front licence plate attachment

When I license my car, I will have to attach a front licence plate to my speedster, and I'm not really looking forward to that.

Has anyone come up with a good method of attaching the plate to below the front bumper, so it doesn't seem so prominent/ugly?

Thanks.

Edit: I just found this. Neat, but beyond me to do. I need something simpler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HqR1S2qKa4

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It may be beyond you, but someone is actually selling these things somewhere. A month or two back someone had the link posted. It's just money. I mean madness.

Do a Google for retractable license plates...several available for the $150 price point. Plus plenty of You tube videos on the subject.

Thanks, Rich

I had no idea these things were actually for sale.

It seems that Swift Motor Sports sells a retractable device.

http://swiftmotorsports.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=362&products_id=1837

Neat idea, and probably fairly easy to install, assuming our cars have the correct bumper placement to allow the plate to retract.

Yup, they all appear to be alike. Someone must be selling the franchise.

Neat idea...but I'll wait for Mango to come up with an elegant solution!

i don't know about elegant, but here is my solution:

cheapo vw plate mount.

bend tabs 90 degrees

then drill two small holes under the bumper. no unsightly holes should you want to remove it for shows, etc.







or let the air out and use it as a snow plow.

No fair, Mango, you even have cool plates!

I have two properly spaced nutserts installed in the body. Nutserts and gun less than a twenty from harbor freight. The bolts stay permanently attached to the plate, along with nylon spacers to keep the plate off the paint. These spacers are held on the bolts with thin sliver of rubber hose, nothing to loose! Honest officer, I forgot to put the plate back on after my last car show.....

Bob,

How badly do you want to mount the plate? Is there a fie and how much is it? I never put the plate on my Speedster and then a couple of years ago a friendly policeman stopped me and asked where the plate was. I told him it was home on the workbench. He told me Maryland law required it mounted and gave me a ticket for $50. He then said there are classic car owners who do not mount the plate but have it in the car and the police will give you a bye it you at least have it in the car with you. I was so pissed about the $50 ticket I drove home, drilled 2 holes into the front pan and mounted the plate.

A couple of years ago I had a change of heart and removed the plate. It now resides in a manila envelope under the passenger-side floor mat.

Bob,

How badly do you want to mount the plate? Is there a fie and how much is it? I never put the plate on my Speedster and then a couple of years ago a friendly policeman stopped me and asked where the plate was. I told him it was home on the workbench. He told me Maryland law required it mounted and gave me a ticket for $50. He then said there are classic car owners who do not mount the plate but have it in the car and the police will give you a bye it you at least have it in the car with you. I was so pissed about the $50 ticket I drove home, drilled 2 holes into the front pan and mounted the plate.

A couple of years ago I had a change of heart and removed the plate. It now resides in a manila envelope under the passenger-side floor mat.

Hi I used a early VW Bug license Plate bracket to mount my front license plate. The bracket looks just like Mangos. In Hawaii it is the law and the fine is $52.00 I caught a ticket before and I thought I just have to install my front license plate.

aloha, Kawika

Robert, I took an old plate and folded it in half length wise and drilled two small holes in the bottom side of the bumper. Bolted the front plate to the bracket and the whole thing to the bumper. I put it on for the annual inspection and the rest of the time it lives in the trunk with the spare. I've never had a problem and if I do I'll apologize profusely and attach the plate right there with the tools I carry, claiming that I took it off for a car show. If you're old enough you can curse your failing memory. I've gotten the once over by a few cops and all they want to know is stuff about the car. Some cops are human and like cars.

Yes, it's the law here in Ontario, but I'm not sure what the fine is these days.

I was stopped once in my newly restored TR6 by a snitty cop who actually did a u-turn on a four lane highway to chase me down. Got a ticket for no front plate.

The second time I got a warning (from another cop).

After that, I installed the plate.

In my Miata, I had the plate right in the front intake, but on a swing device. At speed, the plate swung up to allow air in, but at rest it came back down and was visible. I did get the evil eye once by a radar cop, but never a ticket.

For the Speedster, I think I'll try one of those hideway devices. I just hate the thought of installing a licence frame and plate on the front bumper. To me, that ruins the look at the front.

Beautiful cars, Mango and David!

Here in Connecticut there WAS a period of several years when for budget reasons DMV issued but one plate to be mounted on the back only...Cleaned up the appearance of a lot of rides.

I wish the State went back to that cost cutting idea!!

Giday, Robert. I attached my front plate via two, 1" x 6" flat pieces of aluminum stock...maybe 1/16" thick or a bit more. Bent one inch of each piece 90 deg and bolted it to the inside of the bottom of the bumper. They come up just high enough to mount the plate through a drilled hole near the top of each. The bottom of the plate sits down just a bit behind the top of the bumper. Not ideal placement but we gotta do it up here.

Anybody have a solution to attach the plate to a nerf bar?

SEMA has been successful getting several collector car laws changed. It's my understanding the front license plate law is one they've been successful with in some states and I heard recently that might be an upcoming proposal in Maryland.

Bob - Before you buy something you might want to check with Henry. Don't some of the Intermeccanicas have some sort of an opening and cooling unit under the front bumper or is that only on the water-cooled engines?

Robert, a couple of years ago I was thinking along the same lines as you. In the end, I bit the bullet and put the plate on.

This year I bought a Fiat 500 (Abarth on order). Here's fiat hi-po website that sells accessories. This URL is for a retractable plate holder. They also have this plate holder in a powered version.:

http://500madness.com/500madness/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=39_59&product_id=715

Greg

Ron I love your car ! did Henry sell you the windshield parts to convert it from a Speedster to a Roadster ? and if so how much ?

Rick, it was always a roadster.
Ron

You can barely see the H-shaped plate holder behind my front plate. It's from my old 928 (I think -- I might have ordered this one) and sits really close to the car's nose. There were only two holes drilled through the body to attach it, and they're front and center.

I have so much fiberglass work to do on this crate anyway, I figured a couple more holes wouldn't matter.

I used to have this -- or a very similar plate holder -- on the front of the car when it was red (second picture), and the holes were centered through the rubber and aluminum trim pieces. It's not terrible.