16-02-2018, 04:01 PM (This post was last modified: 16-02-2018, 08:07 PM by AllAlloyCup.)
LDear Stuart
Not the same number , but the same registration area.
“BF” for Dorsetshire was withdrawn in 1904, as the 100 or
so toffs in the County, were fed up with the peasants calling
them “ Bloody Fools” so they petitioned Parliament and most
swapped their numbers for an”FX” Mark
In 1921 BF was actually banned.
It was only when DVLA started to issue
Age related marks and when they ran out
Of other sequences they decided to start issuing
BF after a gap of over 100 years!
I was quite surprised how irregular some of the original plates were. Here is my car, pictured when only 4 years old on The Motor cover... so likely original. Similarities with font that Chris KC has used.
Looks to me that the Nippy numberplate would have been hand painted and not
Therefore a proprietary “font” as the sizing of the numbers looks variable!
The blurb for LUTZ / Alpine Headline ( circa 1996)says is was derived
From old number plates. The prewar regs specified height, width , spacing and letter stroke width
but did not define the style of the lettting , except serifs were not usually usedfrom the 1920’s onwards.
surely most pre 1936 cars were hand painted by the inhouse signwriter, unless customers wanted (and paid more for) more posh standardised, aluminium letters affixed?
I don't think so - well, not necessarily at least. My 1933 Box saloon had it's original plates on it when I acquired it and they were 'Hills' backing plates and rivet on cast aluminium letters form the same supplier. I think that was quite a common approach...
(15-02-2018, 11:03 PM)Mike Costigan Wrote: Just take a brave pill and have a go; take your time and use a small paint brush. I did these (the British plate, not the US one!) a few years ago by roughly drawing the outline of the figures with a fine felt-tip and then carefully easing the paint out to the edge, then filling in when I was happy with the outline. incidentally, I used a cream paint rather than white, and to my eye it was just the right colour. I must admit the thought of painting direct onto the body panel might have put me off ...
Can you tell what the car is, I assume it's American and 1914?
Yes, 1914 American: It's a Saxon Model A, 1400cc 4-cylinder, 2-speed transaxle, performance up to 30mph similar to a chummy, thereafter seriously limited by road surface and traffic!
