Excellent car registration

I suspect the British members and those who've lived in Britain - people like @GrumpyCabbie, @RCO, @Data Daedalus , @ftl and @hill - are the most likely to appreciate this one.

I've seen this car a few times - I think the owner lives on my street - but this morning was the first time I've had my phone to hand.



So who is this guy? It's difficult.

• Is he a non-British English speaker who knows that "Nob" is short for "Nobility", and who wants to show that because he has a new Bentley he is very classy?
  
• Is he a remarkably self-deprecating British person who knows what else "Nob" (also sometimes spelled "Knob") means, and who wants to show that just because he's bought a Bentley doesn't mean he's lost his sense of humour?
  
• Or is he someone who doesn't know what it says on the back of his car?

Hmmm.... It's a mystery. But it is the most car-appropriate personalised rego (registration number / licence plate) I've seen since this one a couple of years ago.



Incidentally, the most pathetic I've seen (no photo, unfortunately) was a Chrysler 300C in Melbourne with blacked-out windows and massive chrome wheels with "G4NG5TR". Hmmm..... No, you're not.

 

I'm hoping it's 2. Or am I? Maybe 1 is better.

You can pay extra for a registration plate in any colour you want. You can also pay extra for plates that have ornamental designs on them (the Harbour Bridge, a beach, a surfboard, etc), or that have the logo of your favourite rugby league team (personalised registration plates and rugby league fandom kind of go hand-in-hand), or for a design that's similar to German plates. It's all at myPlates. So this guy will have paid a one-off fee for "Nob", and an annual fee for his red plates that match his leather seats.

There are "club registrations", which is kind of like a weekend plate: it's for classic cars, and you can only drive a limited number of km per year, but you're exempt from certain safety regulations.

Diplomatic registrations in NSW are yellow and start with CC (Consular Corps), and in Canberra they're blue and start with DC (Diplomatic Corps).

 

.... and maybe the Prius owner is a not-very-good backward dentist.

 

Yes, I've never understood why people would do it here. And it's expensive to buy the rights to that registration number too, if you're getting it transferred from someone else. It costs a lot, and while there's the occasional funny one (near us, I quite like "HUNDAN" ("bastard" in Chinese), and the SMUG Prius is of course brilliant), most of them are pointless. Why would I pay all that money to have "KAYEN" on my Porsche Cayenne, or absolutely tonnes of money for "BMW 328" on my BMW328i? (I've seen both of these.) It's only telling me what I already know ((1) Your car is indeed what it say it is in silver letters just above the registration number; and (2) You're a bit of an idiot, and, if I might be so bold, a bit on the nouveau side. Another person who lives round the corner from me has "00 IXXI" on his 911. Ugh.

I remain mystified by "TE5LA" on an old BMW X5 near my kids' school.

When I lived in Hong Kong, my neighbour, Keith, had a BMW 850 with "KE174" as its registration number. We'd lived in the same village for a couple of years before I realised what it was supposed to be.

 

I do like that one.

 

I was in the New Territories, on the road from Sai Kung to Sai Kung Country Park, for most of it. I lived on Hong Kong Island for a couple of years, in North Point, and then moved to Sai Kung. It was a lovely place to live.

 

Yes, but we young folk get to sit with our kids and watch Supergirl. And before that, Peppa Pig. So I have no complaints.

 

I suspect you're right.

Ahha. So that's where it comes from. For those who can't work it out and ask what it stands for, perhaps you could suggest, "Hey, you're obtuse!".

I just took the easy option and changed my real name by deed poll to LCW936T. Hey presto! A personalised registration number with my name on it, without the expense!