One thing that has always been very encouraging to us is the fact that many of the UK's most astute and successful business people see the appeal of personal car registrations. From our many interviews with millionaires, CEOs and business owners, it is clear that the people with whom we have spoken appreciate not just the investment value of private plates, but also the sheer enjoyment they can provide.
Many business owners have also discovered the power of private number plates as a marketing tool. Some have acquired plates that represent their companies' branding, while others have furnished entire corporate fleets with plates that make reference to their business's field of expertise.
Below you'll find just a few of the successful figures who have acquired some fantastic private number plates. In many cases, they also have a range of impressive cars upon which to display them.
Alan Sugar, Baron Sugar
From working in a greengrocer's shop as a teenager and then selling car accessories from a van, Alan Michael Sugar has become, arguably, the UK's most famous businessman. His appearance on the business-themed reality TV show The Apprentice has cemented his status as a household name.
Generally addressed as Lord Sugar, he has built a reputation as a somewhat irascible figure who doesn't suffer fools gladly and who is never afraid to speak his mind.
The business venture for which Sugar is still best-known is Amstrad, which he started in 1968 with £100. Amstrad became a hugely successful consumer electronics business, and was sold in 2007 for £125 million. The name Amstrad was derived from Sugar's initials and the beginning of the word "trading".
Lord Sugar's AMS 1 number plate has become almost as famous as the man himself, thanks to its appearances on Sugar's Rolls-Royce Phantom in the opening credits of The Apprentice.
Lord Sugar loves his cars. Here are just a few of the notable cars he has owned.
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Roll-Royce Silver Seraph
We've already mentioned Lord Sugar's famous Rolls-Royce Phantom, but that is by no means the extent of his love for the luxury brand. A predecessor to Sugar's Phantom, the Silver Seraph was used in the first series of The Apprentice, at which time it displayed the AMS 1 plates. The car was originally registered to Lord Sugar's Amstrad company but it was later transferred into his name.
The car was sold at a Bonhams auction in 2018. Photos published at the time show the car bearing the number plates S821 ORV, but it is unclear whether the car had this number while it was owned by Lord Sugar. Apparently the sale also included the car's original AMS 1 plates, but only the physical plates, not the entitlement to display them. Lord Sugar had, by that time, already transferred his personal number from the car.
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Rolls-Royce Ghost
Sugar has owned a number of Rollers over the years, including several Ghost models.
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A 1956 Bentley S1 Continental Sport Saloon previously owned by Sir Elton John.
Elton once called the Bentley the most beautiful car ever designed. Photographs of Lord Sugar with the Continental show it displaying the registration number 490 JLC. Sugar sold the car after owning it for 25 years.
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David Brown Speedback Silverstone Edition
In 2019, Lord Sugar posted a picture of the car online, sporting the number plate FF 111 and said, "This is a NEW car. Old Aston body design but with Jaguar parts under the hood.”
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AC Cobra (apparently a replica)
In January 2022, Sugar posted a video on Instagram showing the car bearing Florida license plate DCH7178.
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Corvette C8
When he posted a picture on Instagram showing his new Corvette C8, the photo also included Sugar's purple Cirrus light aeroplane. The Corvette was painted in a matching purple, which prompted mixed opinions in the comments.
TV Dragons Theo Paphitis, James Caan, Duncan Bannatyne
The BBC TV show Dragons' Den is infamous, like Lord Sugar's The Apprentice, for giving people a rough ride if their business abilities seem in any way lacking. The panellists, of whom there have been more than 20 in total, have all been successful entrepreneurs in a range of fields. They are people with a sharp eye for a profit and a demonstrated aversion to wasting their time or money.
So far, four dragons have appeared as interview guests in the pages of our magazine, The World of Personal Number Plates.
Duncan Bannatyne
We published our interview with Duncan in 2008. At the time we spoke to him, he was driving a very nice Mercedes bearing the number 23 D. We asked Duncan about his interest in private plates and, as one of the more iconic dragons, he was surprisingly willing to open up on the topic.
“I started buying a few plates at auction just for something to do. Actually, one of the big things in those days was that it was very easy to see how old the car was by looking at the number plate. You would change your car every two or three years because people could see it was a few years old. We worked out that if you bought a number plate that hid the age it was cheaper than buying a car [laughs
