1987 was the year that Roland Rat was on our breakfast TV screens, 'Dirty Dancing' was the film of the moment, Rick Astley hit the top spot with 'Never Gonna Give You Up' and Van Gogh's 'Irises' masterpiece sold for a record £27 million.

It was also the year that 'E' prefix vehicle registrations were first issued and the vogue for 80s retro style is set to get another boost on October 6 when DVLA releases for sale over 200,000 unissued 'E' registrations. The 1 to 20 number range of 'E' series registrations, which was withdrawn from their original issue in 1987, will go on sale through the DVLA's Personalised Registrations hotline 0870 6000 142.

The entire range of potential registrations, which feature the E prefix letter, a number from 1 to 20 and any three letter combination except I, Q and Z (subject to availability), can be viewed on their official website: www.dvlaregistrations.co.uk. Prices start at a fully inclusive £599 and registrations can be bought by calling the DVLA telesales hotline from October 6.

"You don't have to be a famous rat to have some fun with a personal registration. Prefix registrations remain one of the most popular choices so we anticipate quite a lot of interest in this latest series release," said Louise Pierpoint, publicity manager for DVLA Personalised Registrations.