Barry, 

You are right in thinking that the 'G/K/J' suffix letter denotes the  year of registration, but the 'INJ' section is not entirely correct. NJ denotes that the vehicle was registered by East Sussex County Council, their other allocations being AP, PM and PN. The series would have started with NJ 1 issued in 1932, running to NJ 9999 by February 1937, then ANJ 1 to ANJ 999, followed by BNJ 1-999 and so on until April 1963, by which time all combinations had been used. The system then carried on with a reversed version of the original, i.e.NJ 1 - NJ 9999. Some authorities also issued 3-number/3-letter registrations, however East Sussex did not get around to needing this by the time the letter suffix system was commenced between 1963 and 1965, starting with 'A' in 1963. Initially, year letters started from 1st of January - 31st December, but was changed to August - July in 1967 due to pressure from the retail motor trade. The suffix 'E' therefore only ran from Jan-July 1967, with 'F' onwards covering two part-years. By 1983, the year letters had been used up, and the marks were again reversed with the year letter becoming a prefix, followed by up to three numbers, then three letters. In 2001, an entirely new system of two letters, two numbers and three letters was devised whereby the first denoted the allocating area, the second group the year and the third element an identifying serial number. The letters I, O, Q, U and Z were not used as year letters, although Q was used as a prefix after 1983 to denote a vehicle of uncertain age or origin, such as a kit-built car, an ex-military vehicle or a used imported vehicle. Similarly, I, Q and Z were not used in registration letter combinations (except in Northern Ireland) prior to 2001, so Dinky's 'INJ' was ficticious. Perhaps they were the initials of the Meccano person who prepared them? The British vehicle registration system is a complicated and fascinating subject, and an excellent book on the subject was written and published in 1999, updated in 2001, by the late Les Newall and entitled 'A History of Motor Vehicle Registration in the United Kingdom'. Although out of print, copies can sometimes be found in libraries, vintage bookshops or on auction sites.

I hope this was helpful,

Kevin.

An update on the above, unknown to myself, a third edition of Newall's book was published in 2008 and is currently available from a number of sellers on Ebay.

Barry,

There are 25 INJ Dinky Toys and Supertoys regitrations.They are all listed in the Dinky Toys Encyclopaedia which contains a list of all the Dinky Toys registrations with the year and issuing authority. The French Dinky Toys are also included in this list.

Hello and Happy New Year

Regarding the self adhesive number plates on Dinky Toys. They do not represent old DVLA registration districts. They are in fact the initials of Meccano draughtsmen. The year letter was usually changed, but only when all stock of existing letter was used up.

See my article in Jan 2019 Journal, pages 16/17

Vic Mumby 655