[lesmore49]

Many jurisdictions allow vehicle owners to submit their wish for a particular personalized license plates....within reason.

Over the years I've seen a few interesting license plates. One that stands out was on a muscle car and the personalized plate read...'XLR8'....meaning accelerate, a reference to the performance car's accelerative ability.

What are your favorites ?

I would ask that 'favorites' don't include any politically or other inappropriate plates, in accordance with the Pentax Forum rules.

[gordon_l34]

Hi,

I had the following on a Holden Tirana here in Queensland, Australia. The vehicle was a performance version of which only 260 were built to make it eligible for our annual Bathurst race in 1974. It was an L34 variant with a special motor and upgraded brakes. I used a combination of my initials GML plus it was a GM product to give GML 34. It was a potent car for it's day and has become a collectors vehicle here in Australia. I don't have it anymore because if I did I would not have a license to drive as I used to use its performance to its maximum. I still have the number plates as memories.

Regards,
Gordon.

[lesmore49]

Hi,

I had the following on a Holden Tirana here in Queensland, Australia. The vehicle was a performance version of which only 260 were built to make it eligible for our annual Bathurst race in 1974. It was an L34 variant with a special motor and upgraded brakes. I used a combination of my initials GML plus it was a GM product to give GML 34. It was a potent car for it's day and has become a collectors vehicle here in Australia. I don't have it anymore because if I did I would not have a license to drive as I used to use its performance to its maximum. I still have the number plates as memories.

Regards,
Gordon.

I know what you mean by having a performance car that is difficult to avoid temptation without using the car's performance.

. I know myself, that I can avoid anything but temptation.

My car that tempted me when I was a young man, was my '67 Chevy Camaro RS (Rally Sport) coupe, with it's 327 cubic inch (5.3 liter) V8, 4 speed Muncie manual transmission.

I only had it for about 6 months and aside from the gas that it used...it would go, at the touch of the gas pedal.

Being North American, I don't know too much about Australian performance cars, although I do know that many GM and Ford Australia cars were exceptional Hi Po cars for the Aussie market.

. So tell me about your Holden Tirana...and the performance goodies.

[Racer X 69]

Many jurisdictions allow vehicle owners to submit their wish for a particular personalized license plates....within reason.

Over the years I've seen a few interesting license plates. One that stands out was on a muscle car and the personalized plate read...'XLR8'....meaning accelerate, a reference to the performance car's accelerative ability.

What are your favorites ?

I would ask that 'favorites' don't include any politically or other inappropriate plates, in accordance with the Pentax Forum rules.

I have been a license plate collector since I was in my early teens. I have many personalized plates, as well as photos of ones I couldn't get, because they were attached to cars.

When I get time I'll share some.

[SSGGeezer]

A local Lawyer here has LITIG8. I have seen some funny ones but none are that memorable at this moment in time.

[monochrome]

On my wife’s baby hauler (1989 Volvo 240DL Wagon):

BOXY

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

[gordon_l34]

I know what you mean by having a performance car that is difficult to avoid temptation without using the car's performance.

. I know myself, that I can avoid anything but temptation.

My car that tempted me when I was a young man, was my '67 Chevy Camaro RS (Rally Sport) coupe, with it's 327 cubic inch (5.3 liter) V8, 4 speed Muncie manual transmission.

I only had it for about 6 months and aside from the gas that it used...it would go, at the touch of the gas pedal.

Being North American, I don't know too much about Australian performance cars, although I do know that many GM and Ford Australia cars were exceptional Hi Po cars for the Aussie market.

. So tell me about your Holden Tirana...and the performance goodies.

Hi,
The motor was designed by Repco, a motor repairing company here in Australia at the time. It looked the same as the standard 308 cubic inch Holden motor at the time but was actually based on the motor that took Jack Brabham to his world championships. The motor was strong but because the driveline was designed for 240 horsepower and the motor was putting out somewhere around 300 horsepower it was pretty fragile in that area. I used to get about 25,000 miles out of the gearbox so you can imagine the problems on the race track.

To solve the gearbox, brakes and differential problems in 1977 an uprated version was released with a Borg Warner T10 gearbox option, a Salisbury differential and disc brakes on the rear. Peter Brock in 1979 won the 1000km Bathurst Classic Race by six laps and set the fastest lap of the race on the last lap! The road going version of this car did not have the L34 race engine as it would not pass the anti - pollution laws that were brought in in 1976. They were allowed to use this engine on the race track.

Regards,
Gordon.

[Flanoman]

I remember in the late 1980s or earlier that an old basic standard mini that was being sold privately in co Clare Ireland. It’s reg plates were eie 10 and it sold slightly above market value . The said mini was scrapped but the plates were resold in the U.K. . The plates now registered personally eieio , as old Mac Donald had a farm. EIEIO
They fetched a huge amount of money at the time. It made the national newspapers.

[PDL]

There was a plate out here that raised a ruckus. The plate was a play on the term "Goes to 11" from the movie Spinal Tap. Some goody two shoes said that it offended her as she interpreted it as meaning something completely different. The issue blew over after most people decided that she was either just jealous or she had a dirty mind. Maybe it was because she did not see the movie and jumped to a conclusion.

[dtrego]

I used to have a personalized (sort of) plate. Ohio offers some organization-related license plates for a bit less than the cost of personalized plates. As I have my amateur radio license, it seemed like a good idea to get my call sign on the plates that read "Amateur Radio" on the bottom of the tag. Even better, it was something like only $10 more than regular plates instead of the $50 premium for vanity plates.

My call sign is N8KDY. Had the plates for several years. Then, one fine day, someone walked up to me in public while I was at my vehicle (and out to lunch with a co-worker, no less) and asked "Does your license plate say 'NAKED WHY'"? He giggled all the way back to work about it.

Next go around I got the regular plates with 3 letters and 4 numbers.

[RoxnDox]

Mine is ROXNDOX, my wife has DOXNROX

Me with a geology degree, her as a physician

[dtrego]

Oh, another one I remember... Years ago, Ohio plates required a sticker with the county name at the bottom of the plate (it's since been replace with a numerical county sticker in the corner). A car where I worked at the time had the personalized tag "TAKESA" and underneath was the sticker with the county name of "LICKING".

For the youngsters out there, Timex's slogan used to to be "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking".

[Racer X 69]

Mine is ROXNDOX, my wife has DOXNROX

Me with a geology degree, her as a physician

A guy I used to work with is named Ray King.

His license plate is RAKING.

His wife is named Jo.

Her plate is JOKING.

Ray is a car guy. He has a number of custom cars, one painted bright orange. The plate is PUMKING.

He has a couple others, also with the play on his last name, but I forget them now.

[lesmore49]

On my wife’s baby hauler (1989 Volvo 240DL Wagon):

BOXY

YouTube

Back around 1990 we seriously considered a Volvo 240 station wagon. Space, towing ability and room for our family for day to day and vacations. Also with a roof rack we could load our 17.5 foot Old Town square stern and have enough room for our 4 hp Evinrude outboard. In the end we didn't get it.

I have had one Volvo in my life. It was a '62 Volvo PV544s with the B18 engine...twin SU carbs. Smoothest, most accurate shifting linkage (good as a Hurst shifter) on the 4 speed, clutch action was easy...not all was rosy as the twin SU's were not the easiest to keep in sync...for me anyways.

That PV's acceleration surprised some domestic cars with small V8's and automatics. Fond memories of that car. Handling and braking was good and I liked the '46 Ford Tudor body design.

The 240 wagon over the years has been subject to transplanted domestic V8's such as the Chevy small block, Chevy LS series and Ford 302 V8...sometimes with a manual 5 or 6 speed. Well done, with beefed up suspension, brakes, cooling, etc... I think this could be a wonderful car . Believe actor Paul Newman had one, with a Mustang 302, 5 speed manual plus aforementioned component 'beefing'.

---------- Post added 03-22-20 at 01:29 PM ----------

Hi,
The motor was designed by Repco, a motor repairing company here in Australia at the time. It looked the same as the standard 308 cubic inch Holden motor at the time but was actually based on the motor that took Jack Brabham to his world championships. The motor was strong but because the driveline was designed for 240 horsepower and the motor was putting out somewhere around 300 horsepower it was pretty fragile in that area. I used to get about 25,000 miles out of the gearbox so you can imagine the problems on the race track.

To solve the gearbox, brakes and differential problems in 1977 an uprated version was released with a Borg Warner T10 gearbox option, a Salisbury differential and disc brakes on the rear. Peter Brock in 1979 won the 1000km Bathurst Classic Race by six laps and set the fastest lap of the race on the last lap! The road going version of this car did not have the L34 race engine as it would not pass the anti - pollution laws that were brought in in 1976. They were allowed to use this engine on the race track.

Regards,
Gordon.

Sounds like the Rover V8 that was based on the Buick V8 and used in Buicks/Oldsmobiles . Wasn't that what Jack Brabham based his F1 winning Repco V8 on back in the '60's ? Don't know if I have that right ?

We had a '07 Buick sedan that had the Buick 90 degree, 3.8 liter engine. These Buick V6's were based on the old Buick/Rover V8...essentially that engine with two cylinders cut off. Great torque and power and used over here in North America in modified form in everything from Indy cars to drag racers.

Sounds like a wonderful, high performance road car with those upgrade in the T10, uprated diff and disc brakes and I bet the engine exhaust note was one that encouraged you to run the car through the gears at every opportunity.

[Tom S.]

Urologist at local hospital: UCME2P