Do You Have Dr Who's Number?
- Publication: Parade (UK)
- Date: 1973-05-12
- Author: John Stanley
- Page:
- Language: English
Television actor, Jon Pertwee, wants help from Parade readers
TELEVISION'S Or. Who, actor Jon Pertwee, wants Parade readers' help. He is looking for an exclusive number for his new car. If you read the story of the car in motoring Parade recently, you'll understand why Jon feels the car is worth something special in the way of plates.
The car was built as a rather extraordinary "one-off" at Nottingham. It is something like a flying saucer powered by a rear mounted Hillman Imp engine.
P.C.F. Motors, the builders, were briefed to produce something appropriate for Dr. Who to arrive at public functions in. And that it should comply with all the regulations necessary (or it to be driven on the road.
Now Jon is trying to hunt down a suitable number plate for the car. Ideally, it should be something like WHO 1 or any number with those initials.
The numbers racket is becoming a booming business. And Jon Pertwee has been reading the advertisements for rare plates week after week. He has still found no sign of a suitable number. Jon hopes that someone may know where an old car with just the right number for him.
Prized
The whole business started when Earl Russell queued right through the night to be first in line when plates started back in 1903.
Since then the prized Al number plate has had 40 owners. The present holder is reputed to have spent £2,500 to get hold of it.
A great many collectors' numbers are still on original an in museums or private collections and are very unlikely ever to come on the market.
Others are tied up because initials have been handed down the family line like some sort of title.
Record
The record price known to have been paid for a set of plates was in 1966 when the London Rolls Royce dealers, H. R. Owen of Berkeley Square. paid a staggering £3,300 for RR1.
They bought a Rolls Shadow worth £7,500 at the time for £10,800 to get hold of its number.
This has now become part of their trade mark and is not for sale.
Snob
I once used Owen's own Shadow, with plates, for 2,303 miles and though I won't put a price on its snob value, it is certainly quite a crowd puller.
Then there are the plates where the numbers and initials make a
Jimmy Tarbuck, for instance, has the splendid one COM IC while broadcaster, Bob Danvers-Walker owns both RAD 10 and TV I.
Tommy Steele got pretty close to Bob by buying RAD 101.
Double
One of TV's most famous double acts are number plates but both ERIC and ERNIE are spoken for.
ERN IE is owned by Mr. Ernie Wilson of Auto Amusements. And the bitter irony for the real life TV Ernie Wise is that Mr. Wilson lists in ... yes—Morecambe!
KD II, a Liverpool number, belongs to Diddy Man, Ken Dodd. Arthur Askey owns his own AA SO and Kirk Douglas 1031.
Sometimes priceless collections arc built up. Samuel Fox and Camaro? of Sheffield who have I FOX, FOX I. FOX 2, FOX 3, and FOX 4. Gerald Nabano the MP owns NAB I, NAB 2, NAB 3, NAB 4, NAB 5, NAB 6, NAB 7 and NAB 8 on a cross section of an and mopeds.
Bored
The largest single collection of plates in this country must be the one owned by JCB Sala Ltd, the earth moving equipment people from Demeter who own JCB I to JCB 10, JCB 13. 14, 1$, 19 and 20 on a set of can including a Rolls, a Cadillac Coupe De Ville, an Aston Martin, two Rovers, a Mercedes, a Cadillac limousine, a Chevy Impala, a Jensen FF and others.
If you think all this is just a hobby for the bored rich, then London's Paul Raymond, who owns the Revue Bar has just the plate for you ... F11 2.
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: Stanley, John (1973-05-12). Do You Have Dr Who's Number?. Parade (UK) .
- MLA 7th ed.: Stanley, John. "Do You Have Dr Who's Number?." Parade (UK) [add city] 1973-05-12. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: Stanley, John. "Do You Have Dr Who's Number?." Parade (UK), edition, sec., 1973-05-12
- Turabian: Stanley, John. "Do You Have Dr Who's Number?." Parade (UK), 1973-05-12, section, edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Do You Have Dr Who's Number? | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Do_You_Have_Dr_Who%27s_Number%3F | work=Parade (UK) | pages= | date=1973-05-12 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=22 December 2024 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Do You Have Dr Who's Number? | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Do_You_Have_Dr_Who%27s_Number%3F | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=22 December 2024}}</ref>
