Motoring pics Vintage cars - early years, events from 1960's 70's and 80's

[Roger Dowding]

Mike Courtney - a guy I have known since by Banking Days in New Lynn late 1980's early 1990's [ 1985 - 1992 ] is looking for this car, his old car. We had a chat only yesterday about the car.
Mike writes on the Vintage Car Club of New Zealand Facebook page ;

" Looking for this car I built some years ago Austin 7 special Rego when sold was TP7 as aust1n plate went on a veteran .is it still around keen to catch up with it .cheers mike ".

Photo of the car with its " AUST1N " plate - date of photo not stated;

[ATTACH=CONFIG]70285[/ATTACH]

If anyone has information on the car please post on here or PM me
Plates on Carjam
" TP7 25-Aug-1995
AUST1N 09-Jan-1991
"

Cheers Roger

[Roger Dowding]

New Zealand Number Plates.
A lot is known but much information is also lost or incorrect on the History of New Zealand Number Plates, from the early ones mentioned in Jellywrestler Graeme's thread on the pre 1925 plates to the latest 3 letter 3 number issues.

Plates are useful in identifying when a photo was taken as from 1925 to 1941 Plates were issued annually and valid 1st July onwards in the year of issue until 30th June the following year.
When in 1941, because of material [ metal ] shortages, plates were changed to a 5 yearly cycle [ 1941 -1946 ] a Registration Sticker was issued for the second and subsequent years until the next plate issue took place.

Have several version of the lists of plates - images with colours of each plate and some with the description of the plate as well as the colour - defining what symbol was used between the 2 sets of numbers on the 1925 to 1964 plates.

Here from Graham Freeman the numbers plates up to 2017 - the current issue of 3 letters 3 numbers plates with a slightly different font to earlier - 1986 on plates.

The issue of Permanent Plates began in 1964 for cars with Heavy Vehicles in the 1965 year [ 1965 - 66 ], and plates were allocated alphabetically staring with AA at the bottom of the South Island and Northland receiving the AX series as shown in this newspaper article from Mark D archives.

The permanent plates were issued in the sequence as shown above and in groups in subsequent years.
Here is the list from 1964 into the 1990's.
They show when a plate was first released to the Registration Authorities - mainly the New Zealand Post Office in the early years and some would have had plates not released until the following year on occasions.

More to come on this topic including Registration Stickers and other stickers NZ cars have had over the years.

Cheers
Roger

[Roger Dowding]

Registration Stickers were first used during the war when in 1941 the plate issue was changed from Annually, to 5 yearly with the release in July 1941 of the 1941 - 46 series of plates.

This one ;

Stickers were issued for the subsequent years - 1942 - 1943, then 1943 - 1944 etc.
Have not been able to find an image of sets of the 1940's into the 1950's stickers apart from seeing one or two on car windscreens in various photo's.

Mark Dawber does have a few images of a few from various years but not a set.

This for the 1949 - 1950 year.

This for the 1963 - 1964 year, the last of the old plates [ Black on Yellow ] - archive Ben Hutchinson.

When permanent plates were introduced in the 1964 - 65 licensing year, stickers were continued on an annual basis, and now we have those slide in ones to go into the pocket on the windscreen.

Here are stickers from 1965 on - until 1996.
Thinking that there wasn't a sticker in the 1964 - 65 year as the first year of new plates.
Comment states " missing the 1964 - 65 .. year " but that could be why.

Any information TRS members may have please add to this thread.

Still have a couple of 1990's issue stickers that were for the Austin Healey 100, used to register it for 3 months every two years to keep the " Number Plate " active.
Still on the backing sheet.

More to come on other stickers as I find images - remembering 1979 and Carless Days and also other Number Plates for Commercial Vehicles - pre 1964 - 65 permanent plate issue.

[Roger Dowding]

Plates from 1908 to the release of permanent plates in 1964 - a different version with details of colours and also the central symbol [ * . , - ].

Plates for Heavy Vehicles with " H " prefix. pre - permanent plates " HA " - " HB " and even the supplementary class plates depending on weight and size of the Truck

Special Plates and others

Government Plates

Dealer Plates - I note that even current ones are Black on Yellow - is that a throwback to the last of the 5 yearly plates from 1961 - 1964/65 ?
These are from various years with the first National Plate the NZ prefix Green plate of 1925 - others with different symbols ;
Diamond, Triangle, Dash, Dot, Comma, etc..

Note ; Images are from various sources - noted on the images where known.

[GregT]

I seem to remember when registering the race bikes as farm machinery that the Registration sticker carried a letter E where the examples above carry a C.
And yeah, all the bikes had to be registered and farm machinery was the cheapest class acceptable. Don't know how common it was on racecars, they tended to get more scrutiny.

[928]

yep, race cars had to be registerd and have a WOF. tractor reg was the cheapest and a daylight WOF solved the light problem

[GregT]

Interesting. The bikes didn't need a wof - even for street circuits. If you rode it to the meeting, yes you needed a wof for that - but no way could you make something like a Manx road legal so the registration was mainly an ownership tracker.

[Milan Fistonic]

These are the regs about registration and WOFs from the 1961 ANZCC National Competition Rules.

[Roger Dowding]

Excellent,
Thanks, Milan -
I remember seeing race cars, Saloons in particular, with a number plate bolted to the floor inside the car.
There are many photos too, of Grand Prix / Single Seaters with number plates attached to the bodywork from the 1950's 1960's.

Ron Roycroft Austin Seven Special " Rubber Duck " with its Number Plate on its tail a 1946 - 51 plate.

The 1946 -51 Plate.

More for the " History of New Zealand's " Motoring and Motorsport.

Greg T and others thanks for " your inputs " too..

Had the ANZCC Books [ later MANZ Books ] from later in the 1960's when I first competed in Trials and later in Autocross and Sprints where a Competition [ Speed Category ] Licence was required, " Closed Club " then later " Invitation " level Licence
That was a high as I went with Motorsport.

Cheers
Roger

[Roger Dowding]

1979 into 1980, New Zealands answer to the " Second Oil "crisis, the first being in 1972, not counting the Suez crisis of 1956.

Carless Days [ " Car-Less Days " Officially - or as was referred to Carlos Dias, by some ].

Part of the story - from NZ Memories Magazine in 2020 ;

The Stickers the Seven Days and the Exempt " X " sticker. Auckland University Students are believed to have created there own Sticker which had " Yesterday " as the day, so I am told.

The sticker that was on my Triumph TR4A - chose Tuesday as could carpool with friends to work, and for part of the time had a second car. It meant that Motorsport was not interrupted.

Another Tuesday Sticker with a 1966 -67 Registration Sticker - seems a bit odd, unless current Rego was elsewhere on the windscreen. [ source not known ].

Advert for Carl-Less Day Stickers from John Vevers archives - John is an Austin Guy - Austin 3 Litre cars that is.

During the 1972 crisis Car Clubs made some concessions reducing the length of Trials by 10%, [ basically just plotted a trial that was a bit shorter than the same event the previous year as a guideline ] I think Race meetings ran a couple less races.
The Government had Petrol Stations closing at Midday on Saturday - so our Saturday Trials were held in the morning with a Check at a Petrol Station near the end of the trial so you could fuel up for the rest of weekends motoring.

More to come on Warrants of Fitness, and " Old and New " plates and stickers details.

[Roger Dowding]

Registration Plates Registration Stickers, Car-Less Days and Warrant Stickers.
Warrant Stickers.
These have changed over the years as has the process.
Warrants were due 6 monthly from when I got my first car in 1967 - regardless of the age of the Vehicle.
In the 1990's [ actual date I am not sure - others may know ] New cars went to an Annual Warrant of Fitness and were able to do that for 10 Years.
Now in 2022 - much to my surprise the Warrant of Fitness on a new car is valid for 3 years.
[ Presume as all new vehicles sold are under a minimum of 3 year warranty with at least annual servicing.

Some Warrant Stickers - Inspection Receipts from 1957 to 2022.

Warrant for a famous Austin Healey from 1957.

Warrant Sticker for an Austin from 1985 - John Vevers archives.

A newer sticker - date unreadable - an October Expiry - some time after the 1985 one.
Front;

Back

Warrant Sticker on another Austin Healey BQ538.

A January 2022 Registration Sticker with 3 year expiry -
[ on our new car - a future classic ? well it has the good name of MG on the badge - " MG since 1924 " !! ]

Other Regimes ;
Australia
New South Wales - your " Safety Certificate " is valid for 12 months even on new cars - or was back in 2011.

Queensland, however has no regular safety inspections after a car is sold and Registered in the State.
We took a 3 month old vehicle from NSW to QLD in 2011 and had to have a full Safety Inspection - they reasoned " we could have modified the car after purchase " then there were no more State Government requirements or inspections unless the car was being sold.

United Kingdom
I understand that in the UK MoT Inspections are annual, but there are exemptions for Old or " Classic / Vintage " Vehicles
" Oldfart " and " ERC " would know more on that.

Other Countries, I have no real knowledge.

[928]

brtitish columbia in canada, introduced safety checks in 1972 i think. my car was booked in and i was informed of when and where and time. passed easily but i was used to nz wof system.

[Oldfart]

UK, IF you register your car as "Historic" status you can choose to not have MOT (equivalent of WOF).There are a lot of rules relating to originality, no engine swaps, wheel changes etc which mean that you may still be required to have the annual MOT. The car must still always be to standard.

[Roger Dowding]

In the original post was an image from Graham Freeman with all number plates from 1908 t0 2017.
Here is the full article as published in NZ Memories magazine in 2020. Issue #144.

Article was 3 pages ;
Pages 1 and 2

Pages enlarged
Page One,

Page Two [ as posted before - images of the plates].

Page Three

Hope this helps with identifying cars and when photos were taken.

Thanks to " Oldfart " for the comment about UK " exemption " for ' Historic ' cars and to 928 for the comment about Canada.
No doubt Ken H, can give us an insight into California rules and maybe other States too- in the USA they talked about a " Pink Slip " but am unsure if that was Registration or a Compliance " Safety of Vehicle " certificate.

[khyndart in CA]

Roger,
Here in California the pink slip for the automobile is the ownership form, for my job it means something else !
Every two years in order to register our vehicles we have to only pass a smog certification. (No safety check !)
One can have bald tyres, no lights and the doors hanging off and all it needs to register, is to have passed a smog test.
But if you are stopped, be involved in any accident etc. be ready for the insurance companies and lawyers to come down hard !
Only vehicles built later than 1975 need to be smogged so you might be surprised at some of the older cars (Muscle Cars etc) that you see on the road today.

(Ken H)

[Roger Dowding]

Ken H,

Thanks for the information.
" Every two years in order to register our vehicles we have to only pass a smog certification. (No safety check !) ".

Sounds a bit like Queensland - the onus on the owner to keep the car up to standard.

As another aside;
Remember in Los Angeles [ Ventura ] 1982 we bought a VW Kombi ' 751JMG ' which was a mid 1970's car it had the California SMOG fittings, and " airpump " from memory, and as the car was over 5 years old the VW guy Jim Mann, who was an Austin Healey owner as well, disconnected a belt that drove the "airpump " as it gave us another couple of Horsepower.
Guess it was an easy thing to put a new belt on if required.

A California Plate - not one of the " treasured " Black plates ..

As a matter of interest the " Masterson " noted in the number plate surround - is a Historic Racer, which has been at Laguna Seca

[khyndart in CA]

Roger,
Masterson Motors was a VW dealership in Ventura. CA. that did have a racing division.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/in ... ura_ca.php
(That looks like a Lotus 30 # 222 in this old photo taken at Laguna Seca.)

You should have borrowed my 1977 NZER lic. plate which now has a reverse camera hovering over it as this "old codger" needs all the help he can get !
(This plate has been on a number of my vehicles over the 45 years.)
(Now just trying to get my 2001 BMW 325 wagon to pass smog before next month !)

(Ken H )

[Roger Dowding]

Ken H,
" Masterson Motors was a VW dealership in Ventura. CA. that did have a racing division. ".

makes sense now 40 years later !!
Like the NZER plate too !!

PS spelling corrected on my post Master'S'on ..

[Roger Dowding]

For Ken H and others - " foreign " plates.

All " Fifty " States;

Our old, recently sold, car on its second plate from Queensland June 2011 - March 2017. Car was Registered new in New South Wales in March 2011.
The Registration Sticker is from 2012, shortly after that they stopped issuing stickers as a "savings " measure.
Car was brought to NZ in June 2017.

Part of my small collection - in fact all of my collection; - gave a few away when we went to Australia.

A gift from a friend from Oregon in 1988.

A gift from a New Zealand friend, came off a VW Camper that was brought to New Zealand - a 1973 issue, I am told.

[Roger Dowding]

A few more Images ;

Bus Plates from Mark D - He was a Bus Driver in Christchurch ;.Plates from the 1930's to 1950's.

A collection of the Alloy Silver and Black Plates and the "Modern Black on White [ reflective ] -images from Paul Francis Smith archives -A Rally Guy who runs the NZ Rallying History Facebook Page among other things.
Do not know where the collection is though.

A few pre permanent plates in this image too.

Some plates from Tyler Keyes own collection - Tyler advertises for plates to buy them!.