A - UK Single-Single Number Plate Registry

UK Single-Single Number Plate Registry

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F 1 - F 3 - F 7 - F 8 - F 9

1 F - 3 F - 4 F - 5 F - 6 F - 7 F - 8 F - 9 F

F x plates were originally issued by Essex County Council, all x F were issued by Essex CC from 1957 onwards

By close of business on 2nd January 1904 Essex County Council had registered 185 cars and 144 motorcycles.

F 1, originally issued by Essex County Council to Percy Sheldon (he was the County Surveyor) of Springfield on 1st January 1904, and placed on a blue Panhard Levassor. The plate was cancelled in October 1906, only to be reissued to Percy Sheldon in May 1910. The plate was again cancelled in December 1917. It was reissued again in January 1919 to Samuel Withers of Shrewsbury, but cancelled again just 14 months later in May 1920. In June 1955 it was reissued again but this time placed on a council owned vehicle.

In 2008 Essex CC decided to sell the plate and the top bidder was Afzal Kahn (founder of the Kahn Group) who paid £440K and he currently has it on his Bugatti.

F 2 is most likely a lost plate.

F 3. Now registered to a Ferrari Testarossa, owned since new in August 1986 the owner assigned the plate in February 1988. It's a sub 5,000 mile Testarossa that is now SORN.

F 4 is most likely a lost plate.

F 5 is most likely a lost plate.

F 6 is most likely a lost plate.

F 7 was originally issued to Rev Robert Graves of Tolleshunt Darcy, Witham and placed on a dark blue Mors Petit Duc and was the first privately taxed car in Essex, the previous six numbers in the sequence having been allotted to Essex County Council. Rev. Graves sold the car in 1928 to a Mr Drake of nearby Maldon.

It is said that Mr Drake bought the Mors for its engine, which he needed to power his saw bench. Whether this ever happened I don’t know, but I'm told that Richard Shuttleworth purchased the car in 1930.

The plate is still registered to that Mors petit Duc and is displayed at the Shuttleworth Collection in Biggleswade Bedfordshire and unfortunately they haven't responded to requests for further information.

F 8 was issued to Lieutenant Colonel Hertbert Guthrie Smith who lived at Kent Lodge, Shoeburyness in Essex. It was placed on a yellow and maroon tonneau bodied Panhard.

He died during Army service in 1917 and it's unknown if the plate remained in family ownership, his wife Agnes died in 1964.

The plate then surfaced in the very late 70's when it was purchased by Frank McHugh who lived in Surrey for £3,500. It was displayed on various vehicles from his 1975 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, various Mercedes and then on a Discovery

After an unsuccessful period on the sales market it was passed to his son Shaun McHugh who displayed it on his Ferrari 488.

It was sold in 2020 and is now in the Preston area.

F 9 was originally issued to Colonel Richard Davis who lived in Walton on the Naze and it was registered to a Locomobile.

1 F was originally reserved for one of it's own vehicles. It's unknown how Essex CC sold the plate but they did, and it's now based in the Doncaster area (It was sold through Bonhams in 2005).

2 F

The picture of the white Golf wearing 2 F has been removed as I now consider it a fake plate. Why? Only one picture of it exists and the data I have access to shows it previously registered to nothing since at least the 80's.

3 F