On a recent Friday evening, channelling the spirit of a low-stakes Alan Partridge phone-in, I sent Club Petrolblog members a deeply serious question that probably should have stayed in my head: “What’s your favourite prefix number plate?”
Prefix registrations ran from August 1983 to September 2001. Twenty-one usable letters. Nearly two decades of company cars, dads’ motors, first cars, desperation purchases, heroes – and now vehicles destined for the depths of Facebook Marketplace. I half-expected tumbleweed.
Instead, I was met with an outpouring of beautifully reasoned, wildly subjective, lovingly anoraky responses. Some within minutes. On a Friday. From people who clearly had better things they could have been doing.
Reader, I was delighted.
What follows is the first provisional Club Petrolblog Prefix Power Rankings, compiled from early replies. This table will evolve as more members submit their lists, but already it’s telling us far more about ourselves than any sensible survey ever could.
The provisional top 10 prefixes (so far)
Using a simple 3-2-1 scoring system for top three entries, this is how the table currently looks:
- K – the runaway champion
- F
- H
- C
- A
- G
- Y
- D
- N
- B
Just missing out: E, J, P and T
Already, some clear themes are emerging: early-90s confidence via Special K, deep emotional attachment to H, and the enduring cultural gravity of C and F.
Why K is currently king
K is winning not just on numbers, but on intensity of feeling. It’s the moment where 1980s momentum meets 1990s confidence.
Alex Wakefield summed it up perfectly:
“K features some great car launches. Ford Mondeo, Fiat Cinquecento, Citroën Xantia, Nissan Micra K11.”
Dave Tickle added:
“Seems like every turbocharged Japanese car in my imagination is on a K-plate.”
And Neil Barker sealed it with pure affection:
“Another of my old man’s cars: a K-plate Mk1 Clio RT. Such an inviting and adorable car.”
K, it seems, is where the nation’s collective motoring imagination currently chooses to live.
F: When everything wore an F-plate
Second place belongs to F, a letter that several members described as an entire era rather than just a registration.
Richard Aucock captured it beautifully:
“A magical time where the UK seemed to sell 15 million cars and everything seemed to be wearing an F-plate.”
Steve Baker tied it to one specific memory:
“F – Renault 21 Turbo – simply because I remember seeing the first one outside the Renault dealer on an F-plate.”
Ben Hooper zoomed out to the wider cultural moment:
“It just evokes the early ’90s – when the music was experimental and the cars could stand on the shoulders of the epic ’80s and look forward to shaping the decade to come.”
It’s not about one model. It’s about the feeling that the roads themselves somehow peaked.
H: Emotion, company cars and rust
H is proving to be the most emotionally charged prefix of all – loved and loathed in equal measure.
For Richard Aucock, it's indelible:
“My dad’s first new company car, delivered on 1 August 1990. H will always be special.”
For Dave Tickle, rather less so:
“When I close my eyes and try to think of an H-plate car all I can picture is rust around a fuel filler.”
And Alex Wakefield delivered the coldest verdict of all:
“Pretty much everything happened either side of this prefix… Nothing happened for a whole year. Oh, and the Escort Mk5 arrived. Bad times.”
Few letters provoke such wildly different responses – which makes H one of the most fascinating entries in the table.
A, C and G: The cultural heavyweights
A remains the brave new world of prefixes:
“The sheer thrill of such modernity!” – Richard Aucock
“A new start and a host of talent. Peugeot 205. Fiat Uno. The Renault 11 had four headlights.” – Alex Wakefield
C carries huge cultural and motorsport weight:
“1986, great year for music, and being on the Quattro, it is my point of reference for judging time (BC literally meaning Before C).” – Ben Hooper
G, meanwhile, enjoys near-mythical status for at least one car alone:
“Honda NSX. I have nothing else to say.” – Alex Wakefield
Fair enough.
The bottom five: Hall of prefix shame
Every league needs villains. The current hall of shame looks like this:
- T – “Six dull months”, “never really stood a chance”
- V – late-era fatigue and, memorably, “a bit like a sweary hand gesture on your number plate”
- X – admired aesthetically, mistrusted historically
- B – automatic-choke trauma and dreary Astras
- H – recession ennui and filler-cap rust (again)
That said, not everyone agrees with X’s relegation. Chris Mason was unapologetic:
“X just looks good on a number plate.”
Aesthetic appeal, it seems, still counts for something.
Why this matters (sort of)
Does any of this really matter? Of course not. And yet, it absolutely does.
Because what you’re really voting on here isn’t a letter, it’s:
- your dad’s company car
- your first new car
- the one that got you through a bad patch
- the one that taught you about understeer, rust, finance or disappointment
It’s memory, wrapped in pressed aluminium.
For Nick Bailey, the letters map directly onto life milestones:
“B was our first new car on the new format. C was spotting Group N Cosworths. N was the first car I bought new.”
That so many of you took the time to reply – in detail – to such a wilfully pointless question on a Friday night says everything I need to know about why Club Petrolblog exists and why it works.
Want to join the nonsense?
If you’d like to take part in future debates of equal importance – area codes have already been threatened – you can join Club Petrolblog and get involved directly. You’ll receive emails like this, be invited to take part in polls, discussions and daft projects, and you’ll help shape what Petrolblog becomes next.
No prizes. No algorithms. Just camaraderie, nostalgia and mild behavioural concerns.
With thanks to Club Petrolblog members:
Alex Wakefield
Ben Hooper
Chris Mason
Dave Tickle
Neil Barker
Nick Bailey
Richard Aucock
Steve Baker
More responses are still arriving, and the table will evolve. A full, finalised definitive Club Petrolblog Prefix Power Rankings – and an accompanying YouTube video – will follow.
Images © manufacturers and DVLA.
