Whenever I've seen John's car I've always been looking at the car not the plate. Where did such a number originate? Is it as unusual as I think it is?
David
I hadn't noticed either the registration number or the discussion of it until now. ZI 59 is an ordinary Dublin number from the earliest days of the Irish vehicle registration system - an alphanumeric system that probably pre-dated the Irish State (1922) and remained in use up to 1987 when the current year/county/number system was introduced.
Given that the former registration system (possibly including this number, as suggested) existed under British rule in Ireland prior to 1922, it would seem likely that it remains a valid number under the UK system today.
What interests me is the reference to
Clanwilliam Motors as the suggested Dublin agent for Lancia - I have recently been doing some superficial research on Lancias in Ireland with a view to belatedly contributing something to "the Book" and this company's Lancia connection has not cropped up before. A registered company in Ireland until dissolved 20 years ago and having a low company registration number (7198), perhaps they were a general importer of cars from abroad (the only source for Irish motorists in those days!) rather than having a specific Lancia franchise or agency per se.
John, Would it be possible for you to have a look at the papers to clarify this i.e. do Clanwilliam claim to be Lancia agents and was their address Clanwilliam Place (or Northumberland Road or elsewhere)?
I have found another intriguing reference to Clanwilliam Motors on the internet which points to the private papers of Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington who, together with her husband Francis an innocent civilian murdered by British forces in 1916, were prominent scholars, writers, and political agitators of the pre- and post-revolutionary period in Ireland. One of her letters in 1924 is to Charles Pike of Clanwilliam Motors Ltd.
However I am sure that Mrs. Sheehy-Skeffington was less likely to have been ordering an expensive motor car than possibly writing to Clanwilliam Motors in connection with the fact that Clanwilliam House in Dublin (now demolished) was the setting for a particularly famous skirmish during the 1916 Irish rising:
http://www.nli.ie/1916/pdf/7.11.pdf - you can actually see another car with a similar Dublin registration number RI 298 in one of the pictures here - these pictures date from 1916.
In later years there was a garage called Huet Motors with a late art deco premises at a location immediately adjacent to Clanwilliam House - the same terrace of houses that appears in the first picture can be seen can be seen to the left of the Garage in the second picture. Huet Motors were importers/suppliers of high-end luxury cars, including Rolls and Bentley (so that would tally with Lancia connection too) and it could at some earlier stage have been Clanwilliam Motors.
http://dublin.iwai.ie/images/OldCanalPhotos/slides/94E_Clanwilliam_Place.htmlAnyhow the Sheehy-Skeffington papers are in our National Library which is just across the road from my place of work so I shall take my Lancia speculation there .... maybe she was a Lancia fan.
