Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Rick]

Morning all,

Has anyone else noticed how many old cars now have newly-made pressed no. plates, that just don't look right at all. The profile of the letters isn't correct, almost too rounded, compared to how the originals in the 1960s and earlier were. I mentioned this to Richard H the other week when he called by, and he'd noticed the same thing.

Are they all coming from one supplier, or are all new pressed plates looking like this now?

This, for example, looks correct to me



as does this



I'll have to see whether I can find a few head-on shots to better illustrate what I mean.

I'm not sure that this is quite right, for instance:



and



Am I too pedantic?

RJ
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[mikeC]

[colwyn500]

I'm pedantic too! I dislike cars having black and silver plates when registered in the late 60s and early 70s. Just because they were legal it didn't mean that it was all that common to fit them once reflective plates became available.
I am proud that my Fiat has its original 1969 plates.
COR_1017 by Peter Thompson, on Flickr
Among these smaller Fiats on another Forum there has been a recent tendency to fit tiny plates that have a ressemblance to original Italian plates...I hate that too.

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

I agree too. Maybe there is a business opportunity here for producing "aged" plates. My front plate recently cracked along the "1" in the number and I decided that an extra screw in the plate wad preferable to new ones.

[mikeC]

[Rick]

That looks spot-on to me Mike.

I like painted plates, but typically on pre-war cars only - and no serif.

RJ
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[minormatt]

[mikeC]

I have nothing against painted plates - I have them on my 1914 Saxon - and the James & Brown's plates are exactly correct. There was no font or typeface specified, but right from 1904 when plates were first required, colour, spacing and dimensions were very precisely specified.
This is the sort of thing which irritates me:

[Ray White]

It should also have a tax disc (nil) and wings to begin with if it is to be road legal.

[Ellis]

This subject is one "bee in the bonnet" I have had for years.

Pressed numberplates were commonly used on commercial vehicles in the 1950s and 1960s but were rarely used on passenger cars. Of all the cars my family have owned , only one had a pressed 'plate and that was a 1966 Mini Estate, EFF 392D. A "metal" sides one and not a "woody".

Everything else had raised peak letters and numbers, for example :

[img]

Our 1962 Vauxhall Victor and Vauxhall Velox :

[/img]

Because both vehicles were from 1962 both had 3 1/2" letters and numbers, later cars had 3 1/8" (or was it 3 1/4") hence the 1963 Austin A60 in the next photo :

[img]

I understand why modern classic car owners buy pressed aluminium number plates and this is because they are considerably cheaper then raised digit ones.

These are the original 'plates on my late 1967 Ford Escort van :

[img]

There was one British Leyland Dealer, Minffordd Motors, near Caernarfon which continued with black and silver 'plates until the reflective ones became compulsory in 1973.[/img]
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1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[MikeEdwards]

[peter scott]

I don't know who the lady and her chauffeur are but the gent leaning on his car is the designer of the Jaguar mascot F. Gordon Crosby.

Peter


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1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Phil - Nottingham]

It is nice to see the correct period plates but if period but brand new ones even if period are fitted they can still look out of place. Our 1972 Series 3 Land Rover still has its reflectives with attached numbers but they are really tatty and the back yellow plate has almost lost its coating. As does our 1973 P5B

I agree about pressed plates being the cheap option but our 1938 Rover 16 has 3 1/2" pressed plates which must be original but are a lot thicker than modern pressed plates. The 14 on the left sports its cast alloys

I will post a picture soon






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[minormatt]

This will annoy some of you... another one I played with


And this one which may annoy less?

[mikeC]