moomooland:
0NTX 855R registered new in September 1976!
That is a late one Chris any ideas?
I wonder if they bought it the previous year and had it stored away unregistered for a year and a half.
It wasn’t entirely uncommon for operators to buy new vehicles and store them, usually for financial reasons. There were quite a few R-reg Atkis out there, not to mention S-plates - even a T-plate one that’s now in preservation. Production finished in April 1975, which was during the N-reg period. Allowing for preparation (turntable, wings, paint, etc), not to mention hanging on for the new reg, it’s easy to see why there are plenty about on P-plates, whilst early 400 Series were out as N’s.
Going back to operators storing vehicles, when I visited Longton Coachcraft one day in 1988, there was an unused 400 Series in there, being converted to a sleeper and painted for an owner driver - it had come from Holt Lane Transport and had been stored for 10 years, In fact, on one of the Welsh threads on here, there are recent photos of 2 unused 400 Series, dry stored from new, and still in factory primer.
Sid Harrison famously had 4 new Fodens dry stored for many, many years, and there is a C-reg (1985) ERF LV 4-wheeler in preservation, and which was dry stored for 20 years before being registered: I vaguely recall that it was bought new by Joseph Grant.
Of course, another possibility is that it was unsold dealer stock: in the latter days of the Mk.2, bog-standard spec motors (220 ■■■■■■■ usually, I think) were built for stock rather than for specific orders