Single-digit number plate sells for $2.45 million

Single-digit number plates are one of the ultimate expressions of wealth. How else could you multiply the value of your car almost endlessly?

The NSW number plate bearing the digit ‘4’ for example, just became a good way to add a whopping $2.45 million more to the value of your treasured vehicle.

At Shannons Sydney Winter Classic Auction, a Sydney investor (reported by sister publication Wheels to be sex-toy magnate Peter Tseng) purchased the single-digit plate to go with the number ‘2’ adorning his Ferrari 458 Italia.

The issue we take with that as enthusiasts (though we understand the point of an investment) is that he could have purchased every single car on offer at the auction for the money he spent, and still would have had change enough to buy an Audi R8, an Aston Martin V12 Vantage S, or a Porsche 911 Turbo.

Amongst the cars he would have been purchasing were some Aussie legends, a few Euro classics, and some historical US metal.

We know which we’d rather.

At the same time, if the number plate continues to grow in value as quickly as it has, he could buy pretty much anything he wants with the money he eventually sells it for.

Shannons says the previous auction record for a single digit plate was the $689,000 paid for NSW plate ‘2’ back in 2003. That means it could be worth almost $9 million in 15 years’ time.

That’s almost enough to buy half of a small studio apartment on Sydney’s waterfront!