LEGO Icons 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 licence plate explained
Wondering what those very specific references in LEGO Icons 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90’s licence plate mean? We’ve got you covered.
While LEGO Creator Expert and LEGO Icons vehicle licence plates often include in-house references to their designers – see 10265 Ford Mustang’s P51 AK2, a nod to Mike Psiaki – they also typically call back to real-world influences, inspirations and details. Such is the case for 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90, the licence plate for which reads HUE L316.
That’s not a conventional British licence plate, which usually follows the format of letter-letter-number-number letter-letter-letter (BF23 FAN, just as a totally random example). And there’s a good reason: it’s actually two distinct references to different parts of Land Rover history, in a set specifically designed to land on shelves for the manufacturer’s 75th anniversary.
Image: DeFacto, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
The first half of the plate refers to HUE 166, a vehicle described as ‘the most famous Land Rover ever’. That’s because it was the first-ever production Land Rover, debuting at the 1948 Amsterdam Motor Show three-quarters of a century ago. That car carried the registration plate HUE 166, and has since been nicknamed ‘Huey’.
10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90’s plate reads L316 instead of 166, though – a nod to another part of Land Rover history. L316 was the internal code for the classic Defender design, produced between 1983 and 2016, which is the inspiration for the latest LEGO Icons vehicle (rather than the modern design that inspired 42110 Land Rover Defender).
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If nothing else, the licence plate for 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 is testament to the attention to detail poured into the 2,336-piece set – which also comes packed with accessories and customisation options. You can find out more about the off-road build in our visual tour.
10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90 launches on April 1 for VIP members, and April 4 for everyone else, for £209.99 / $239.99 / €239.99.
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The registration number L316 HUE was a valid number for the period August 1983 to August 2001. Year letter, three digits, three letters.
The HU indicates it would have been issued at the Bristol office if it was issued at all. it isn’t currently allocated to any vehicle.