11-07-2019, 11:41 AM
I wonder if anyone else within Austin Seven circles has attempted what I am about to embark on. Let's see.....
When my brother and I bought our barn find Mk1 Ruby back in 1987, there was no front number plate and the one to the rear was so badly rusted that it was no longer possible to discern what it once said. With no actual knowledge of the original number, the then owner had understandably obtained an age-related number from the DVLA. At that time, it seems that neither of us had any particular interest in finding out more about the vehicle's past, plus of course we didn't then have the advantages that the internet can bring to such matters.
As per another thread, I am currently engaged in a long running situation with the DVLA over this car's identity, which has triggered me to think about what potential for research might exist. In the first of my pictures below, a bit blurry, we can see fragments of the painted digits that remained on the plate, which was at the time bolted to the bumper. Remembering that we re-used the same plate, overpainting it with Hammerite and then painting the age-related number by hand, it occurred to me yesterday that there could be some mileage in stripping off the paint and looking for 'ghost' markings as a means of identifying the original number. It stands to reason that the surface of the metal could be in marginally better condition underneath where the letters and numbers once were, simply due to the extra layer of paint.
Modern paint stripper isn't as powerful as the old stuff and a lot of patience is required, particularly as I don't want to disturb what's underneath more than necessary, so I've only managed a small patch so far. I'll do some more in stages as time permits. Where I've scraped away the 'V', we can already see a diagonal mark that intercepts the 'S'. There's also a small patch of paint in the open part of the '3'. What we don't know just yet is which way up the plate would have been, as we transferred it from the bumper to the boot lid when we re-used it.
Another thing that occurs to me is that if I can decipher just the letters, which could be either two or three given the age of the car, this might point me towards the county in which the car was registered, with the obvious potential to search through those records should they happen to still exist. I'm aware this can vary from county to county, so fingers crossed.
When my brother and I bought our barn find Mk1 Ruby back in 1987, there was no front number plate and the one to the rear was so badly rusted that it was no longer possible to discern what it once said. With no actual knowledge of the original number, the then owner had understandably obtained an age-related number from the DVLA. At that time, it seems that neither of us had any particular interest in finding out more about the vehicle's past, plus of course we didn't then have the advantages that the internet can bring to such matters.
As per another thread, I am currently engaged in a long running situation with the DVLA over this car's identity, which has triggered me to think about what potential for research might exist. In the first of my pictures below, a bit blurry, we can see fragments of the painted digits that remained on the plate, which was at the time bolted to the bumper. Remembering that we re-used the same plate, overpainting it with Hammerite and then painting the age-related number by hand, it occurred to me yesterday that there could be some mileage in stripping off the paint and looking for 'ghost' markings as a means of identifying the original number. It stands to reason that the surface of the metal could be in marginally better condition underneath where the letters and numbers once were, simply due to the extra layer of paint.
Modern paint stripper isn't as powerful as the old stuff and a lot of patience is required, particularly as I don't want to disturb what's underneath more than necessary, so I've only managed a small patch so far. I'll do some more in stages as time permits. Where I've scraped away the 'V', we can already see a diagonal mark that intercepts the 'S'. There's also a small patch of paint in the open part of the '3'. What we don't know just yet is which way up the plate would have been, as we transferred it from the bumper to the boot lid when we re-used it.
Another thing that occurs to me is that if I can decipher just the letters, which could be either two or three given the age of the car, this might point me towards the county in which the car was registered, with the obvious potential to search through those records should they happen to still exist. I'm aware this can vary from county to county, so fingers crossed.
