FANCY turning your humble, dented car into a vehicle worthy of James Bond?

You have the chance this Wednesday when the DVLA auctions off a set of new registration plates, including ‘0007 BND’.

The 1,500 special plates are up for sale in Northamptonshire and the world of Cherished Number Plates is something which attracts some and bemuses others.

You can stand out with a plate that speaks for you – but then would you want to be Paul Daniels driving around with MAG 1C?

One of the best places in Dorset to see personalised plates is the “Bond Street of Bournemouth”, Westover Road.

This upmarket jewellery and clothing hot spot was rife with fast cars.

Some people think these numberplates are for attention seekers. A top-down saloon blasting music did nothing to dispel that view.

Dave Miller, the owner of Highcliffe-based Ferrari specialists Forza288, has a plate that echoes Ferrari’s touring cars – GTO 308V.

“I think they just make cars a bit individual,” said Mr Miller.

Does he worry some people think it’s a bit flash?

“Each to their own,” he said.

There doesn’t seem to be a Dorset plate but for just £1,060 you could pick up B10 MTH.

An online dealer offers rude numberplates – some too rude to mention – for huge prices.

You don’t even have to reference the car or yourself.

Numberplate dealer PNA, based in Charminster, has a picture of sheepdog in his owners’ car – registration C1 DOG’.

Gary Thomas, from Cole Hill, had a Jaguar XKR and managed to pick up the numberplate M9 XKR for only £1,000 around seven years ago.

“It was nice because it was personal to me,” he said. “A lot of people at filling stations used to say what a great plate it was.”

He sold it on just 18 months later for £3-4,000 and that highlights another reason plates are popular – as an investment.

PNA say high profile numbers can return annual gains of 10 to 25 per cent.

It currently has F8 on the market for £250,000.

Managing director, Tracy Nisbet, said: “People buy them for fun and for investment – they never go down in value.”

The British record was set in 2008 when Bradford businessman Afzal Khan bought F1 for £440,000.

The world record is believed to be the £7m paid for the registration 1 in the United Arab Emirates in 2008.

The mayoral car of Poole is APR 1, and Bournemouth is EL 1, both based on the old registration codes for the towns.

The Daily Echo spoke to councillors of Bournemouth and Christchurch who have personal number plates, but they preferred not to talk in case they gave the wrong impression, or got the wrong kind of attention.

What if I fancied a plate in my one name for my humble, dented Fiat Punto? Unless the editor accidentally adds a few of zeros to my salary it is slightly out of my price range – the 1 STE plate is available online for £130,000.