Hot Stuff

In August 1963, JW ‘Bleasie’ Bleasdale was in the Royal Navy, serving in Her Majesty’s Stone Frigate H M S Collingwood, in Fareham, Hampshire.

This year marked the beginning of his long partnership with his personal car registration. An impressive number of cars have come and gone, but 92 HOT has always remained.

“I decided to blow all my hard earned savings on a new car,” Bleasie recalls.
“My choice was a Goodwood Green Ford Zodiac, price £1040. The dilemma I had was which of the two registration numbers
I should choose: 92 HOT or 93 HOT? A quick calculation showed that I would be 55 in 1992. As 55 seemed like a good age to retire I opted for 92 HOT!

“Around 1968 I was ready for a change of car and I moved to an MGB. The local garage owner in my village, pointed out that, for a mere £5, I could transfer 92 HOT to the MGB.

“More changes came. In 1974 92 HOT adorned a Series 1 XJ in Ascot Fawn. Following that, it moved briefly onto a 1975 long wheelbase Daimler Sovereign.

“By now Simon Templar, ‘ The Saint’, had convinced me that I must have an XJS. Not for long however... I managed to write her off from a standing start.

“Thankfully the Daimler, was still in the garage and, as the XJS was only an insurance write-off, I was allowed to keep 92 HOT. I quickly transferred it back onto the Daimler. A 1978 XJS soon replaced the Daimler.

“We now move on to 1986,” says Bleasie. “Having already rejected the 3.6 Cabriolet, I told the dealership to come back to me when they launched the V12, as then I might be interested.

On the 11th June 1986 I took delivery of my V12 Cabriolet. 92 HOT had moved on yet again!

“12 years later I traded the V12 Cabriolet in for an X300 Executive, but I soon got withdrawal symptoms for open top driving and in March 2000 an XK8 convertible became 92 HOT and the X300 became P90 HOT.

“I am pretty sure that 92 HOT has now found its final resting place.”