Vic Rego Plate History

[webrake4bricabrac]

Hi All,

Due to inadequate records at Vicroads, I thought I'd head for a more knowledgable source...

My 1959 Coronet came with (now expired) registration plate H32248.

According to the VicRoads website, trailer series G00 000 to L99 999 were issued up to 1977.

www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/Registration/NumberPlates/StandardNumberPlates/TrailerPlate.htm

I am curious to know if H32248 could be the original registration number for the caravan (circa 1959).

Unfortunately, VicRoads also advised that:
- since this registration has expired, it cannot be reissued.
- it is not possible to request a specific rego number or obtain custom plates for trailers.
- they can only issue the next available number (currently from the T series).

[Franklin1]

Firefighter is your man for Vic rego plate history. He's posted the info on the forum in the past, but I don't know where you'd even start looking for it.

I'm more curious about your 1959 Coronet. Did you end up with the van with chassis number 9, or do you have a different Coronet? If it's a different one, do you know what the chassis number is on your van?

As far as the rego numbers go, I can only offer these photographs of vans from the late 50s / early 60s, which show the plates. I'll leave it to other experts to say if these would be original or not...







cheers,
Al.

[shesgotthelook]

I had immense trouble getting an unregistered vehicle permit for a van. Even though I had it's original rego, it hadn't been reg'd since the 70's & VicRoads had no record of it. Of course being a 50's home built there was no chassis no. either. I didn't end up buying it but imagine it would have been difficult to get reg'd after so many years of not being reg'd.

[webrake4bricabrac]

Strange - I found it pretty easy to obtain an unregistered vehicle permit from Vic roads. I provided them with a few details and they gave me a serial number to stamp on the draw bar.

[brenten]

10 years ago when i was doing my sunliner i went to vic roads and for a $150 i was able to get the plate i wanted

[shesgotthelook]

Interesting. I know personalized plates are about $500 but you can then register them to anything you like. Is that correct?

[seeshell]

Hi SGLT

I wanted specific plates for our van, but no such luck - in Victoria they are only available for cars. Sorry!

Cheers,
Seeshell

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Webrake...,

Victoria only introduced registration for caravans and small trailers in the mid-60's. I found the exact date somewhere, but can't remember where I posted it - 1967 rings a bell... Before that you only had to show the rego number of the tow car on the back of the van or the trailer. When rego plates for vans and small trailers were brought in they started at G - I guess G00-000 or maybe G10-000.

Our caravan is a '49 model which was registered, as I remember it, towards the end of the period when it had to be done - there may have been a 12 month period or something like that. Anyway our van ended up with a rego plate starting with G65-...

Your van has a plate starting with H, which means that it was registered with that plate sometime after 1967. This suggests three possibilities: (1) for some reason your van was left unregistered for a period before being "brought into the fold", (2) it was registered previously but then re-registered later with an H number after the previous registration lapsed, or (3) it was registered interstate then re-registered with an H plate in Victoria at a later point.

In any case, if the van always lived in Victoria, its 'original' plate in 1959 would have been the rego number of the vehicle that towed it. If you take the current plate off, you may even find the tow car rego number painted underneath (if it hasn't been painted over).

Regarding personalised plates, my understanding accords with Seeshell's. You can only get personalised or specific plates for cars in Victoria, not caravans.

Don Ricardo

[winterwood]

Approx 3-4 years ago, on expiry of the then current S A rego on my '64 GlobeTrotter (now owned by shesgotthelook), I enquired with Vic Roads about having personalised plates.

I wanted ZR 799, which was the original rego on both Dad's Vanguard & his Don (see photo).

I was told I couldn't have personalised plates for the GlobeTrotter.

Max

[jeremy112]

Hi I am trying to locate old official information from a caravan rego J28-739. I am trying to reregister in NSW after it being in a shed for many years. The Caravan has a chassis number but no other year etc identification marks. Thanks Jeremy

[hughdeany]

Hi Jeremy,
If you put up a pic of the van we will be able to tell you what it is,but I don’t think the rego number is going to help,it’s from the late 60s.
Cheers
hughdeany

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Jeremy112,

There's a bit of info about Victorian registration plates, including for trailers/caravans, here, but I don't think it'll tell you anything useful.

Registration of caravans in Victoria only became compulsory in 1967, so the allocation of registration plates was a bit haphazard for a couple of years. For example our 1949 caravan was first registered at the end of 1967 and has a registration plate starting with 'G65'. However, as you already know, your van is a late 1969 or early 1970 Viscount Ambassador, so based on Hughdeany's info, I'd say that your registration of 'J28-739' was a part of the series being used around 1969/70.

I don't think there's anywhere where you can find out when a specific plate was issued.

Has anyone asked you whether you've looked under the table and in cupboards for a hand written date? Quite a few Viscount owners have found the serial number and date of their van (probably the date when it started to be built, rather than completed) written in pencil in one of those places. If you can find that date, together with the info we have from Twocutekelpies' Viscount register, you might have enough information to convince the registration authorities.

In Victoria if you don't have evidence for a build date (and sometimes even when you do), VicRoads allocates the default date of 1900. In the end that doesn't matter too much if you privately actually know within a month or two when your van was built. The main thing is to avoid being told that your van has to meet all the post-1989 regulations, which it doesn't.

And I definitely agree with Mustang in his reply to you on another thread: don't try and fudge things by adding a date, etc, to what you've got on the drawbar. Just present the number 'E10356' in a transparent manner and go with that.

Don Ricardo