69,000 paid for a restored and ultra-rare Holden HQ GTS 350 V8 with a four-speed manual, $45,000 for a restored Australian-built 997cc Mini Cooper, as well as a restored 1983 Toyota BJ42 LX SWB LandCruiser diesel 4WD that brought $45,000 and a 1962 Ford Falcon XL Utility upgraded to 302-cid V8 power selling for $37,000.

Bad news - the best and most expensive way to tell a mate what you think of him is off the market.

Remember last year when we told you that you could get a really, really rude looking number plate for about £6,000 if you wanted to?

Well it looks as if that ship has sailed and the UK number plate CU11NNT is now off the market.

The website that was selling the plate for a private seller has no longer got it on the market, leading us to believe that the DVLA have banned it after finding out.

We also report that the DVLA found out that it had slipped through the cracks and been removed from the market.

Technology is slowly creeping into all types of industries and niches. So, it’s no surprise that it’s moving from the board of our cars to the front and rear, grabbing the license plates and smashing the design we know and possibly enjoy.

DMVs all over the world are interested in producing a new, technologically enhanced type of plate that will make tracking cars easier. Even more, authorities in charge of releasing new plates and registering cars and their owners, are looking to make the process easier, with less paperwork and effort behind.

And I don’t blame them! After all, there’s a ton of work to be done if a driver decides he/she wants a pair of personalised number plates instead of the old, dull-looking ones. From the processing of forms to the actual hammering down of the new plate, the process is lengthy and tedious.

So how can technology improve things?

Number Plates Fitted With Microchips
This technology is already being applied in some parts of the world and consists in creating number plates with a special microchip embedded in the metal. The chip contains info on chassis number, owner’s personal identification number, past traffic offenses, and contact information and can be read from a distance of 100m using a special reader.

This helps law enforcement agents learn everything they need about the car, and get a better grip in finding stolen vehicles or drivers with unsolved offenses in their file.

Now, this technique may not seem extremely technologically advanced, but it is a step in the right direction. It does a good job when it comes to rushing through the verification process and helps the police keep track of more cars than before.

Why DMV heaven? Because it does everything for the law enforcement agencies but leaves the driver feeling deprived of their last shred of intimacy.

The idea behind rPlates is indeed laudable, as it reduces the amount of work. It also improves communication between the DMV and the vehicle per se and keeps the drive out of long lines and boring activities like filling out forms.

For instance, if you wanted to change your plates, all you had to do was send a request to the DMV and they could wirelessly make the change. You won’t have to remove the plate and install new ones, and you don’t even have to do anything else. The new number will simply show up on your plates and that will be it.

But there’s more to the rPlates! First, it will be a way of communicating the driver won’t be able to control. Thus, it will keep in constant connection with the DMV and will show warning messages if you skipped paying your insurance or your vehicle is not taxed.

There’s also a good side to this, as if the vehicle is reported stolen, the plate will flash a warning message, calling for attention.

As you can see, the idea of electronic plates has ups and downs, but there’s a lot more to the concept that we can possibly fathom right now.

So, why we don’t see it on the streets yet? Well, there are some problems to solve first. Things like visibility in daylight (as the information will be displayed on a screen), security (so it won’t be easy to hack), size (so it won’t be bulky), maintenance (screens are more sensitive than aluminium), and overall cost (right now it’s quite steep and no driver would venture to pay that much).

Other Ideas

When you mix technology and vehicles, there’s no shortage of cool ideas, but for now, the ones above are the only ones to make sense from point of view of number plates.

Another interesting thought would be to give up on the actual registration system and use barcodes instead. It would definitely make it easier for cameras and readers to spot the information, right? Well, sadly humans would have quite a problem dealing with this system so it’s not exactly reliable.

For now, the rPlates idea is the most down-to-Earth one and we may actually see it in practice soon enough.