In the very first years of the automobile in the Netherlands, they were not yet provided with a license plate. The story goes that the need for license plates (with corresponding license plate) became necessary when the policeman could no longer keep up with a lawbreaker in a car on a bicycle. The first license plates consisted of only four digits.
The growth of the fleet forced the government to introduce the so-called provincial license plates in 1906. They consisted of a letter that the province indicated with one or more numbers behind it. The license plate was in blue with white letters. One plate had to be mounted at the front and one at the rear. The provincial license plate was personal, so the owner always 'went' with his license plate to his next car. The provincial license plate numbers were as follows. The A stood for Groningen, the B for Friesland, the D for Drenthe, E, Overijssel, M, Gelderland, L, Utrecht, G and GZ for Noord-Holland, H and HZ for Zuid-Holland, the K for Zeeland, the N, Noord-Brabant and finally the P for Limburg. On 1 January 1951 the new road traffic law came into effect. Part of this was the introduction of a national, vehicle-specific license plate, instead of provincial, personal license plates. The very first new license plate was ND-00-01. This number was assigned to a Ford Taunus 3M from Mr. JK Leyen, director of the Association of Safe Traffic Associations on 10 January of that year. The car drove its very last kilometers in 1962 and then landed on the demolition. That's how it went then. For the record: license plate ND-00-02 ended up on the Vauxhall Wyvern from 1950 of Mr. O. Euverman in Groningen. Tragic is that the MG YB Saloon with license plate ND-00-06 on 12 July 1954 on the Frankenslag in The Hague found its end due to a derailed tram and can therefore be the first license plate due to 'total loss' by 'Oom Agent' was taken again? Almost certainly not, because the accident occurred more than three years later ... Funny is that the car with license plate ND-00-07 still exists. This is a red MG Midget TD, which is owned by Jan Kruis and always receives a leading role in his comic strips with drawings 'Jan, Jans and the Children'. The first owner was a certain Mr. AC Hoying who rode it in 1952 in the famous 'Arrow ride' of that year. Would anyone else have photos of it? Provincial, personal license plates were no longer provided. The provincial plates that were still in use at that time had to be replaced by 1 by 1957 January at the latest. And that was not from paper, but from linen.
Photo: The second 'new' license plate was on the Vauxhall of Mr. O.Euverman in Groningen (Photo: Archief Groningen).