Introduction of Perspex plates

[vpr]

Does anyone recall when the first reflective Perspex plates were introduced?

Always a dilemma for me when restoring a mid to late 70’s car is knowing whether to use correct font Perspex or ally with raised plastic digits.

I guess much the same as the phasing out of the black and silver to reflective there’s no clean changeover.

I know occasionally you’d see a 79 T or even V on raised plastics. I’m thinking maybe 77 was when Perspex was introduced???

Anyone in the trade at the time can shed a light??

[aeropilot]

I can't really recall seeing perspex plates before about 1980...?

[P5BNij]

aeropilot said:

I can't really recall seeing perspex plates before about 1980...?

Our next door neighbour bought a brand new Cortina in '77 with perspex plates fitted by the dealer .

[Mikebentley]

I had a mate with a P reg 1976 Golf on perspex plates

[vpr]

aeropilot said:

I can't really recall seeing perspex plates before about 1980...?

I recall my dad buying a new car in 79 which had Perspex.

[dandarez]

They may well have been introduced in the late 70s on 'new' vehicles, but when did 'perspex' become an 'accessory' to purchase in car parts shops to fit yourself?

I reckon 1980 as most of my cars prior had 'reflective' plates fitted (ie 'metal' plates) and the pics I can find with perspex reflective are 1980 earliest, including 'stick on' vinyl reflective plates.


Above was taken in Torquay in April 1974, both Imps inc mine with reflective, but metal plates.

How do I know it's 74?

[droopsnoot]

dandarez said:

They may well have been introduced in the late 70s on 'new' vehicles, but when did 'perspex' become an 'accessory' to purchase in car parts shops to fit yourself?

Well, people have been fitting newer plates on for ages - when reflective plates were first introduced in the late 60s, people were retro-fitting them to older cars in the hope of making them look a bit newer. I guess they became popular because they're so much easier to clean, nothing getting caught in the edges of the raised letters.

[Mikebentley]

Reflective plates with raised letters were I believe from Jan 1st 1967. Perspex late 70s.

[R5kst]

Yellow reflective number plates were mandatory from 1973, although as with EU number plates more recently, dealers issued these early. My dad had them on his 1972 mk3 Cortina GXL LMD 947K

[dbdb]

My father and grandfather both bought cars in August 1976 with perspex plates fitted from new - so on an 'R'. I'm fairly sure they weren't an absolutely brand new thing and that quite a few cars on an 'R' had them. They were a lot more expensive in 1976 and so tended to be fitted to the bigger/more expensive cars with the majority of cars still being fitted with the old type.

My mother bought a car in 1978 again with perspex plates. I remember pretty much all the new cars in the dealer had them by 1978. I was young at the time but obsessed with things like this and my recollection is that 1976 'R' is the time that they became reasonably common.

Mid 1970s Motor and Autocar magazines carry adverts for perspex plates presumably for owners to fit to existing cars rather than purely to new cars.

Edited by dbdb on Wednesday 24th August 11:56

[Pistom]

My understanding is that Serck were the first company to produce perspex number plates in 1973.

I can't find anything to support that though.

[kjs62]

Just saw this in a Sept 1959 Autocar magazine

[smn159]

Pistom said:

My understanding is that Serck were the first company to produce perspex number plates in 1973.

I can't find anything to support that though.

I think that you're right. They did seem be become common after about 1973, although they may well have been an option beforehand

[dbdb]

kjs62 said:

Just saw this in a Sept 1959 Autocar magazine

1959 is miles earlier than I would have guessed. Interestingly, my grandfather called them 'easy clean' plates. I wonder if that was because of these ads.

[aeropilot]

dbdb said:

kjs62 said:

Just saw this in a Sept 1959 Autocar magazine

1959 is miles earlier than I would have guessed. Interestingly, my grandfather called them 'easy clean' plates. I wonder if that was because of these ads.

Indeed....!!

First car I had owned with perspex aftermarket plates wasn't until 1984, although I don't know when the plates were fitted on that 1974 car? They weren't the original dealer plates though.

My Y reg Sunbeam-Lotus had perspex plates from new, as did my mother's A reg Mini, but nothing from earlier than that owned in the family had perspex from new.

[P5BNij]

kjs62 said:

Just saw this in a Sept 1959 Autocar magazine

Wow, I’m really surprised by that, I’d previously thought they were introduced in ‘67. Unless you meant to type 1969 instead of 1959..?

With the yellow & white reflective plates there was quite an overlap between the earlier raised digit and later perspex types, one of my cousins bought one of the last Mini 1275GTs on a W reg’ which had raised digit plates when new, long after the Perspex plates became popular.

ETA - I’ve just bought a set of ‘silver line’ plates for my ‘68 Cooper and they’ve perked up its appearance no end

Edited by P5BNij on Wednesday 24th August 13:54

[kjs62]

Definitely September 59

[Gavarnie]

smn159 said:

Pistom said:

My understanding is that Serck were the first company to produce perspex number plates in 1973.

I can't find anything to support that though.

I think that you're right. They did seem be become common after about 1973, although they may well have been an option beforehand

This sounds right. In the 80s I bought a Fiat 128 Rally which had perspex plates from new (I see that it was first registered in May 1974 so M reg). It had been ordered from Charles Follett of Mayfair at a time when they sold Fiat as well as Rolls-Royce. Very upmarket, it even had an electric radio aerial.

[P5BNij]

kjs62 said:

Definitely September 59

Thanks - the earliest photo I've found with these plates on a car is of Ringo Starr's customised '66 Cooper S which was fitted with them in early '67. There must be earlier examples about though.

[dandarez]

droopsnoot said:

dandarez said:

They may well have been introduced in the late 70s on 'new' vehicles, but when did 'perspex' become an 'accessory' to purchase in car parts shops to fit yourself?

Well, people have been fitting newer plates on for ages - when reflective plates were first introduced in the late 60s, people were retro-fitting them to older cars in the hope of making them look a bit newer. I guess they became popular because they're so much easier to clean, nothing getting caught in the edges of the raised letters.

I've been driving since the mid 60s so I realise that, however, the question was 'when' were reflective 'perspex' plates first introduced?

The first reflective plates may have been as you said late 60s, but they were all 'metal' ones, (dug a couple of old pics of mine out) as below (late 60s, I realsie you can only reflective plate on front Imp but it's 'metal' reflective as is gold Imp behind.


'Vinyl' reflective were made available and were just as easy to clean as 'perspex', I fitted (stuck!) lots of vinyl ones on my cars. One below ready to be fitted on G15 rear. They were just a sod to remove if needed, whereas perspex were easy to remove.




Mid 70s above with 'vinyl' reflective stick on.

Then 'perspex' reflective but this is very late 70s/early 80s.