The most sought after number plate in NSW is number 1.
Sadly the greatest of all New South Wales plates has not been seen on a vehicle for some time, and a check with the NSW RTA shows that the plate is not currently registered to a vehicle.
The most recent vehicle listed with the plate by the RTA is a gold 1981 Ford sedan, photographed below.
A 2006 piece in the Sydney Morning Herald reveals some more information about the plate.
Initially NSW 1 was registered to vehicle of the state’s first police commissioner.
In the 1930s they were acquired by Sir Frederick Stewart, who at one point had the plate on his Oldsmobile.
In 1988 his widow, Lady (Majorie) Stewart, knocked back an offer of $200,000 for the plates when they were on her Ford LTD.
When Lady Stewart passed away in 2000 there was hope that the plates would come onto the market, however we have no information on whether or not this has happened.
Around 2009 the plates appeared on a Daimler Double Six at Pebble Beach in the US. The owners of the Daimler (Robert & Barbara Lorkowski) were US-based.
They do not own the rights to the plates, but it is presumed they are displayed on the basis that this car was originally registered with the NSW 1 plates.
Apparently this Daimler was originally delivered in Sydney, and from the pictures below we can see that the same car did wear the NSW 1 plate in the early 1900s.
Presumably this car is the original NSW police commissioner’s vehicle, and it wears the plate in reference to its original registration with no connection to the current owner of the rights to display the plates.
Hopefully one day we’ll get to see NSW 1 out on the road, just like we get to see Vic 1 and Qld 1 on a regular basis.
No doubt there is plenty of money in Sydney ready and waiting for the day that the plate becomes available.
Images
1981 Ford LTD – Photographed in 1998 by Craig Jeffries
1981 Ford LTD – Photographed in 1998 by Craig Jeffries
1928 Daimler Double Six 50 Limousine – 18 September 2010 – Aussie Exotics
1928 Daimler Double Six 50 Limousine – 18 September 2010 – Aussie Exotics
NSW 1, 2 and 3 – Date and source unknown – This image has been doing the rounds online for many years.
References
“I know [1] has been sold but I don’t know to who.“
18 October 2010 – Aussie Exotics
“I was amazed to find a car at Pebble Beach carrying the first number plate to be issued in Australia. It was on a huge 1928 Daimler which been first delivered to a customer in Sydney. This plate has a somewhat mythical status here so I got a kick out of seeing it.”
2009 – These are the First & Sixth number plates issued in Austraila – Mad Whips
“There’s a lot of wishful thinking that the coveted 1 number plates might come on the market after the death in 2000 of Lady (Marjorie) Stewart, who was offered $200,000 for them in 1988 when they were on her Ford Fairmont Ghai. The plates were secured in the 1930s by her late husband, Sir Frederick Stewart, the Newcastle railway man turned bus company owner, and founding chairman of Australian National Airways, who before his death in 1961 had them on his Oldsmobile. They were originally on the state’s first police commissioner vehicle, long before the traditional three-letter three-figure number plate came in the 1950s.”
11 March 2006 – Money no object for number plate egos – Sydney Morning Herald
If you know more about NSW 1 number plate please let us know.