I know the reason the USS Constellation was branded NCC 1017 was because it was a 'quick and easy' way to apply a different registry to the vessel by simply rearranging the numbers. It's always bugged me though, why they couldn't have just branded it "NCC-1710", which would at least have been consistent with the established numbering scheme. Maybe they thought simply switching the two last numbers made it a bit too obvious?
