Letter suffix on 1962 car

[PhyllisOphical]

I had always understood that letter suffixes were first introduced in 1963 and that registration plates can not be assigned which appear to make a car look younger than it is.

This ebay listing is for a 1962 car with a 1963 registration. How is this possible?

[Muzzer79]

Could be a 1962-built car that wasn’t registered until 1963?

[markymarkthree]

PhyllisOphical said:

I had always understood that letter suffixes were first introduced in 1963 and that registration plates can not be assigned which appear to make a car look younger than it is.

This ebay listing is for a 1962 car with a 1963 registration. How is this possible?

Probably built in 62 and not registered until 63.

[Easternlight]

I'm sure someone who knows will be along shortly but I think the first few years of the date letter system were a but of a mess, lots of numbers not getting assigned in the true order.

[BananaFama]

Some cars that had non suffix plates transferred off them got handed A plates ,just another DVLA anomaly .

They move in mysterious ways down there .

[craigjm]

markymarkthree said:

PhyllisOphical said:

I had always understood that letter suffixes were first introduced in 1963 and that registration plates can not be assigned which appear to make a car look younger than it is.

This ebay listing is for a 1962 car with a 1963 registration. How is this possible?

Probably built in 62 and not registered until 63.

Was registered on the 26 March 1962 according to the DVLA

It’s probably as said above had it original dateless number removed and reassigned an A in a DVLA mistake

[mac96]

Regardless of registration, is that not suspiciously cheap?

[Scrump]

BananaFama said:

Some cars that had non suffix plates transferred off them got handed A plates ,just another DVLA anomaly .

They move in mysterious ways down there .

I had this with a mk1 cortina I used to own. Previous owner took off the orginal dateless 3x3 plate and the car was issued with an A reg by DVLA.
I have read that more recently DVLA will now issue a non transferable dateless plate, but that certainly was t the case back in the eighties/early nineties.

[aeropilot]

Scrump said:

BananaFama said:

Some cars that had non suffix plates transferred off them got handed A plates ,just another DVLA anomaly .

They move in mysterious ways down there .

I had this with a mk1 cortina I used to own. Previous owner took off the orginal dateless 3x3 plate and the car was issued with an A reg by DVLA.
I have read that more recently DVLA will now issue a non transferable dateless plate, but that certainly was t the case back in the eighties/early nineties.

Yep, and DVLA have a lot of A suffix plates available, as in '63 many areas LLC's were still issuing dateless plates through most of '63.

[Golden Guinea Charlie]

DVLA did not exist until 1965

From WIKI
Originally, vehicle registration was the responsibility of County Borough and County councils throughout Great Britain, a system created by the Motor Car Act 1903. In 1965 a centralised licensing system was set up at a new Swansea Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre (DVLC), taking over licences issued from County/Borough councils.[6] A new purpose built centre was then built on the site of the old Clase Farm on Longview Road, Swansea in 1969.[7]

[Pica-Pica]

Scrump said:

BananaFama said:

Some cars that had non suffix plates transferred off them got handed A plates ,just another DVLA anomaly .

They move in mysterious ways down there .

I had this with a mk1 cortina I used to own. Previous owner took off the orginal dateless 3x3 plate and the car was issued with an A reg by DVLA.
I have read that more recently DVLA will now issue a non transferable dateless plate, but that certainly was t the case back in the eighties/early nineties.

3+3

[iDrive]

BananaFama said:

Some cars that had non suffix plates transferred off them got handed A plates ,just another DVLA anomaly .

They move in mysterious ways down there .

A Suffix were meant to be London-only issue in period, then other areas retro-issued them (for example where a dateless plate was transferred off a car, an A Suffix would/should/might replace it).

[aeropilot]

Golden Guinea Charlie said:

DVLA did not exist until 1965

Which is irrelevant to the OP's question, and any of the answers?

[Skyedriver]

aeropilot said:

Golden Guinea Charlie said:

DVLA did not exist until 1965

Which is irrelevant to the OP's question, and any of the answers?

But background information.
Prior to the DVLA coming into being, it was all down to the City/Borough/District Council to issue vehicle registrations and also Driving Licences if I remember correctly. My first Provisional and then Full Licence (little red book) into which, endorsements could be stamped were issued by Tynemouth (was it Borough or District?) Council. They had what I think was a dedicated office for this sort of thing in Howard Street, North Shields.

[TarquinMX5]

iDrive said:

BananaFama said:

Some cars that had non suffix plates transferred off them got handed A plates ,just another DVLA anomaly .

They move in mysterious ways down there .

A Suffix were meant to be London-only issue in period, then other areas retro-issued them (for example where a dateless plate was transferred off a car, an A Suffix would/should/might replace it).

This isn't correct. Plenty of local registration offices (mine included) issued A-suffix numbers in 1963 but not all did by any means. More local offices were issuing B-suffixes in 1964, though again not all (one of mine is a mid-64 3x3 plate), however, by Jan '65 I'm fairly sure all offices were issuing C-suffix plates.

A-suffix plates were, however, sometimes, but not always, issued to pre-1963 cars when the original number was taken off a pre-63 vehicle. I can't recall when they stopped that process but it was possibly in the early 80s.

[Mr Tidy]

Could it have been registered in Northern Ireland or the Channel Islands then given a later plate when registered on the mainland?

[mph]

BananaFama said:

Some cars that had non suffix plates transferred off them got handed A plates ,just another DVLA anomaly .

They move in mysterious ways down there .

This is the most likely explanation.

[AMGSee55]

mac96 said:

Regardless of registration, is that not suspiciously cheap?

Suitably vague description in the ad……’Running, driving, usable classic’……..get your nose into it properly and you could easily find the bottom third of it is patchwork welding and filler. Very easy to get away with when MOT not required.

[Cliftonite]

mph said:

BananaFama said:

Some cars that had non suffix plates transferred off them got handed A plates ,just another DVLA anomaly .

They move in mysterious ways down there .

This is the most likely explanation.

And the correct one.

I know of one vehicle (a Willys Jeep) from the 1940s with an A-suffix plate!

[Johnspex]

AMGSee55 said:

mac96 said:

Regardless of registration, is that not suspiciously cheap?

Suitably vague description in the ad……’Running, driving, usable classic’……..get your nose into it properly and you could easily find the bottom third of it is patchwork welding and filler. Very easy to get away with when MOT not required.

Also, description says grey when clearly it's White, and more amazingly, it has 'seat-belt pre-tensioners' according to the ad.