How can I tell where a car was registered from its pre-1978 registration plate?
The following is a list of Scottish motor vehicle registrations. For other British and Irish vehicle registration index marks consult Philip Riden, How to Trace the History of Your Car: a guide to motor vehicle registration records in Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man And The Channel Islands (Merton Priory Press, 1998).
| Vehicle Registration | County, City or Burgh |
| AG | Ayrshire |
| AS | Nairnshire |
| AV | Aberdeenshire |
| BS | Orkney |
| CS | Ayrshire |
| DS | Peeblesshire |
| ES | Perthshire |
| FG | Fife |
| FS | Edinburgh City |
| G | Glasgow City |
| GA | Glasgow City |
| GB | Glasgow City |
| GD | Glasgow City |
| GE | Glasgow City |
| GG | Glasgow City |
| GM | Motherwell & Wishaw Burgh |
| GS | Perthshire |
| HS | Renfrewshire |
| JS | Ross & Cromarty |
| MS | Stirlingshire |
| NS | Sutherland |
| PS | Shetland |
| RG | Aberdeen City |
| RS | Aberdeen City |
| S | Edinburgh City |
| SA | Aberdeenshire |
| SB | Argyll (but note that there was a fashion for owners of cars manufactured by the Argyll Motor Company of Glasgow to register them in Argyll regardless of where their owners lived) |
| SC | Edinburgh City |
| SD | Ayrshire |
| SE | Banffshire |
| SF | Edinburgh City |
| SG | Edinburgh City |
| SH | Berwickshire |
| SJ | Buteshire |
| SK | Caithness |
| SL | Clackmannanshire |
| SM | Dumfriesshire |
| SN | Dunbartonshire |
| SO | Morayshire |
| SP | Fife |
| SR | Angus |
| SS | East Lothian |
| ST | Inverness-shire |
| SU | Kincardineshire |
| SV | Kinross-shire (But note that SV is a popular registration because it appears to have been issued for re-registered vehicles for vehicles before 1931 (vintage) and for vehicles between 1931 and 1963. |
| SW | Kirkcudbrightshire |
| SY | Midlothian |
| TS | Dundee City |
| US | Glasgow City |
| V | Lanarkshire |
| VA | Lanarkshire |
| VD | Lanarkshire |
| VS | Greenock Burgh |
| WG | Stirlingshire |
| XA | Kirkcaldy Burgh (from 1960s, previously allocated to London) |
| XB | Coatbridge Burgh (from 1960s, previously allocated to London) |
| XS | Paisley Burgh |
| YJ | Dundee City (from 1932) |