> > Don't have my book of UK index marks to hand but it looks like this one
> > [JOI 585] comes from Northern Ireland.
> > If I remember correctly any combo of the second two letters which
features
> > and I - not a 1 - is reserved
> > for that part of the UK.
On Sun. 3rd May, Andy Mace wrote
> According to one of my all-time favorite car books -- The Observer's Book
> of Automobiles (1963 eition), edited by L.A. Manwaring -- this would be a
> Belfast [County Borough issued] registration. But no guesses as to what
> vintage the "J" might suggest.
Ah, the definitive compendium. Either the Observer's Book or the AA
(Automobile Association) Handbook! The J would be the series rotation
letter
and if its Belfast, it COULD be the issue was 'fifties/'sixties. By now, I
would
imagine Belfast is issuing three letters and four numbers.
Northern Ireland does not use a year identification letter in line with
the UK mainland. How the plate got to North America is anyone's guess.
Maybe
the car was close to the location of a bomb outrage and the plate got blown
across
the Atlantic. Maybe the car to which the plate was fixed was the bomb
itself - this should not be ruled out!
John Mac
|