Cold take

"bhtooefr" (bhtooefr) 09/29/2018 at 05:08 • Filed to: license plates, design

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Automotive designers that don’t design their cars to look good with front plates - something mandated in most of the world, with the exception of less than half of the US - are bad at their job.

I’ll give a partial pass to European designers that designed the car for standard European license plates, but it looks bucktoothed with a US one - I’m thinking of the mid 2000s Audi waterfall grille here, which had a crossbar perfectly sized for European license plates. But, it’s still not good , just understandable .

But if you didn’t consider front plates at all? GTFAC.

(And yes, I stole that image from another Oppo post. I wanted something that looked absolutely awful with a front plate, and the first result was the post that came from.)

Berang > bhtooefr 09/29/2018 at 05:13

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Maybe front plates just need to be designed to look better.

Echo51 > bhtooefr 09/29/2018 at 05:39

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So pretty much every alfa with the offset front plate?

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > Echo51 09/29/2018 at 06:48

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I love the offset plates on Alfas. And on the Discovery , too.

I think they look great.

E90M3 > bhtooefr 09/29/2018 at 06:52

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That’s why I never ran a front plate on the M3.

I did stick it in the window for a time. 

Echo51 > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' 09/29/2018 at 06:57

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In the discovery’s case, or other cars like that where a spare might be carried on the back, fair enough. The alfa’s case just pisses me off, mostly because the plastic moulding under the license plate looks so ugly it’s scary :P

Svend > E90M3 09/29/2018 at 07:16

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But BMW designed different attachments for holding different sized licence plates for the front.

E90M3 > Svend 09/29/2018 at 07:18

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Still looks better sans front plate. 

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > bhtooefr 09/29/2018 at 08:39

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Look s like a fish about to eat a snack.

I for one am a fan of the offset plate. Gives an asymmetric look.

Actually most of those look terrible. 

404 - User No Longer Available > bhtooefr 09/29/2018 at 08:56

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Most o f us don’t actually mount it that way. Usually lower, flipped or just use a hide-a-plate.

Oh and

bhtooefr > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul 09/29/2018 at 09:46

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I was gonna say, I’ve actually run  offset plate, and don’t like any of those (the Audi’s tolerable at least?)

bhtooefr > 404 - User No Longer Available 09/29/2018 at 09:48

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Putting it lower still breaks up the split grille, which is a major design element of the car, and a hide-a-plate is a bad option.

If it didn’t have the big fog lights, an offset plate might work, but...

And that E-Type really does show a good answer... for the UK. Doesn’t work in countries where you can’t paint your registration on the front of the car.

bhtooefr > E90M3 09/29/2018 at 09:50

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Yeah, they didn’t consider the American plate’s dimensions when designing the nose.

(AFAIK some manufacturers have actually restyled the nose to accommodate American plates, but...)

HammerheadFistpunch > bhtooefr 09/29/2018 at 12:08

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Medium take - front plates are stupid and have no point.  if half the country doesn’t need them...why does the other half?  Its required in my county but not in my state, and since the plates don’t include county identifiers I typically haven’t run them.  Though with the Cruiser and GX you can’t make the fronts look worse with the plates so I do. That being said, If I do a deep water crossing with either it bends the hell out of the plates.  

bhtooefr > HammerheadFistpunch 09/29/2018 at 12:25

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Why do the 19 states that don’t require them not require them, when the rest of the world requires them?

gmctavish needs more space > Berang 09/29/2018 at 12:29

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My friend does what you’re really not supposed to, and has it folded so it’s just the digits visible, and then it fits nicely on his front bumper. Hasn’t caught shit for it yet....

It would be nice if front plates were like that, just the digits

HammerheadFistpunch > bhtooefr 09/29/2018 at 12:45

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because they are stupid and pointless and 19 states figured that out a long time ago.  Still waiting on the rest of the world to catch up.

bhtooefr > HammerheadFistpunch 09/29/2018 at 14:32

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They roughly double the chance that you’re able to uniquely identify a car, which is useful in certain situations.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > HammerheadFistpunch 10/03/2018 at 10:19

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I can tell you one good thing about them. They are visible f rom the front of the car. lol

Working at a gas station we do have people drive off a few time a week. Usually it’s just some one not paying attention, or poor communication not intentional theft. Anyway usually we have to rely on a plate number to get an ID, so that we can have the police contact the customer. We’d lose a lot more of those drive offs without front plates. 

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Svend 10/03/2018 at 10:21

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and sadl y my BMW already had one installed. if it dint have a bracket installed I wouldn’t run a front plate. However now it’s either show the two gaping holes drilled into the bumper or a front plate.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul 10/03/2018 at 10:23

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the one on the IS looks stupid.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > gmctavish needs more space 10/03/2018 at 10:25

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I’ve done that two. i bent the plate for both my 91 Civic and 97 Accord so that it fit inset in the lower grille instead of out in front of it.

Svend > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 10/03/2018 at 12:05

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A guy I know had a completely unmolested E46 M3.

He had a private/personalised plate on that only had five letters and numbers, rather than seven. He ordered a Japanese licence plate bracket which is narrower than the Euro ones. The previous owner insisted the bracket was only clipped on and glued in place. Only after finishing the car did we find the guy had put two holes in and they were sufficiently apart from each other that the Japanese bracket wouldn’t cover both holes. Doh.

Tristan > HammerheadFistpunch 10/03/2018 at 14:40

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When I lived in Minnesota I had a mint ‘83 Crown Vic coupe that was my nice weather cruiser. It had no front plate because ugly, even though MN requires it. When I finally moved out of MN on my way to Florida (which, as you know has no front plate requirement) , I got pulled over about and hour north of the Iowa border. The car was packed with stuff and I told him I was moving to another state, so he just issued me a warning. Prior to that, no one ever bothered me about it.

HammerheadFistpunch > Tristan 10/03/2018 at 14:58

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I got a ticket for not having it once. It was parked and it was, frankly, a di ck move.