Look what I found parked in m97's space

Actually, it's a 365GT 2+2, 801 built (I don't know how many are RHD).

 

That is a 365, not a 330. What is the significance of an H plate?
Beautiful color, very nice.

 

Before the current UK regitration system the letter at the end of the plate denoted the year of registration.
1962-1983 the date letter was at the end. From 1983-2001 the date letter moved to the front of the plate.
A few letters were not used to avoid confusion when reading plates from afar. Z and O for example might be confused with 2 and 0

H is an August 1969 registration

 

I would have thought it was a liittle later than Aug 1969, as it's a later spec car with 'mechanical' front 1/4 windows. Our car was delivered Jan '69 in Yorkshire and it's the earlier style one. Will need to go through the history file to find out it's original rego #... ours is #12009.

 

Ahh, I understand, very interesting as Poirot would say. I see the VW across the street has a very different numerology.

In the second pic through the driver's side window, the shifter appears to be in first gear, but my gosh it is right up to the console. It looks like a real knuckle cruncher or is that an optical illusion of some kind?

 

nice old girl

 

Do they have the chassis number stamped on the top of the steering column as the Daytona did? if so you might be able to see it through the windscreen.

Ed from the pic it looks like you are right, you would change the radio station with your knuckels evey time you hit first gear.

 

There's plenty of room in front of the gear lever - no chance of hitting the radio! 365GTs didn't have the chassis number visible anywhere, so you need to peer under the bonnet (hood?) next time you see the car! Perhaps you can keep an eye ou for the owner.
#12009 was reregistered with a "G" registration when it was traded in on a Daytona in 1971 sometime, so I don't know how the UK rego system works!

 

Isn't that only US cars?

 

Not entirely. I don't know when Ferraris built for other markets began receiving steering wheel VIN/serial number plates, but there are definitely many Euro cars out there that have them. Also, I've seen steering wheel VIN/serial number plates going as far back as Daytonas - but not before (I believe the Daytona is the earliest model to receive a steering wheel VIN/serial number plate). I would be interested in finding out exactly when Euro and other market cars began receiving VIN/serial number plates, if anyone knows.

As for the original post, what a beautiful car. Does the H on the plate mean that this car has been with the same owner since 1969, or merely with the same plate since 1969...?

 

Interesting... my 1969 US 365 2+2 has the plate with the serial number on top of the steering column.

 

That's fantastic...! Can you post a picture...?

 

All it means is that the car is a 1969.

In the UK, the vehicle is assigned a registration number - not the owner. That means that the license plate the car is issued stays with it for its life. However, if the owner chooses to purchase a 'cherished number' (the UK equivalent to a vanity or personalized license plate), the plates on the car leave it and the one the owner has paid extra for are registered instead. However, if an owner were to sell a car with a 'cherished number' plate, the registration number the car bore prior to the installation of the cherished number would go back on the vehicle, and the owner would keep the cherished number for his next car.

This particular vehicle does not have cherished number plates, but it probably did at one time. The license plates currently on it are not original (because they are yellow [rear] and white [front] while original UK license plates were black through 1983), meaning at some point someone who owned the car removed the original plates for something else, likely a cherished number. As the car changed hands, it is likely that a prior owner retained the cherished number, and new plates bearing its original registration number were made up.

To answer your question more succinctly, no, the car has probably not been owned by the same person since 1969, and no, the same license plate has not been on the car since 1969.

 

Just to clarify the H suffix means it was originally registered in the UK sometime between Aug 1st 1969 and July 31st 1970.

 

These cars are sooooo pretty. Even moreso when pictured in today´s traffic of modern cars. Thanks for posting!