Number Plates - Colour

[sweller]

The legality of number plates is easy enough to ascertain - there was a recent article in the JEC magazine - but what about which type of plate for which era?

My 1965 S type has pressed aluminium plates with a border - my recollection was this type of plate was predominantly on commercial or low end vehicles.

Would raised letters on a black background be more common on a Jaguar? Would the letters have been silver or white at the time?

On a slightly different note, a number of people insist that only a philistine would put yellow/white plates on a pre-73 car.

I started driving in 1985 and have had fair few pre-73 cars (Minors , Heralds , Cambridge, Imps , Saab 96 ) most of the late 60s (G onwards) had their original raised letter yellow/white plates. I also raced bangers which saw off a few elderly machines and they tended to have yellow/white...

This contemporary film is interesting viewing - both for the number plates(!) and S type action - "Get this Jag working!". Incidentally, fairly rough stuff for 1970.

Anyway, what would the cars of the day be 'wearing' and more specifically my 1965 S?

Simon