Licence Plate Location

[ALC 68A]

In the many pictures I've seen of US Alpines, some have the rear licence plate attached to the boot (trunk) lid like British and European cars and where it was designed to be. Others have it below the bumper, which looks odd to me and I am curious as to know why. Is it to do with state regulations differing from place to place, or the personal preferences of individual owners? Regards. Steve G

 

[sunalp]

Not sure about different state requirements, but I located the plate below the rear bumper on my
old SIV because I had finally gotten the trunk lid to be just about perfect and couldn't bear the
thought of drilling into it to mount the plate. That's my story...and I'm sticking to it!

Cheers!
Steve

 

[PROCRAFT]

Rick is selling a license plate bracket that go's under the trunk lift handle? we punched two holes in our plate the same width and mounted under/with the handle.

 

[sunalp]

That's what I've been using. It fits and looks great!

 

[Warren]

This was the choice of the installing dealer just like the stupid habit they had of putting the year first sold in front of the VIN number. There are vehicle codes as to how high the plate should be off the ground but I don't think I have seen a direct quote of the code number. Here is another conversation on the topic.
http://sunbeamtiger.org/index.php/17-articles/80-tiger-license-plates
I have not had the luxury of choosing as always had the holes drilled in the cars I've had. My op on it is if I didn't have a nice Year of Manufacture black plate and no holes in boot I'd go down low.

 

[65beam]

Here in Ohio the location of the rear plate is not a concern as long as it is can be seen. We have a front plate if the car does not have Historical plates. Ohio has changed and issues only one plate for the rear if the car is issued Historical plates and instead of a one time registration fee good for life they have changed that to 50 years. I have found that I still have three Historical plates active but no longer have the cars since the plates do not transfer to the new owner. On the series 4 & 5 I have a combination plate light/ license plate holder sold by CAT. It bolts on in place of the dual light holder and allows you to turn the rubber light units upside down and it has mounting brackets to hold the plate under the bumper. I have a couple late trunk lids that have what appear to be a pair of Rootes supplied mounting brackets that bolt to the trunk for mounting the plate. I prefer hanging the plate under the bumper instead of drilling more holes in the trunk.

 

[65beam]

This was the choice of the installing dealer just like the stupid habit they had of putting the year first sold in front of the VIN number. There are vehicle codes as to how high the plate should be off the ground but I don't think I have seen a direct quote of the code number. Here is another conversation on the topic.
http://sunbeamtiger.org/index.php/17-articles/80-tiger-license-plates
I have not had the luxury of choosing as always had the holes drilled in the cars I've had. My op on it is if I didn't have a nice Year of Manufacture black plate and no holes in boot I'd go down low.

Warren,
I like the California black plates. While at the United I noticed Dale has them on his Tiger. Here in Ohio you can use any year plate you want if you have historical plates but you have to include the plate number when you first apply. I saw a set of California black plates for sale at the Carlisle Import this year and wondered if I could use them on the next project. Should have bought them. Do many in California use the CAT bracket? I picked up another at the United.

 

[65beam]

A photo of the light / plate mount from CAT shown with an original piece.

 

[ALC 68A]

I have just read the Tiger article on Warren's link. It is incorrect in saying that British cars didn't have rear number plates. It has been a legal requirement since the early 1900s to have plates front and rear, complying with detailed regulations on the size, shape and colour of the plates, the numbers/letters on them and visibility. I don't know if there also rules regarding height above the ground. However, we don't use mounting brackets for the rear plates - as the article says, they are usually fixed flat to the boot lid or rear body panel with self tapping screws or nuts and bolts through holes drilled in the panel. Back in the 1960s they were metal, but they have been made of plastic for years now.

 

[ALC 68A]

The reason for the various types of flexible mounting for the front number plate, is to allow access to the starting handle aperture on Alpines. Were Tigers still provided with a starting handle? If so, surely it would be hard to crank a V8 by hand? Even if not, presumably the aperture and the number plate mounting were carried over from the original Alpine body shell.

 

[ALC 68A]

I forgot to mention in my earlier post, that unlike in the USA, in the UK the original registration stays with the car throughout its life, no matter how many owners it has or where it moves to within the country. The only exceptions are if the car was laid up and missed a cutoff date several years ago to be taxed for use on the road; or if the the owner buys a personal plate from the national agency or one of the private selling companies. There are no historic plates as such, even the personal ones have to be within one of the permitted letter and figure combinations. People will pay thousands of pounds to buy a personal plate with their initials or name as part of the registration. If the original number was lost, the national agency will issue a previously unissued registration number of a style appropriate to the age of the car. This is nontransferable, to stop the recipient selling it on at a profit.

 

[Warren]

Don't slay the messenger The authors are listed on the STOA thread.
I was cross posting a related thread just to inspire a healthy discussion. The bay area chaps we're taking points off for a below bumper plate mount solely on the word of one original buyer who watched the selling dealer employee take a drill to his boot lid, granted the fact that owner was Norm M.

I also disagree with many parts of the original front plate brackets. One of the head judges had commented at Woodley park show out of 25 Alpine and Tiger's I had the only correct front plate bracket. Some hang so low they can ground easily and can screw up the valence. I LOL at some of the reproductions for this exact reason, why use a plate hanger in the front which will destroy the front plate and frame and the valence while entering a dip or a sloped driveway? I have had one original paint Alpine that was low mileage and a good yardstick on what was original but know that different dealers had different methods in different states.
Tigers had no starting handle but the hole is still there as are many mounting surfaces. It is a tough call hang the plate high and block the radiator hang it low and ground it when you are not careful and driving like a teenager

Gone is the practice of California letting cars drop off the DMV system , they realized they were loosing $ but allowing car owners to escape back fees if they failed to non op a car. I won't get into my distaste for the system nor how green the grass is elsewhere, that said if a Cali. car never dropped off system it's history is available with a INF70 form and 5 bucks.

 

[65beam]

Series 5 Alpines sold in this part of the world did not have the hand crank so there was no reason to have the type of front plate holder that folded down. The parts book shows the hand crank up to series 5. The engines used a bolt to hold the harmonic balancer instead of the type required for a hand crank. The front plate holder for cars sold here bolted to the two stamped out bulges with the nut welded to the back. I agree with Warren about the plate hanging low so I drill two other holes in the plate and use spacers to raise the plate. All I can say is take the plates and holder off and the car is "as was delivered to the states when new". That makes them "factory correct". Whenever it comes down to having grade 8 bolts on my springs or the right door gap at the B post narrowed down 1/16inch at the top of the door that tells me that car is in good condition so if they want to deduct for plates and holders, so what! This later plate holder has the brackets to set the plate out and since the state of Ohio now supplies one plate for these cars I have this. Doug was still adjusting things when this photo was taken. It has no rear plate holder.

 

[Warren]

I put PC in as probable cause for a traffic stop or a expensive meter maid ticket. Places that have Lexus lanes or toll roads must have front and rear pictures to issue a ticket. As for the rear I prefer the boot mount that mounts below the handle "no drilling required" if you have a cool plate Hysterical, I mean Historical or
Cali. Y.O.M. I use the plate I saved from my old VW Ghia vert and pay 10 bucks more per year personalized are 40 plus all regular fees.
partial VC exceptions do not apply and have been omitted . The last thing I want is to get pulled over after a suds and cars" the after 5PM version of cars and coffee."
California Code, Vehicle Code - VEH § 5201
a) License plates shall at all times be securely fastened to the vehicle for which they are issued so as to prevent the plates from swinging, shall be mounted in a position so as to be clearly visible, and so that the characters are upright and display from left to right, and shall be maintained in a condition so as to be clearly legible.  The rear license plate shall be mounted not less than 12 inches nor more than 60 inches from the ground, and the front license plate shall be mounted not more than 60 inches from the ground, except as follows:

 

[ALC 68A]

Warren - I had no intention to slay the messenger! I just wanted to set the record straight and am not registered to post on the STOA website. Steve

 

[65beam]

I'm glad I live in Ohio!

 

[alpine_64]

Im actually surprised the guys made the comment about no rear plates as every period UK shot shows rear plates on cars in road test.. Movies etc...

Also rhe alpines from day 1 had rear plate lights aimed right at the spot on the boot lid.....

 

[65beam]

Here in the states there was a federal ruling filed on 12/17/2015 that serves as the current standard for license plate mounting . This ruling states that the upper edge has to be 1.2 m or less from the ground.That's roughly 47.24 inches. FYI, an Alpine is 51 1/2 inches in height. It also states that the plate has to be plus or minus 15 degrees from perpendicular . There's no mention of how low it can be. There's no mention about a front plate since many states don't have a front plate. I had to deal with this over the years as far as where we could install plates on semi trailers and trucks. That ruling gives a lot of latitude for installation of the plate and there seems to be no regulations of where the plate sets as far as left to right. You do have to have a light to allow the plate to be seen after dark. It's the owners decision here in the states where to mount it as long as you comply.

 

[Warren]

That's hilarious Bob the feds also say no smoking dope.
I try to convince all the people move back from California from wherever they came from I'm not having much luck though

ALC , STOA has no forum if you mean CAT please use your same username and I'll fast track the registration.
There's a field to add as a referral you could certainly use my user name.

 

[65beam]

That's hilarious Bob the feds also say no smoking dope.
I try to convince all the people move back from California from wherever they came from I'm not having much luck though

ALC , STOA has no forum if you mean CAT please use your same username and I'll fast track the registration.
There's a field to add as a referral you could certainly use my user name.

That explains a few things but the magic word is xxxxxxxxxx. I just told the facts.