Suffix Registration Numbers

Introduced in 1963 when ageless combinations were running out ( presumably they decide not to go to 4 numbers as they wanted it to be easy for the police to identify which cars need an M.O.T ) , the last digit of the registration numbers is a letter from A to Y ( Q,Z,U and I were never used ) which gives the approximate age of the vehicle.

A	1 Jan 63 - 31 Dec 63	H	1 Aug 69 - 31 Jul 70	R	1 Aug 76 - 31 Jul 77
B	1 Jan 64 - 31 Dec 64	J	1 Aug 70 - 31 Jul 71	S	1 Aug 77 - 31 Jul 78
C	1 Jan 65 - 31 Dec 65	K	1 Aug 71 - 31 Jul 72	T	1 Aug 78 - 31 Jul 79
D	1 Jan 66 - 31 Dec 66	L	1 Aug 72 - 31 Jul 73	V	1 Aug 79 - 31 Jul 80
E	1 Jan 67 - 31 Jul 67	M	1 Aug 73 - 31 Jul 74	W	1 Aug 80 - 31 Jul 81
F	1 Aug 67 - 31 Jul 68	N	1 Aug 74 - 31 Jul 75	X	1 Aug 81 - 31 Jul 82
G	1 Aug 68 - 31 Jul 69	P	1 Aug 75 - 31 Jul 76	Y	1 Aug 82 - 31 Jul 83

This system was a boon to car dealers as everyone could clearly work out how old your car was! This also resulted in an annual sales rush in January every year. To try and smooth demand over the year the change of suffix was moved to August in 1967 so the E prefix only ran from Jan 67 to Aug 67.

Examples of suffix registration numbers :-

ABC 123A

DRT 6Y

AEF 66T

Note all registrations have three letters to begin with and 1 ,2 or 3 numbers.

It is possible to ascertain the area of origin of the registration number from the 2nd and 3rd letter, to see a table detailing this click the link below

Area Identifiers.