Back in 2008 Victoria very nearly ended up with a second series of enamel plates.
Whilst they were not heritage plates, they were produced with an enamel finish and used the same unique font as proper Victorian heritage plates.
They used a reverse ‘V’ at the start of each plate to differentiate them from the original heritage plates, which was clearly inspired by Queensland’s original heritage plates.
Just how close did they get to hitting the roads? Very close!
Court action brought by a group of existing heritage plate owners put a stop to their release just one day before the auction was to take place.
You can read more about the court action here.
By that stage everything was done. The plates were made, the marketing material was done, places at the auction were fully booked and it was all go.
Whilst the whole thing was probably quite disappointing and embarrassing for VicRoads at the time, I’m sure they’d look back now and agree that releasing another series of enamel plates was not the right thing to do.
This article isn’t about dragging up old issues, but more about reminding people about how passionate heritage plate owners are, and the lengths they’ll go to in order to protect their investments.
The auction did go ahead, but without the V-Series plates of course. Some fantastic heritage plates were sold at the auction, which you can check out here.
Here are some more photos from the auction:
