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The crazy world of personalized car vanity plates or if you like personalised car licence plates in Hong Kong!

The Definitive Explanation

Personalized Vehicle Registration Marks

Traditional Vehicle Registration Marks

I contributed as an “expert” (!) for this major article in the South China Morning Post in November 2022, click on the Hotpot to hashtag image to read the article.

Please note that the following Hong Kong Licence Plates facts and figures are current

Since the first auction in 1973

☛ 4,048 licence plates have been sold in Hong Kong for over HK$100,000+ or US$12,820+

☛ 109 licence plates have been sold in Hong Kong for over HK$1,000,000+ or US$128,205+

- it is big business and very much a part of Hong Kong Culture.

One of my aims is to photograph all cars with licence plates costing more than HK$1,000,000 or US$128,205 quite a challenge with just 109 cars out of approx 700,000 to 800,000 cars in Hong Kong spread over 430 sq miles - so far I have 58 out of 109 and 2 of the newest ones were taken 7 days apart in February 2023 blind luck I must say! and that Lexus 7 seater is becoming a firm favourite as a the family car for the Hong Kong elite!

☛ Photography is simply a hobby for me, I do NOT sell my images and all of my images can be FREELY downloaded from my image site in the original upload image size or 5 other sizes, please note that you DO NOT have to ask for permission to download and use any of my images! all images on this page can be found on Flickr site, click on the link below

The 2 Lexus cars shown below are the latest cars I have photographed with HK$1 Million licence plates - or US$128,205 which is a considerable sum of money!

The Basics | The Confusing Terminology

So what do you call them? take your pick

I am at the stage where I cannot help but translate the numbers on Car Licence Plates in Hong Kong and take a picture of the car to add to my extensive collection of car images, we all have to have a hobby, right?

• Hong Kong Personalized Vehicle Registration Marks

• Hong Kong Traditional Vehicle Registration Marks

• Hong Kong Car Number Plates

• Hong Kong Car Licence Plates

• Hong Kong Car License Plates

• Hong Kong Vehicle License Plates

• Hong Kong Vehicle Number Plates

• Hong Kong Vehicle Licence Plates

• Hong Kong Car Vanity Plates

• Hong Kong Vanity License Plates

• Hong Kong Personised Car Number Plates

• Hong Kong Personalized Car Licence Plates

• Hong Kong Personalised Number Plates

• Hong Kong Personalized Vanity Plates

Different words and different spellings, it can get awfully confusing. The first two, Personalized Vehicle Registration Marks and Traditional Vehicle Registration Marks are the ones used by the Transport Department of the Hong Kong Government and is basically the correct one given that they have to licence or license (!) any and all sorts of vehicles, not just cars… my preference has always been Car Licence Plates

The crazy but fascinating world of car licence or vanity plates, the definitive explanation

Car Licence Plates in Hong Kong

Please note I use the English spelling Licence as opposed to License

This is an update to my last blog post on this subject published in July 2018 on my J3 Private Tours website

The question is why would someone pay US$130,770 for the licence plate 1688 and then put it on a POS Nissan? (however I do think the horrible reddish wheels are a nice touch) strange eh!! 1688 is a very lucky number in China and roughly translated it means “certain smooth easy life with a lot of wealth forever” and who doesn’t want that?. My feeling is that the POS car is not their only car, I know a lot of Chinese people who are more than a tad superstitious and maybe the car has brought them luck and getting rid of it it will curse them for eternity!! or it could simply be dark Chinese humour and I appreciate that as well and yes, they have bought a new car!

Amazing, one week after I wrote this article originally, the owner of the Nissan POS with plate no. 1688 changed their car to a lovely Toyota Alphard…. typical.

I am an old Hong Kong hand and going back to the point of WHY, the reason to me is very simple as to why people pay so much for a couple of metal plates, one on the front in white and one on the back of the car in yellow.

To let the world know they have made it, so bragging rights then! but I must stress that the money they pay at auction for the licence plate goes to Charity so presumably the “tax write off” comes into the equation!

It really is all about that.

In essence bragging rights can be deconstructed into 3 parts |

• the mega expensive license plate is generally a culturally lucky number and almost always relates to wealth so dropping US$3 Million + announces to the world that you have substantial means... it is a very clear message and I should point out that as all the great lucky numbers have already sold the Government has started to release single letters (V, W and R so far) and they are smashing the records!

• and the luck of the number ensures that your fortune will continue to grow exponentially over the coming years, it is all but guaranteed

• and because your statement of wealth is a license plate you generally have a very nice car to match and half the Hong Kong population sees it when you drive to the office and such and people will utter the phrase "wah! so rich!" I simply cannot imagine here anybody sticking a knife into the wheel or running a key down the side of a Rolls Royce here.

Naturally, the money you pay to the Government for your mobile asset goes to the Lottery Fund and is disbursed to local charities and you can be very smug in the knowledge that no one can really criticise you as the money after all is going to charity, at least this way you do get a very real tangible asset which cements your place at the very top of Hong Kong society.

The Hong Kong Government holds 2 types of Auctions

• Traditional Vehicle Registration Mark | which is basically a licence plate with 2 letters and 1 - 4 numbers + numbers ie 7645 which are not deemed that lucky!, these auctions are not held monthly, just randomly it seems or the Government has simply forgotten to upload the Auction results!, a licence plate such as CT 9 might fetch a large bid, these auctions have been held since 1973 so all the really lucky letter | number combinations have been sold - my latest theory is that the Government will soon start to release single letters paired with numbers ie C 8 which would probably smash a few records

• Personalized Vehicle Registration Mark | these licence plate auctions for vanity plates (and lucky numbers between 2 - 9999 with NO letters) are held 6 - 12 times a year in general, since 2006. They hold back the really lucky licence plates for the Chinese New Year Auction which is held in January or February every year and frantic bidding is the order of the day.

Amazingly most people can get the custom car vanity plate of their dreams for just HK$5,000 or US$640!

Some examples of US$640 bargains

• DEBORAH

• BAKKER 99

• BUBU C

• TMNT

• ANDRU

• PURAGOLD

When you look at the cars that have these plates you will understand

My interest in cars and vanity plates started when I became a Private Tour Guide in early 2011, part of my research was the influence of lucky and unlucky numbers in Hong Kong Culture.

For the record I have no issue with this at all given I am a car freak | number plate freak and people can do whatever they want with their money and did I mention that the money goes to charity?

I did a lot of research into the meanings of numbers, I have checked these meanings from various articles and I acknowledge those articles as a fine source of information.

Thank you Amy.

I need to make clear that the translations where based on the Cantonese language and Hong Kong Culture, a very valid point as we are living in Hong Kong and even though the meanings are quite similar in both languages there are some subtle differences.

Please note that one of the primary meanings of the numbers is based on Language Translations as in both Cantonese (spoken in Hong Kong) and Mandarin (spoken in China) words can have many different meanings depending on the tone (if you think about it there are words in the English language that have the same PRONUNCIATION but have different spelling and meanings)

For example 8 when spoken in (Cantonese, Mandarin) also sounds like wealth

I hope this makes sense.

To further complicate matters, numbers can mean the complete opposite to a Feng Shui Master when he is doing your fortune!! 4 becomes good and 8 can be very bad!! seriously, it can drive you bonkers trying to remember all of this but it is an integral part of Chinese Culture.

No matter, lets stick with the translations below and this is based on the Cantonese translation.

When is a 1 an I and when is an I a 1

Confusing right

When the Government introduced the Personalised Licence Plates scheme in 2006 it did something that makes no sense to me, it banned the letter I on the basis that it looks like a 1 …. and to this day, when you purchase a licence plate, on all the forms an I is listed as a 1 … (see image above which helps with understanding the issue) which means in the early years of the Pesonalised Licence Plate scheme, BEIJING (for example) looked like this | BE1J1NG, which was just plain stupid and the letter I is a lot more common than the number 1!

The rule has been relaxed very quietly and now when you order the number plate you can have an I if you want rather than a 1 however if you do not specify this you will be given a 1. … on all official forms and the actual car registration the letter I does not exist, it is always shown as 1

Utterly confusing and a little difficult for me who collects and collates licence plates as I have to decide whether the owner means 1 or I

They also have the same issue with 0 and O and the same rules apply, this is a much easier one as they really do look almost identical.

Translations for Lucky and Unlucky Numbers

Essentially in Hong Kong, 4 is bad and 5, 7 and 10 can be good or bad depending on the situation, it can get very tricky but assume people in Hong Kong would prefer to dwell on the positive meaning, frankly if you look hard enough at all of the numbers, chance are all numbers have either a good meaning or a bad meaning!

Number 0 | Good, Money

Number 1 | it can have hundreds of meanings, so let’s stick with certain, 1st place and the beginning, it is much more important when 1 combines with other number, ie 18 which is certain wealth or 14 which is certain death

Number 2 | double, pairs, comes in two’s. so 28 becomes double wealth or easy wealth and naturally 24 translate to easy death

Number 3 | triple, it is a Buddhist lucky number as a lot of Buddhist rituals involve 3 things, it also represents the 3 stages of life (!) birth marriage, death

Number 4 | death unless you are from Shanghai in China where it means LIFE and is good luck, but if you have the number plate in Hong Kong 444 that simply means death, death, death

Number 5 | it means NO or MY but it is also a reference to the 5 elements so it can also be lucky, so context is important here, eg. 54 translates to my death or no death the inference being long life!

Number 6 | a smooth easy life, good fortune, happiness

Number 7 | essentially luck!, harmony also to start but in Hong Kong it can also be unlucky with a reference to Ghosts in July, the 7th month and is also a rude word along the lines of d**khead!!

Number 8 | Wealth or Fortune (at least there is NO ambiguity about this one!)

Number 9 | Long Life, Eternity, Dragons and an eternal reference to the great Emperors of China

Number 10 | best not to dwell on this, ie your have reached the top and now it is all downhill!

Number 13 | Utterly confusing - 1 + 3 = 4 and from a feng shui perspective it is considered very lucky as opposed to translating it as 4 sounds like death.

Number 48 + 448 + 458 | Wealthy for a lifetime or wealthy alive and you will die wealthy or you are certain to be wealthy all of your life until you die

Number 168 | certain smooth easy life and forever wealthy

Number 1688 | certain smooth easy life and forever wealthy and wealthy (just to emphasise the wealthy reference)

The Chinese also use numbers with homophones for internet slang. Strings of numbers are used to represent different phrases:

Bear in mind that the meanings can be a little different depending on the language as the meanings in Mandarin and Cantonese can be different and something also gets lost in translation when you translate from a Chinese Language to English but it is clear enough and I have also double checked everything with my wife.

….. and yes, the 3 luckiest numbers combination, 6 + 8 + 9

Auctions for vehicle licence plates (NOT PERSONALISED) in Hong Kong (it is not just cars that have them, so do trucks, buses, scooters, motorbikes, vans and such) have been around since 1973 - in 2006 the Government introduced PERSONALISED plates, so the list I compiled is NOT quite the definitive list primarily because computerised lists are not available prior to 1989 but it is a good start as they say as the Transport Department sent me paper records so to speak and naturally my aim to to photograph all the ones on my list.

In general (Covid really screwed up the auction schedule from February 2020 to June 2022) there are auctions every 2 weeks or so for traditional licence plates and personalised licence plates - the 2 images above show the auction results in HK$

In general the Government likes to hold a special auction at Chinese New Year, the ones from 2024, 2023 and 2021 are shown below and look at the amount for the W licence plate - HK$26 Million or US$3,333,334 in 2021, it was almost beaten in February 2023 by the R licence plate that sold for HK$25,500,000 or US$3,269,231 and the D licence plate that sold in 2024 for HK$20,200,000 or US$2,589,745

See above Government Licence Plate Auction List

See below for 3 examples of the 2019 Car Licence plate Chinese New Year Auction in Hong Kong where these licence plates on auction sold for very reasonable prices.

Licence plate MR 989 sold at auction in February 2019 for HK$40,000 | US$5,130 and I took the image in September 2019.

This is what drives me a little nuts, this car the Rolls Royce Phantom is over US$1 Million here and yet the owner only paid US$5,130 for what I consider to be a very, very lucky car licence plate, it does not make much sense to me but at least to a lot of people they would assume the plate cost a lot of money!

Licence plate UU 2 sold at auction in February 2019 for HK$270,000 | US$34,615 and I took the image in October 2019

Licence plate 639 sold at auction in February 2019 for HK$345,000 | US$44,230 and I took the image in January 2020

I am guessing that the Rolls Royce owner and the Ferrari owner are feeling pretty pleased with themselves at picking up a great car number plate at a very reasonable price, (when compared to the price of the car) what seems odd is not, a lot of these Toyota Alphard 7 seaters with the 639 plate are used as 2nd cars for wealthy owners, they will spend a lot of money to get the right car licence plates for all of the cars they own!

Once you have your custom plate it is essentially yours to do with what you please as long as you follow Government Regulations, there is a very lively market (thank you Jacky) for 2nd hand licence plates | vanity plates, I have long suspected that people here buy a plate at auction and then resell it 3 months later for a profit, it is very straight forward to transfer the licence plate to someone else particularly if the licence plate is registered and bought by a company.

Naturally there are always clients willing to pay a premium to get there hands on a licence plate that is available now though these licence plate companies, apparently ADPOST is quite popular.

Hong Kong Licence Plates | The Definitive List - Sold for US$128,205 + or HK$1,000,000 + | Updated on 6th April 2024

Click on the image to enlarge to full screen

This is the list of the most expensive licence plates in Hong Kong that I compiled by trawling though an awful lot of Government Auction Documents, an example of which is shown above which was held at Chinese New Year in February 2019, March 2021 and February 2023, Chinese New Year is when everyone is feeling charitable (ish) and they bid huge amounts of money for lucky licence plates at these auctions.

The 2020 and 2022 Chinese New Year Auction (s) were cancelled because of Covid 19, we recently had a delayed Chinese New Year Auction on March 7th 2021, the first in 13 months and then it was cancelled again in 2022! and came back in February 2023

• The most expensive car licence plate in Hong Kong is the one that simply says W yes, a simple single letter it sold in Hong Kong for US$3,333,334!! 2 days before the auction I predicted it would sell for half the price…. this is a new record by a long way!! and isn’t it so cool to have a single letter as your licence plate

• I rather suspect that if the single digit 8 licence plate ever came up for auction again the bid would easily be between US$5 - $10 Million

For me these are the two holy grail images that still elude me, although I have seen the no. 8 plate at night but I was in a taxi going the opposite direction.

Naturally most people simply cannot afford to pay US$100,000 | US$500,000 | US$1 Million for a licence plate so they settle for ones with a meaning to them, some reflect their sense of humour, likes, dislikes etc and some are the opposite of Western Culture, some are names, love phrases, pop culture, the list is endless and amusing and they can be picked up at a bargain price.

The process is simple and I have never quite understood why everyone doesn’t get a custom vanity plate rather than settle for a standard Hong Kong Transport Department plate (eg WT 3465) which for the most part is 2 letters and 4 digits.

Shown below are a selection of some of my favourites.

Quite simply it would probably be the most expensive licence plate ever in Hong Kong if it was not reserved as the Official Car for the Commissioner of Police in Hong Kong, an important job for sure.

Quite a perk I must say and this perk goes back to Colonial times.

The Volkswagen has been ditched, the new car is a BMW as shown and an updated better image will be in place as soon as possible

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, currently John Lee also has a perk, he does not have any sort of traditional licence plate.

On his BMW 750 iL there is a metal emblem, the Hong Kong Crest which is essentially a Bauhinia Flower with a star on each of the 5 petals.

In essence his official car is really a souped up bullet proof Police Car (you can see the red and blue flashing lights under the grille) and the driver and bodyguard in the car are from the SDU (Special Duties Unit) of the Hong Kong Police Force, these chaps (mainly) are the best of the best, similar to the US Secret Service.

So I have in the past written about Cecil Chao a Hong Kong Billionaire, Mr. Chao is the proud owner of this fabulous car, the Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe with that much talked about licence plate.

If you scroll down a little further, Mr. Chao also has another Rolls Royce and a Bentley which rather neatly spell out his name., he does love his cars!

4 = death

Chinese people in Hong Kong are very superstitious about numbers and they go to great lengths to avoid this number (virtually every building in Hong Kong is missing a 4th, 14th, 24th, 34th and 44th floor) and that’s not the half of it.

So this begs the question, why this number? it does not even appear on the list for the most expensive car number plates in Hong Kong that I compiled, probably because no one else made a bid, when you think that the number plate 9 sold for US$1,666,666 you know he got a bargain.

I did a bit of research and checked with some reliable sources, apparently in Northern China for some people the number 4 translates to happiness in life which is considered very lucky in most places (!) and yes, you have guessed it, Mr. Chao is from Shanghai in China., to me is all sounds a bit strange given the vast majority of people in China like Hong Kongers think that 4 means death! but who I am to argue?.

You just have to love the complex culture in Hong Kong.

So you see a lot of cars with what I call death plates which for the most part are numbers with very special meanings if you know the right fortune teller and have no problem facing you mortality!

One of the best selling Ferrari cars ever is the model 458, 4 is death however by combining 58 with 4 the number 458 basically means - you are certain to be wealthy all of your life until you die and trust me, that makes it a very lucky number and licence plate, you could also argue that 4+5 = 9 and 8 and 9 translates to long life and wealth as well.

I doubt very much that Ferrari factored in Chinese Culture when it came to lucky and unlucky numbers but it is interesting to note that the new model Ferrari to replace the 458 is the Ferrari 488!! which is even luckier!!

….. and on the subject of the death plates, my final entry is this wonderful addition 4 = death so 444 is death. death. death., by extension 44, 4444 are repeating numbers so death reigns supreme.

There is NO get out clause with this as it is a repeating number! so you can’t go.. ah, but 3 x 4 is 12 and 1 + 2 is 3 which is a lucky number in the Buddhist Culture.. no people, you are doomed.

The driver of the Audi was young and Hong Kong Chinese so perhaps he just does not care about the number culture or he has a dark sense of humour… who knows.

So you see a lot of cars with what I call love plates which for the most part are numbers with very special meanings.

520 1314 is the classic for me as it basically translates to “I love you forever” ish! this is where I get a bit puzzled as 520 is simply I love you and 1314 forever and yet here you get many plates with 2 letters and 520 and 2 letters and 1314, it is understood and agreed that both mean “I love you” still with me?? a little confusing but I get it and you can substitute forever with for a lifetime

The licence plates can also be quite expensive.

I also have an image of another Mercedes Benz with the licence plate 1314 520 - I believe the 2 owners are married and I took both pictures at exactly the same spot.

Very close to being my all time favourite and again, a fabulous licence plate is on a POS Honda.

666 = The Number of the Beast in the Western World

Here Chinese Culture dictates that 666 is basically | smooth easy life, smooth easy life, smooth easy life (ish!) and 3 x 6 = 18 which is certain wealth!

I cannot find the record on how much was paid for this licence plate but logic dictates it was expensive and perhaps the owner of the car has a wicked sense of humour keeping it on this very old Honda! awesome.

This lovely Ferrari has what I call a proper car vanity plate, a combination of letters and numbers that mean something personal and something that alludes to wealth.

I presume MUFC refers to Manchester United Football Club (the red Ferrari is another large clue) and 68 translates to smooth easy life and wealth

That makes for a very expensive vanity plate.

Still on lucky numbers | this is a good example of the 168 cult which is very strong here, a lot of people believe that 168 is the luckiest number sequence you can have.

In a nutshell 168 translates to certain smooth easy life and forever wealthy it really is hard to beat, I have seen a lot of expensive cars hired for weddings with a 168 plate… the most famous one is the silver Four Seasons Hotel Bentley with the licence plate FF 168.. nothing like a good start to married life eh!

… and leading on from that fabulous number 168 we have something of an enigmatic mystery which I will investigate.

168 translates to certain smooth easy life and forever wealthy

1689 translates to certain smooth easy life and forever wealthy with a very long life

So my logic dictates that surely 1689 is the Holy Grail of numbers as you get the addition of a very long life? …. and yet I have photographed very few number plates with 1689 when compared to 168.

My thinking is that 1689 plates are quite expensive and rarely come up for auction… sounds plausible but it is a mystery as there are so many permutations available to have 1689 plates. Naturally I have also thought that if you add 1 + 6 + 8 + 9 you get 24 which means double death which is a shockingly bad number! it is quite feasible that people would do that mental calculation but logically there is no reason to do that.

Welcome to the crazy world of car licence plates in Hong Kong.

Most of the World understands that 8 in Chinese Culture means wealth, it can also mean fortune and prosper or prosperity, personally I am comfortable with wealth and this licence plate is 88 which translates to double happiness on top of wealth and AA just gives it that symmetry. This is why this was quite an expensive licence plate.

You would be amazed at what I call the No. 8 culture in Hong Kong, it boggles the mind, when you are in Hong Kong you see the number 8 everywhere and I mean everywhere. (I have an album of images devoted to the number 8 culture)

• 6 = smooth easy life

• 8 = wealth

• 9 = long life or eternity

You would amazed at how many vehicle plates here have combinations of those 3 numbers on the plate but in term of volume of sightings it would be 8 and 9 on the plate with 8 topping them all.

Please note that the Rolls Royce has been traded in for another newer car as of 2023, hopefully I will photograph it soon!

Right up there with 666 is the number 13…. 13 is my lucky number, I had the curse (!) of being born on Friday the 13th! top that as they say.

In the Western World 13 is considered unlucky (although most people would be hard pushed to tell you why) but in Hong Kong it is a lucky number despite the fact that you can still see in buildings built prior to 1997 no 13th floor! the practice of no 13th floor died out with the end of British Colonial Rule in 1997

The Hong Kong equivalent of 13 is the number 14 which translates to certain death, actually pretty much most numbers with a 4 in it are pretty horrible here (the are a few minor exceptions like 48, 448 and 488 but that is a story for another day)

So back to 13 - in a nutshell (ish) it translates to certain growth which naturally is taken to mean you will make a bloody great big fortune and if you have a company then it will grow very quickly, so lucky enough for someone to pay almost US$1 Million for that Licence Plate.

A very apt licence plate, this my friends is a Pagani Zonda, handmade in Italy and depending on specifications it costs in Hong Kong between US$2 - US$3 Million, technically Pagani no longer make the Zonda (they have a new model) but naturally for the right price they can build you a totally unique Zonda and boy we have some pretty wild ones in Hong Kong!

So it is a MAD car and I suppose you have to be bonkers to part with that sort of money but I really love the guys in Hong Kong who bring these hypercars here, bloody awesome.

…oh and technically (from my perspective) this was the Pagani Zonda entry level model!!!

Letters only

The licence plate W sold for HK$26,000,000 or US$3,333,334 in March 2021 !!!

In general most Hong Kong Chinese have 3 names so 3 letter licence plates are very popular as are 2 letter plates for those that are a little less formal, it is a complicated issue best left for another blog entry, for now lets just say it is a cultural issue, interestingly 2 letter plates are more expensive than 3 letter plates!! .. and I do like seeing expensive licence plates on expensive cars like this Ferrari 488. (and yes the Ferrari model no. 488 is a lucky number!)

..and still on that gorgeous red Ferrari 488, quite stunning but I was more amazed that the owner paid US$179,485 to have his initials CH on the plate.

In general here, the average price of a licence plate with 2 initials here ranges from U$19,230 at the bottom end to US$102,565 at the top end and then some people are willing to go way beyond that, like Mr. CH

I was surprised to find out that we have some license plates with just one letter, I thought this was a myth, it is not, the number plate V sold for US$1,666,666 ! V for Victory perhaps, that would make sense but more than likely it is a cute young lady with a really cute name (V) and now we have W that sold for almost twice as much and R that came within a whisker of topping W in the $ stakes

... and no I was not the buyer of the license plate JL no. 41 on the most expensive list of licence plates in Hong Kong, I would never pay US$141,025 for a vanity plate unless I was a gagillionaire, which clearly I am not, I’m just a business consultant these days.

Click on the image to enlarge to full screen

HKG Car Licence Plate - DEBORAH She only paid US$640 for this great vanity plate

I actually have a whole album of images of this car, it is by far the most visible car in Hong Kong and it is on the streets 7 days a week and pops up in some very strange places.

Deborah Valdez - Hung, socialite at the top of the food chain, owner of this car.

This was a trade up as she used to have a pink Ferrari, I mean seriously, it is enough to make a grown man weep.

Three redeeming features……. kind of…

• Deborah who is Mexican is absolutely gorgeous and I got a smile from her

• her car reminds me of Lady Penelope (of the Thunderbirds show) and her FAB 1 Rolls Royce

• her husband Stephen has a brilliant collection of awesome cars, he has a Rolls Royce with the licence plate SH and a Bentley with the licence plate HS and a host of other cars as well

I bet Rolls Royce Management did not bat an eyelid when they saw the colour specifications, perhaps a small discrete cough though.

Click on the image to enlarge to full screen

HKG Car License Plate no. 9 | HKG Car License Plate no. 29 | HKG Car License Plate no. 9999

Just to be clear, one family owns these 3 cars, Albert Yeung is the head of the family, he is a property and retail mogul. (The Emperor Group).

He also has a bit of an obsession with the no. 9, it is often parked at the Peninsula Hotel and the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong.

• Mr. Yeung paid US$1,666,666 for car license plate no. 9

• Mr. Yeung paid US$897,435 for car license plate no. 29

• Mr. Yeung paid US$126,925 for car license plate no. 9999

So US$2,691,026 or HK$20,990,003 for 3 licence plates!

How do I know this?? well I have quite a few images of bodyguards in suits always trailing the Japanese 7 seater car with the license plate no. 29 in a boxy little Toyota with the license plate no. 9999 and ditto the Rolls Royce with the license plate no. 9 and a friend of mine also sent me an image of the Rolls Royce with the 9999 car trailing behind.

9 is a very lucky number in Chinese Culture it generally means long life or everlasting or eternity that could mean a very long life or everlasting wealth for eternity!! you get my drift

Again, the bragging rights are very impressive in this instance although it should be mentioned that if I had that Rolls Royce I would not be trolling around in a Japanese 7 seater, it can hardly be an incognito thing as the the cost of the no. 29 license plate is about 11 times the cost of the car! odd, very odd.

Some of my favourite all letter licence plates include |

IRONMAN, DUCK, BEATLES, TOMORROW, WHATEVER, CASPER, CARPOOL, CHICK, BIG FISH, BIG BANG, CHEAP CAR, FAT, FERRARI, GROUCHY .... you get my drift and remember more fun for your money.

I think it is brilliant that rich people have a great sense of humour which leads me to BIMBO

As far as this licence plate goes

Bimbo means “an attractive but unintelligent or frivolous young woman”

Which begs the question who is it being referred too ie. the owner of the car, the owners wife, the owners girlfriend, none of the above, it has a meaning relevant only to the car owner. Still, a classic vanity plate!

The Rolls Royce Phantom is well over US$1 Million here so it is great to see the BATMAN vanity plate on a car such as this, the inner child perhaps and I bet he knows the guy with the almost as impressive Bentley with the IRON MAN vanity plate.

I have a whole album full of Pop Culture Licence Plates.

Awesome guys!

Oh, and this image was taken recently on Barker Road at the Peak one of the most discreet and exclusive neighborhoods in Hong Kong

….. and the following 6 images are simply an indulgence on my part

They are some of my favourite cars!

a one off in Hong Kong a Pagani Zonda Absolute and my respects to the chap that blew a small fortune on this amazing car

a quite rare Chevrolet Corvette, what a beautiful car

I do like my McLaren’s and they are becoming very popular

I just love this Mercedes Benz with it’s monster V8 Biturbo engine, my sort of car

What can I say, the Lamborghini Aventador special edition with that amazing howling engine….

The very rare special edition Pagani Zonda S number 5 of 15 made and it certainly created a stir in rush hour traffic on Garden Road

Click on the image to enlarge to full screen

The Grand Old Dame, The Grand Old Dame of Asia, The Grand Old Dame of the Orient, we are talking naturally about the world famous 5 star Hotel that is The Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong.

It is funny how nicknames work, I have never used those nicknames at all, since I was a kid in 1972 when I used to hang out in their lobby (and I still do today) I simply know it as “The Pen” , The Pen was probably where I encountered my fellow Private Tour Guide and great friend Bill, his Dad had an office in Hong Kong, without even realising it, we probably crossed paths in the lobby.

..anyway I digress.

Take a look at the images of the cars that the Peninsula Hotel operates, Rolls Royce’s, Toyota Alphard’s and Mini’s.

If you did not know.. The Peninsula Hotel has 14 Rolls Royce Phantoms, that’s the car with the Licence Plate MP 3905

One of life’s infernal mysteries is why the Hotel does not have custom licence plates for all of it’s fleet of cars, dash it all chaps, it is simply not good enough.

The beautiful old Rolls has the plate 327 which is great, no issue there, the Mini’s are PEN I and PEN 2 which is great but why standard Hong Kong Government Licence Plates for the 14 Rolls Royce Phantoms most of whose plates begin with MP? and many of them have a 4 which is unlucky

It is not expensive to get the plates, they are limited to 8 spaces (letters and/or numbers) a gap = one space, so PENINSULA is out, as is THE PEN I all the way through to 20, so why not add to the sequence they already have PEN I, PEN 2 ……. PEN 20

That would be very cool, of course for one of the Rolls Royce Phantoms they could get the plate PEN 168 and use that as a specific wedding car, it might even bring them a lot more bookings - as a reminder 168 translates to certain smooth easy life and forever wealthy.

As we all know The Peninsula as The Pen, it would be very cool and newsworthy to have those custom licence plates mentioned above.

By comparison, (see images)

• The awesome Rosewood Hotel has 4 cars, Range Rovers and Jaguars but they have custom car Licence Plates. RWHK 1, RWHK 2 plus a Range Rover with the custom plate RWHK 18 and as you know 18 is a very lucky number

• The lovely Island Shangri La Hotel across the Harbour is the only other 5 star Hotel that I can think of that has a fleet of cars to rival the Peninsula Hotel, they have Mercedes Benz’s, Toyota’s and just the one Rolls Royce Phantom, what they do have is sequential custom number plates starting at ISL 00I and up to at least ISL 0I5 which is exactly what the Peninsula Hotel should be doing

This is probably in my top 3 list of favourite cars in Hong Kong, a rather elegant WALD makeover of a Rolls Royce Ghost, simply magnificent I might add… one of life’s great mysteries is why there is no custom licence plate or lucky number licence plate? for the life of me I cannot find any way of coming up with 9272 as a really lucky number or a reason why 9272 should be considered that lucky.

I guess some people do not care about this, of course the car owner could be Japanese or a foreigner and not Chinese which is also a valid explanation - no matter, it is still a fabulous car.

All Hong Kong Government operated vehicles have a licence plate that starts AM and have a number sequence comprising 1 to 4 numbers. A high end car generally denotes it is the chauffeur driven vehicle of a high ranking Hong Kong Government Minister and a few really Senior Ministers have cars with 2 letter number plates ( CS, FS, CJ and SJ) | Status is important even in the Government as is the use of lucky numbers (1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 0 etc) on licence plates.

I mean seriously this random Police Car has a brilliant plate, it can be interpreted as, smooth easy life, smooth easy life, wealth for eternity, not to shabby for the driver and occupants.

As mentioned above The Chief Executive of Hong Kong has the Hong Kong Emblem (large badge) on the front and back of the vehicle but remarkably (for me anyway) the best Government licence plate is the number I on the official car of the Commissioner of Police, top that as they say!

There are 3 possible explanations on why AM was chosen as the 2 letter identifier

It was done based on the initials of Alastair Morrison a HK Government Civil Servant who came up with the idea of uniform plates for Government Vehicles

When the idea came up, AM was next in sequence ie after AL and before AN | It is totally random as they had to pick a 2 letter sequence and AM was as good as anything else!

and that is that.

Click on the image to enlarge to full screen

Vehicle Licence Plate | Vanity Plate VR sold for US$25,000 or HK$195,000 in Hong Kong

…. and finally, you can get personalised licence plates or vanity plates on any type of vehicle such as trucks, buses, vans, motorbikes, scooters etc.

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My previous camera to this was the Mark 1 version of this camera, I took over 60,000 images with that one.

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