Johnson Falcon and number plate for auction

Which is worth more: the number plate or the car?

We suspect Dick Johnson’s Queensland registration plate number Q17 will win the day. Not only that, but the plate’s sale value will likely have less to do with the Dick Johnson connection and everything to do with the simple fact of it being such a low number.

The prices buyers are prepared to pay for low-digit number plates these days is astonishing. NSW1 sold for $11.5m; Q1 changed hands for $5.6m. Given that recent history, it’s likely that bidding for Dick’s personal number plate (which was first registered in 1921 on a Studebaker) will extend into the millions.

The other ‘item’ set to go under the hammer at the same Lloyds Auction is Steven Johnson’s ‘Tru Blu 2’ Touring Car Masters Falcon XD. This car will have a particular value as a race-ready potential TCM race winner, but it will be interesting to see whether or not it attracts a collector purchaser.

The TCM XD Falcon may bear almost no mechanical relation to the original Dick Johnson Group C XD, but it does have the Johnson family connection and that generational link to the history of the Johnson racing dynasty.

The Lloyds auction closes on Saturday, October 26.