Archive for April, 2012
What's in a Number – $13.6m??
There was a time when ‘personalised plates’ meant two letters, usually your initials, followed by three or four numbers-usually your birthdate…and they were free!
How things change. Next there was a small registration fee, but the plate was yours for life, then a wider range of letters and numbers could be specified and then there were annual fees.
Now there is a huge range of choices which vary from state to state…and a huge range of fees charged by each State Roads Authority.
The best deals seem to come out of the smaller states, where in Tasmania and South Australia, for example, a once only fee can secure a wide choice of personalised plates. In the bigger states, however, they are optimising their income with an ever widening range of choices and an even wider range of pricing.
Then, of course, there is the ‘second hand’ and ‘precious plates’ market. The highest prices ever reached for an Australian plate reputably runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars for number ‘888’ (unconfirmed reports also say the NSW plate no ‘6’ has also sold for a price approaching $1m), but that pales into insignificance when compared to the World record price.
This plate sold three years ago in Abu Dhabi to a local businessman for an unbelievable $13.6m!
Now let’s return to earth and see what’s around us.
Our next door neighbour for a number of years carried the rather strange number plate PUMP FE on her Nissan. She managed the local gym. Weird, meaningless? Well, not really, when we finally worked out that “fe’ is the chemical symbol for iron.
Even more obscure was a local Toyota Corolla with the number plate, TIH5HO ,which puzzled us for ages. Until one day we saw the car- and the plate, in our rear view mirror. Then it dawned on us. The State Roads Authorities won’t permit offensive or rude plates, so it wasn’t long before they woke up and withdrew consent for this clever number. We notice, however, that some states will still permit this configuration to be purchased, which is a surprise (if you can’t work out why, have a look at the mirror image).
These are just two of the clever plates on the road, others include RU NXT (on a hearse), or RUNVS (on a Porsche). The last one we saw simply said ‘SORRY’. As it happened the car was in front of us in a traffic jam. Well, it wasn’t their fault, so what were they sorry for??
There are, of course, many more clever and funny number plates around. If you’ve seen one that is clever, or funny, let us know. Also what do you think about personalised plates? For sure they make money for the Government, but do they just satisfy an ego crave, or do they serve another role? We want to hear from you so leave a reply below.
Footnote:- If you are interested in personalised plates here is the link for your state:-
When Is An Ad Not An AD?
Volkswagen is up in arms over a bogus TV ad that has gone viral on the internet.
Here is the ad that purports to be a genuine ad that is going to air in Ireland and the UK.
Whilst it is quite clever, and in the genre of VW advertising, it is far too provocative and racially offensive to pass all the regulationary codes.
In fact it was produced by a creative commercial TV outfit who speculatively presented it to Volkswagen’s advertising agency. They, of course, rejected it as highly inappropriate. But somehow it got onto the internet under the guise of an official VW ad, and has gone viral.
According to the VW PR people, they are extremely annoyed and have commenced legal action against the perpetrators. Still, to the average person, us included, when you get the email it seems authentic….so, how do you find out it isn’t? Well, we simply Googled the titles to find out it was a con, but most people wouldn’t.
We reckon this is a dangerous trendsetter, but how can you overcome it?
Your Worst Car.
Surveys have shown that modern cars are so much better than their predecessors. But there have been some real ‘lemons’ in the past.
So what was the worst car you’ve ever owned?
Well, let me get the ball rolling…
I took delivery of a brand new company car- a Holden Station Wagon a few decades ago. That was in September. In December we planned a family trip in the new car to Adelaide.
We set off very early in the morning and had no sooner started the climb through the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, when I noticed the temperature guage creeping up.. So I backed off a bit, turned off the aircon and hoped for the best. It settled down well enough to feel a bit more confident, but, as we progressed across the Hay Plains the day warmed up, as did the car, and as did the motor! It finally gave up the ghost in the middle of nowhere, and with two small kids on board. We arranged a tow truck to the nearest town about 60kms away and arrived at the local Holden dealer.
In their defence, if it had been virtually any other make we would have been stuck there, but not Holden. They fitted a new radiator and thermostat and we were on our way a couple of hours later. But that was just the start of our love/hate relationship with our Kingswood. When it was going, it was great, but clearly it had been a ‘Friday’ car, so didn’t go for long until it was back in the workshop. I’ve had a few more Holdens since then, and they’ve all been good, but that was the first – and not a good introduction to the brand.
So what was your worst car? We want to hear from you and we have a brand new TomTom ‘Live’ sat/nav to give away for the best story. Entries close 5th May, so let’s hear from you now and we’ll add your story to the blog. Just click below and tell us your tale.
April Fools Fun
There’s certainly a raging sense of humour in the automotive industry if manufacturers’ efforts to fool the public on April 1st are anything to go by.
We’ve come across some brilliant and rather extravagant dupes from around the world that fooled thousands of gullible viewers.
Let’s start off with Peugeot from the UK. They produced a news story on their RCZ sports car, where they claimed to have developed a ‘mood paint’. The car, we are told, changes colour to suit our moods. Sounds sensational, doesn’t it? But then suspicion kicks in when the presenter is a very professional young lady by the name of ‘Flora Polis’ (anagram experts take note). Anyway let’s hear what April Fool..sorry, Flora Polis has to say here.
Almost believable? Well, it certainly duped a lot of people, but Subaru were not to be outflanked when they announced the World’s first self-cleaning car on April 1st here.
Perhaps the most elaborate of all was the collaboration between Google and Nascar. Nascar are American oval racers and the most popular form of motor sport in the USA. Google we all know about. But many don’t know about the Google Driverless car. However, put the two together and this is what you get.
Glad to see that a sense of humour is alive and kicking, eh? So which do you think is the best, the funniest, or the most convincing? Do you have any April Fool japes to share with us?
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