You know what I’ve been seeing on (almost exclusively British, and mostly Jaguar E-Types) cars for decades and just sort of quietly accepting without much scrutiny? Number plates that are like huge stickers across the hood. I’m sure you’ve seen the kind I’m talking about; if not, you can look a few inches above and get the idea. Recently, though, I started to think about these giant sticker-plates: they’re ridiculous, right? It’s a huge, foot-long sticker of letters and numbers right across the nose of your car. Who wants that? Why is this better than a regular number plate? Let’s just take a moment to think about these.
What’s also strange is that from what I can tell, the legality of these plates isn’t exactly clear. The British Number Plates Manufacturers Association, an organization that sure seems like they’d understand the legality of number plates, offers this not-exactly helpful explanation:
While the standard for number plates (BS AU 145e) is what is known as “non-prescriptive” (meaning it doesn’t specify the format of the plates exactly), it is generally thought that stick-on plates would fail one or more of the tests required under BS AU 145e so generally they would be illegal. If you are unsure, ask your supplier for a copy of their conformity certificate.
So much hedging there! They use the word “generally” twice, once with “thought” when talking about some of the tests number plates are required to pass. So, they seem to be saying that such adhesive plates are probably not legal, but they’re not coming out and really saying that, and there are companies that definitely sell stick-on number plates, seemingly fully confident of their legality. And, of course, there are all those cars out there with the adhesive vinyl plates already on their hoods, and they seem to be existing just fine.
So, why do these exist? Are these really better than just mounting a conventional rigid plate somewhere on the front of a car? Maybe on cars like this E-Type, there could be issues with a plate restricting airflow, but there have been plenty of E-Types that have successfully mounted a rigid front plate, even a big, wide European-type plate:
They definitely could use a normal plate, but so many E-Types go for the adhesive one. And you see it on other cars, like Lotus 7s:
…and Minis:
There were others, of course, but these are some of the most common ones. For the Mini, I don’t think most Minis used the adhesive plates but, significantly, the ones that raced and rallied, or at least wanted to look like the ones that raced and rallied, did. And that seems to be at the root of the appeal of these strange massive stickers.
I asked our captive Brit and actual, real car designer, Adrian Clarke, what he thought of these strange plates, and he gave me some good context:
“I think like everything what’s appropriate for the car.”
And, really, he’s right. That’s what matters here. We can talk about aerodynamic reasons or air intake restriction reasons or whatever, but what really matters is the image and tone that the owner of the car wants to convey. And while in most contexts a big-ass clunky sticker with a bunch of alphabet soup spilled on it would look clumsy and ugly, in the context of a racing car all of a sudden it feels purposeful and sporty and evocative.
It feels like racing numbers and rally entrant stickers and all those other sorts of utilitarian decals that get slapped onto sporting cars, and I think that’s what the appeal is.
But at the same time, I still think these look kind of ridiculous on an E-Type? And then, a moment later, I don’t?
What’s happening to me?
Adrian also suggested I watch the opening credits of The Prisoner because he thought the Lotus 7 in there had a similar adhesive plate. I watched it (you can too, here):
But! The Seven doesn’t have that kind of plate! It has something way weirder! Look!
It’s not a number plate at all! It’s just letters and numbers, right on the grille! I can see why they did it, because a full plate would have effectively blocked all of the little Seven’s air intake. But is that legal? This was like 50 years ago, so maybe it was legal then, but I’m skeptical it’s legal now.
So, maybe I’m okay with these plates after all? What do we think? I think we should discuss this here in the comments, at length, with real gravity. Seems important.
Let’s See If We Can Think Of What Cars Had Off-Center Rear License Plates
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Three Times GM Did Good Things With License Plates
Related, anyone see people in the US getting away with the “totally not for real use” licenses plate that are in the European form factor? There a Q7 around that has one, I’m assuming they just haven’t been caught?
https://www.customeuropeanplates.com/usa-euro-style-license-plates.html
I don’t see how anyone could look at the beautiful grill on the E-Type and wonder why someone would rather have a sticker on the hood.
Some countries in the EU have a shrunken front number plate available, which makes sense.
The story goes that it was the result of lobbying from Alfa Romeo when they launched the 156. A center mounted license plate would have obsturcted either the V-shaped Alfa grille or the funcional intake below, so they pressed for the EU to make it legal to mount the plate to one side, and got the small plate approved because a standard European one would be too wide. I haven’t been able to verify the story, though.
Interesting note, future Alfas will now have the front plate mount moved back to center, specifically to comply with EU safety requirements.
https://www.clubalfa.it/en/new-alfa-romeo-stelvio-and-giulia-will-lose-a-characteristic-element-with-the-new-generations-4986
I run sans front plate on the Stelvio Quad here in NYS. There just is no good location, and honestly, I just can’t be bothered to adhere to the use of a front plate. If I was a conformist, I would own a Honda or Subaru or something. Most days it doesn’t even matter, as both Alfas sit in the driveway, completely inoperable 😉
Doesn’t check out because of many italian Alfas with the normal size plate
At some point we need a piece on Fälschungserschwerende Schrift, the ‘anti-forgery’ font used for older German license plates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FE-Schrift?wprov=sfti1#
You may confuse the „DIN“ font that older license plates in Germany used (pre-2000s) with the „FE-Schrift“ that still is the standard font for German license plates.
I stand corrected. Yes, interesting that a typeface was developed specifically to deter modifying your plate numbers. I wonder if any other countries do this? Certainly not the US.
In the Wikipedia link you provided there is a list of countries that have adapted the font.
Why bother with front plates at all? I live in Indiana and we get by just fine here with only a single plate – on the back of the vehicle.
Same in AZ, same when I lived in MA, mot in MN or TX it’s chaos, if only there was some kind of national roadway safety administration that could harmonize this
It’s state-level thinking. We have no federal standard other than plate size. Even within a state it’s inconsistent. WA requires a front plate unless your car is on a very short list of exceptions (Ariel Atom, for example), or qualifies as an antique vehicle (30+ yo).
And then to keep it interesting, if you do have an antique car, you can buy your own used plate, as long as it’s the correct design that was issued when your car was new. And it’s exempt from annual tags. And you can put anything (or nothing) on the front, like a random UK decal plate.
So I legally drove my FJ62 with a 30-year expired sticker on an eBay-purchased WA rear license plate that was re-registered to me, all for a one and done payment.
UK plates are black-on-white in the front, and black-on-yellow in the rear, so you can tell which way a vehicle is supposed to move just at a glance. Why that’s so important I don’t know, but it’s been the law since 1979.
Just a few days ago there was an article about a hit-and-run between a Tesla and a Jeep (both were arguably guilty of hit-and-run, weirdly enough) where if the Jeep had had a front plate it would have been identifiable on dash cam. As is, last I knew they couldn’t identify it.
In the case of the e-type it’s about originality. Jaguar snobs are very particular about their cars being absolutely pristine and in factory spec. Drilling holes to fix some ugly number plate mount is sacrilege in Jaguar circles.
OK, I get that, but is that any more sacrilegious than slapping a huge ugly decal on the front of their precious ‘bonnet’?
If it’s removable without damaging the paint underneath, there’s no sacrilege