Let’s See If We Can Think Of What Cars Had Off-Center Rear License Plates

Car designers, generally, have a lot of difficulty dealing with asymmetry. While there are some cars with asymmetric elements, and some even with entire design languages built around asymmetry, it’s not exactly common.

One good example of this is how uncommon a particular automotive detail is: the off-center rear license plate. In fact, I can only think of three examples of cars with off-center rear plates, and that sort of surprises me. And also doesn’t, but I think it’s still worth noting – The Bishop and I were discussing this, and he agrees – this is important. Whatever you think about the gravity of off-center rear license plates, we’re going to talk about this, so if you can’t deal with that, you best clear out now, before shit gets real.

I should qualify this a bit: pre-WWII, there were a lot of cars that had off-center rear license plates, mostly because they often just had one lone taillight, and that taillight incorporated a window for a license plate light, and so the whole taillight/license plate mounting assembly was one unit.

You know what I mean, stuff like this:

That was really common. So, I’m talking about, let’s say, post-WWII cars here. Also, for whatever reason, trucks and SUVs and off-road-type vehicles aren’t bound by the same aesthetic and conceptual rules as most passenger cars, so they can have off-center rear license plates with impunity, sometimes even seemingly willfully, like in the case of some Land Rovers.

I’m just talking about passenger cars, road cars, ones designed for driving on pavement or perhaps the occasional carpet. In this category of car, I think there are only three with off-center rear license plates:

It’s an odd triumvirate here, these three: we have Chrysler’s mid-century flagship, a limited-production supercar, and a Buick with a dramatic, nautical butt. All were sort of daring in their own ways, and of these three, only the Buick had a design that really demanded an off-center plate; the Vector probably could have easily had a center plate, and even the Imperial, with a tiny bit of bumper re-design, likely could have, too.

But they didn’t, and for that I’m thankful! It’s a bold choice, a subtle choice, perhaps, but. the more you think about it, the more gravity it seems to command. Cars generally just don’t do this, so if this choice is made, you can bet it was made for a reason. I’m not entirely clear what that reason is, but still.

I also sort of suspect there are other cars that may be in this rarified club, but at the moment, I can’t think of any. But if you can, tell me in the comments! Please!

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