HONG KONG (AFP) -- Car crazy Hong Kongers went into top spending gear over the weekend to snap up 11 million Hong Kong dollars (1.4 million U.S.) worth of personalized number plates, reports said Sunday.

In the first auction of its kind in the former British territory, registration plates bearing such legends as HANDSOME, K1NG and the priciest of all "1 LOVE U" went under the hammer in aid of local charities.

Drivers were invited to request their preferred number and bids were then asked for that design.

The highest bid came for the plate with the most sentimental meaning -- 1 LOVE U -- which topped out at 1.4 million dollars, according to the Sunday Morning Post.

Among the most popular number combinations were those with auspicious Chinese connotations.

One that read "CCUE", which sounds like the Cantonese phrase "see see yu yee". or a plate that read "BEATLES" and another that read "GUNDAM", after a Japanese anime character, fetched 110,000 dollars.

The highest price ever paid for a personalized number plate was 13 million dollars paid by tycoon Albert Yeung for a simple "9", which in Cantonese connotes longevity.