Project Petrolhead

Regardless of what car you drive, they all have one thing in common. A small white rectangle affixed to the front bumper. I love a number plate and I can still remember the plates on every car I’ve ever owned. From BD53 PTX (Fiesta, written off), through SP53 ZTN (Another Fiesta, still going strong on 120,000 miles) all the way to YT57 NYR (now going by J444 GTB). I even remember my parent’s number plates, especially my Dad’s Volvos, BF02 DDY and YB05 NUA (neither currently on the road). I love the way they can serve as a name for your car if you’re that way inclined, as well as giving you a visual shorthand for the year and area the car was registered.

Because of this, I’d always been against private plates. For me, they strip out the interesting titbits of a car’s early history, but after being gifted the perfect private plate (Jaaaaag and my initials, in case you never got that) I have now warmed to the idea, with one caveat. The plate must be about the car, not the person driving it. If I see you driving around with BO55 MAN emblazoned on the boot lid of your BMW M140i (not to make general assumptions but… come on) then I will lose some respect for you.

The best examples of these have always been press plates. Being, as I am, a fiend for UK car journalism, you will come to recognise certain press plates from the pages of your favourite copy of EVO or Autocar (or even an episode of Top Gear) and each one will tell you immediately what car you are going to be reading about. Take F12 FNE, I can tell you that that plate belongs to Ferrari North Europe and is attached to an F12 Berlinetta. The same goes for C8 FNE (Ferrari 488 GTB) and F6 FNE (296 GTB, the first Ferrari to use a hybrid V6). Then there’s Porsche who have spend the last four decades registering their best and brightest under the simple moniker of 911 HUL, always being reserved for the most powerful 911 on sale (first seen on the 1989 911 Turbo, currently on the 992 911 Turbo S).

Finally, there’s Aston Martin with their selection of AML plates. Standing for Aston Martin Lagonda (the full name of the company, in case you weren’t aware) these three letters have appeared in all sorts of configurations. 1 AML, AML 1, V12 AML, F1 AML, V12 AMR (Aston Martin Racing), there are endless possibilities, with even the current crop of Vanquish press cars using VN— AML plates to distinguish them as Astons… Just in case the wings emblazoned on the bonnet weren’t a dead giveaway.

If done right, then, a private numberplate can be just as distinctive as the car on which it is place. Just be sure that it’s distinctive for the right reasons, eh BO55 MAN?