number plates

[DavidL]

Just been to see my car half way through its mini face lift - looking very good.
But my number plates are really letting it down. I'm a bit sad and slightly reluctant to replace them as they are from when the car was px at Synters in Nottingham at 9 months old. It still has the Alpina sticker in the rear window.
But they are tatty. So options?
New plate from Porsche Swindon - new lettering and spacing.
or
"Display" plate from ebay or similar.
Anyone done it recently?

 

[C50]

My plate was so tatty, i wanted a new one. I bought a completely plain one with a light grey border from eBay (no logos, etc) What a difference a new plate can make []

 

[T Pot]

Not sure if its allowed, so sorry and delete if not, but your welcome to drop me a line via pm and ill make you a set per your requirements

 

[sawood12]

I like the german style font plates. Also I got my front plate the right width so as not to obstruct flow into the slots that are above and below where the number plate mounts - assuming you've an S2/turbo.

 

[djone101]

ORIGINAL: red gm try [link=http://www.dealerplates.co.uk/]http://www.dealerplates.co.uk/[/link] who can recreate your original plates.

That's cool - thanks for the link. I'm planning to return my car WIB 6814 to it's original number G433 HEX if DVLA can do it and it'd be good to get the right plates to go with the original dealer sticker on the rear glass.

 

[944 man]

I like a properly sized rear - it should completely cover the between-the-lamps area.

 

[djone101]

ORIGINAL: 944 man I like a properly sized rear.....

Serious risk of thread drift here........

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Serious risk of thread drift here........

ORIGINAL: djone101

ORIGINAL: 944 man I like a properly sized rear.....

Serious risk of thread drift here........

[][][] Back on topic, just remember that plates have to carry the BS stamp on them now. Fair enough if you remember to swap them for the MOT, but it's the sort of stupid thing that'll be picked up by a PC in a bad mood to spite you.

 

[DavidL]

Paul, When you say they must have a BS stamp (British standard presumably?) the old ones probably don't so is it just that they would look new so therefore must be new or is it just the new style of plate that needs it? You could argue that a plate was made when the car was new and supplied with the car as a spare set - old new stock? They couldn't prove otherwise. My rangie came with 2 spare sets of plates that don't look that new.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Paul, When you say they must have a BS stamp (British standard presumably?) the old ones probably don't so is it just that they would look new so therefore must be new or is it just the new style of plate that needs it?

I've no idea. As I understand it, it's illegal to have number plates that don't have the BS stamp on them. I'd guess that there'd be no argument if they were obviously original plates and you'd not drawn attention to yourself. Having a set of plates with background printing, odd fonts, non-standard spacing, company logos etc. will lead to problems.

 

[C50]

yup, it's illegal to not have the BS stamp on it. It also needs the company name and info what a stupid law. My plates are legal font, perfectly working, reflective just i like the clean look without the silly info cluttering the bottom

 

[pauljmcnulty]

what a stupid law. My plates are legal font, perfectly working, reflective just i like the clean look without the silly info cluttering the bottom

I'm actually with this one. I've seen so many plates with spacing and black fastenings or tape, or unreadable fonts and heavy background printing, that are just plain impossible to decipher at a quick glance. There's no reason for it other than to trying to deceive people, whether to cover up identity or to look an idiot I don't know. My mind was made up recently, when following a car with the number plate "CHLOE". It genuinely took us some time, and close-up driving, to decipher it. Once the black tape was ignored it was C11 LCF I think. Not ideal if you needed a quick ID, which is the point of car registration numbers.

 

[944Turbo]

ORIGINAL: pauljmcnulty My mind was made up recently, when following a car with the number plate "CHLOE". It genuinely took us some time, and close-up driving, to decipher it. Once the black tape was ignored it was C11 LCF I think. Not ideal if you needed a quick ID, which is the point of car registration numbers.

though arguably more memorable in the event of say a hit and run, would just need all the combos checking C11LOE C4LOE C11LOF C4LOF, etc. On the audi I have black backgrounds to the euro stars, thought the blue ones were too blue on a black car - no comments so far (despite being stopped by the police on another matter) but I have an MOT today. Tony

 

[david924s]

I had a m"show" plate made up for my motorcycle as small as legally allowed and when this arrived it had the BS details included, I had it made with no border or dealer information which allowed me to have it made smaller but still legal, cost me £5 and came the next day bike has been MOT'd twice now with no mention of the number plate. But it does have to carry the BS information see below: Number plates must now use one specific, mandatory typeface - a very simple sans serif typeface intended to make the numbers easy to read by both humans and automatic recognition systems, which are increasingly being used by the police and other agencies. All hard-to-read variants, such as multiple stroke and italic fonts, are now prohibited. The one decorative variation still permitted is a 3D effect version of the mandatory typeface. The size and spacing of number plate characters is specified in the regulations, as follows: Each character must be 79mm high and 50mm wide (except the number 1 or the letter I). The width of each character stroke must be 14mm. There must be a space of 11mm between characters within the same group, and character groups must be 33mm apart. For the purposes of measurement, each character (again, excepting the number 1 or the letter I), regardless of its shape, is treated as a rectangular block of dimensions 79mm x 50mm Optionally, number plates may display one of the following national emblems: British Union Flag with “GB”, English Flag (St George Cross) with “ENG”, Scottish Flag (St Andrew Cross) with “SCO”, Welsh Flag (green dragon on green/white field) with “Wales” and “Cymru” or Euro Flag (circle of stars) with “GB”. If the Euro/GB configuration is displayed, then the bearer vehicle need not display a separate “GB” emblem when driving within the EU. The colours and reflectivity of number plates are also specified in the regulations, and there is a British Standard (BS AU 145d) which describes the physical characteristics of number plates, including: visibility, strength and reflectivity. Front plates must have black characters on a white background, while rear plates must have black characters on a yellow background. The British Standard also requires that a number plate must be marked with the following information: the British Standard Number, the name, trade mark, or other means of identification of the manufacturer or component supplier, the name and postcode of the supplying outlet. A non-reflective border is optional. There may be no other markings or material contained on the number plate.

 

[944Turbo]

Yes, but if they look legal, with correct font spacing etc. it is unlikely anyone will check for the BS data, strictly I dont think you can get a legal plate without several forms of ID for you and the vehicle , ironically, even if its parked outside.

 

[zcacogp]

Is it that numberplates on cars need to comply with those rules, or that any new numberplates made have to comply with those rules? I think it's the latter. (Not so long ago it was enormously easy to get any numberplate made up, looking like anything. Just walk into Halfords and pay £10 or whatever ... then someone realised that there were a lot of cars with illegal numberplates on them, and someone else suggested that instead of catching the people with "C11LCF" made to look like Chloe it was easier just to make the supply of numberplates that didn't fit a very precise description illegal. How very typically New Labour.) Oli.

 

[bennyboy]

Agreed the rear plate, in terms of size anyway, looks 'right' and doesn't need fiddling with. However, I've always been tempted with doing something with my front plate - in terms of size and location - as the American 951's on rennlist always look so much cleaner without it. My front plate is stuck on though, so wont be moving unless I ever get round to a respray. My vote would be for a personalised plate with as few characters as I could afford, positioned towards one side of the car. I would also have them in the german style, and carry some proper UK ones in the glovebox in case the rozzer's take an interest (sorry officer, forgot to put them back on after a photo shoot

) See attached as an example

Ps David - does your facelift include the splitter?

 

[944Turbo]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp Is it that numberplates on cars need to comply with those rules, or that any new numberplates made have to comply with those rules? I think it's the latter. (Not so long ago it was enormously easy to get any numberplate made up, looking like anything. Just walk into Halfords and pay £10 or whatever ... then someone realised that there were a lot of cars with illegal numberplates on them, and someone else suggested that instead of catching the people with "C11LCF" made to look like Chloe it was easier just to make the supply of numberplates that didn't fit a very precise description illegal. How very typically New Labour.) Oli.

also there was a lot of cloning going on that the new rules were supposed to make more difficult, instead the new crime of numberplate theft was born.

 

[DavidL]

All the above info for new plates ordered with a V5 etc is undoubtedly correct and should I go to Swindon OEM that is how they would come. However should I order a set of plates which are identical to my current ones from the link in the second post is it likely I will get picked up just because they look new? On a new car, lets 5 years old, they would be entirely incorrect plates so there is no argument but on a 20 yr old car the original plates are not "legal" but remain so under grandfather rights. Who is to say when the new plates were actually made.

 

[944Turbo]

Mine passed the MOT today without comment (55 plate Audi). Black background to euro stars / black border standard font and spacing no visible BS marks - though these are often almost invisible anyway engraved into the clear plate - stick with standard font and spacing and you should be fine. My old 44 had a porsche badge on the side where the euro bits go that always passed as well Tony