Made a last minute decision this weekend to travel in to my first motorshow in years with the 3yo (car mad) son and had a pretty good time - will post in that thread later - but came away unexpectedly with a heritage number plate.
I'm certainly not a car "fanatic" I don't think - I can't take a car apart and put it back together - but I've had 3 pretty modest goals over the years:
1) own my dream high performance GT car (either XKR, DBS or Granturismo) - tick there
2) own a modern/classic pair (XKR + XK-E (E type) , or DBS + 70's DBS etc....) . No rush there - I'm only mid 30's and really don't have the time to care for and store an older car
3) get a nice heritage number plate
Up until today my intention was to delay the number plate for a long time until I could justify one of the really good single/double digit jobs , but as coincidence would have it something clicked today and I've got something that may well provide me with as much satisfaction for a fraction of the price.
The number I got was "5150" (Victorian) . I know many regard the 4 digit plates as "blah,blah........" and you don't have to be Einstein to know how many possible combinations that Vicroads will dribble out over time , but I had my reasons.
I figure that if you're going to get a 4 digit plate it may as well be something that has significance (and a potential pool of buyers) outside of just the number of digits and the number plate collector community - like something related to one of the biggest rock bands of all time.
As you may guess from my nick I am a big Van Halen fan and would have one of the most extensive collections of memorabilia in this country - it's been sitting idle for a while but I still have an interest. This 5150 plate ticked a lot of boxes for me:
- it's something pretty cool to me and people who know me
- it's a decent piece just on its own (4 digit , descending 51,50) in what is a good time to buy (weak market in collectibles). Only years ago similar plates were fetching 50-100% more. I paid reserve only.
- 5150 is a number very strongly associated with the band (Ed's guitars, amps, the studio is called 5150 and one of their best albums is "5150"). Unless you're a fan you wouldn't realise the widespread recognition of those numbers in the music community. To a VH fan/collector that IS a single digit plate equivalent.
- as a "never to be repeated" item that I can add to an already extensive collection it may have just added far more than what I paid to the value of my VH memorabilia collection if I ever decided to auction in a receptive market.
On the whole it seems a very cheap win all round .
I just need to decide whether to leave it retired or slap it on the XKR. If I do I certainly won't be driving it out to lovely Melton for the VH gig later in the year
Cheers,
Ed
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