FXI 9

The creme de la creme X1/9 reg plate is alive and well and on ........ wait for it....... a BMW x3 zzzzzzz...... I'm sure anyone who has read the Phil Ward Collectors Book will be familiar with this reg plate. It dates back to 1984/85 in Belfast and was on a car (2 tone blue vs if i remember rightly)in the greater Belfast area. I Remember it well and is one of the reasons I developed my intrest in the X1/9.
I think the same family in the north Co. Down area own JXI 9 as well.
Are there many members here with N. Ireland plates?

Coincidence! I was looking through Phils book only last night Graham and the picture of the car with that reg on. IIRC it was on a Duo-Tone Red/Black highline VS - earlier one than your photo - circa 1984'ish with those triangular type Alloys. I originally thought it was just a show plate....

Definitely a road-going reg Neil . All those early to mid 80's Belfast plates are now a rare sight on the roads even over here.
The lettering went from AXI to YXI (no Q or Z) and the number combination was anything from 1 to 9999. So there were many opportunities to get "something XI" with a 9 after it.
At first, in the late 70's and early 80's, whenever you bought a brand new car or re-registered an old one you had the luck of the draw and turn up a nice reg. The dvla then twigged on and decided at the start of each batch of new registration combinations they would cream off the best plates and send them to auction to raise revenue. Not sure how much FXI 9 would've been worth back then but today I reckon in most cases if you had it on the average 85vs then your reg plate would be more valuable than the car!

Definately Graham - Theres a knackered old E class Merc that drives around Coventy. My mate has a similar model so I reckon its about 14 years old but bears the reg 'E2'.
That plate must be with £20k plus on its own! You're right the DVLA have cottoned on to the whole private reg thing. I always thought they were a bit extravagant for the money but I managed to get a 5 digit plate with my initials on for my Fiat Coupe for £250 last year....

I’m a bit late to this thread but I’m the ex owner of registration FXI 9, I still have that 1984 1500 VS Bertone featured in Phil Ward’s book mentioned above. The photos were taken at Snetterton racetrack in Norfolk many years ago, not long after I had the car restored by a specialist near Norwich. When I exported the car to Spain, it had to be re-registered and the famous plate sadly was sold. It continues to turn heads and is quite a celebrity when it goes for it’s annual ITV test (Spanish MOT). I’ll try and attach a few photos of my pride and joy as it is now. If I can find some more photos of it displaying FXI 9, I’ll add them later.