Art & Inspiration What to do with the license plate? A discussion.

The basic design decisions on my ’40 were made several years ago, but as the build evolves, there are details to be worked out. The shaved deck and Stude taillights were proven solutions that I like a lot, but I hadn’t given any serious thought to the bumper.

I was offered a ’40 Merc rear bumper. They have a little more interesting shape than the Ford counterpart, so I bought it. What to do with the license plate? Well, the ’49 Chev license guard is the classic solution. A lot of the car is inspired by the Jilek/Valley ’40, so I might as well go for the whole hog.

I don’t much like having the plate just stuck onto the rear bumper, though, so maybe there’s a way to better integrate it. Thinking that through led me to a whole reflection on the subject of mounting license plates (since I was only working on the issue of the rear plate, that’s all I’m gonna talk about).

The thing is, every license plate is a boring rectangle of a standard size. We put it on the car because the law requires it, but most people don’t give much thought to integrating it into the other shapes at the back of the car.

I know, people use vanity plates or YOM plates and repaint them or frame them, but I’m not talking about tricking out the plate itself. I’m talking about making that boring rectangle part of the design.

FACTORY SOLUTIONS
In the wayback, the rear plate perched on top of a taillight that was mounted on a stalk. Later they got moved to the middle of the trunk lid or below the lid, but they always stuck out like a name tag at a party.









Circa 1950, bumpers were made more massive, and sometimes provided a space for a license plate. Some of these bumper designs were quite attractive, and were adopted by customizers.







A few manufacturers mounted the plate to the surface of the bumper and provided some sort of frame or guard to visually tie it to the bumper. As the shaved deck was a staple of early customizing, these guards provided a way to move the plate down to the bumper and integrate it rather than just having it stuck on. The front guard from the ’49 Chevrolet was enthusiastically adopted by customizers (Valley Custom must have bought them by the carload), followed distantly by Kaiser, Studebaker, and Pontiac.













Corvettes have treated the license plate a little differently. They have always had fairly delicate bumpers, so the plates have been sunken into the decklid or rear panel.







More to follow.

 

EARLY CUSTOMS
Early customizers clearly gave the license plate some thought, no doubt because the early factory mounts were eyesores. A popular treatment was to French the plate into the deck lid or tail panel, and cover it with glass. This had the benefit that you could vary the shape and size of the plate by making the hole in the deck a little smaller than the plate, maybe with more rounded corners.











TRULY CUSTOM BUMPERS
Once in a great while, somebody fabricates a custom bumper with some recess or frame that displays the plate with a little showmanship. These are generally made from pieces of factory bumpers, artfully grafted together. This is pretty rare, though, and the number of these that I've seen is fewer than 1% of the custom universe.



















My '40

The punch line to this story is less dramatic than some of the elaborate work shown above. As I said, I had a '40 Merc bumper, and I like the Chev license frame a lot, but wanted to sink the plate into the bumper rather than having it sticking out. Don Dillard has done a lot of slicing and dicing to shorten both the guard and the bumper, and recontoured the ends of the bumper to more closely follow the shape of the body. It's not metal finished, plated, or solidly mounted yet, but here's where it is today.

 

In addition to all the stuff above, it's sometimes nice to have a minimal chrome frame around the plate itself. While these are often used to provide a space for advertising, bragging, or humor, I prefer just a chrome border to the plate. It's surprising to me how few there are available that are simple, use hidden fasteners, and are well made. This is about as close as I've found so far:



And it's made in China. Seems like there's an opportunity for a better domestic product there.

 

That is going to look great setup like that. I've got to agree with 50Fraud about less being more when it comes to license plate frames on a custom.
I've been saving a set of those 48 Chevrolet frames that were the hot lick when we all had our year and make on the plate frames a few years ago but they may be way too busy for what I have planned for the truck now.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that here in Az, a licence plate has to be 12" off the ground.

And its worth a $142 ticket if its lower.

( ask me how I know... )

 

New York State does not allow any kind of cover over the plate.-MIKE

 

I'm not aware of a minimum height requirement in CA, but there may be one. I believe we're required to run plates front and rear, with current tags on the rear, no covering, and illumination on the rear plate. It is not permitted to repaint the plate.

I think that each of those regulations is enforced only occasionally, so guys violate one or more of those provisions at their own risk.

 

I think you guys have it nearly sorted with it in the bumper - in the deck wouldn't work well with the tail lamps, to my eye. Beautiful car.

 

Exactly, Fraud.
Calif vehicle code used to require plates to be 18" from the ground! (1960ish) I got popped for that around '59, but think they changed that with some imports that were 'lower'.

One thing they got us for was headlight height: CA veh code stated 'Headlamps will be between 24" and 54" from ground level."
Pat Ganahl got stabbed for headlamps too low on his raked VW. He mounted a pair of Unity headlamps on some bracketry above the fender height...Ugly as hell, but Pat drove it in protest!
R&C, about 1979...

 

Am I really the only guy who thinks about this stuff? I was using my car as an example, but I'm interested in what other people have done to deal with this eyesore.

 

Eyesore or not, we all have to run them. Because of that I never give them much thought as a plate itself. Factory location always worked for me. If your car is customized then a bumper configuration would work. I'm not much into sunken plates in vintage sheet metal. Restored YOM plates, street rod plates, and personalized plates all help to take the attention away from the plate itself. I have run a plate with 1940 as the number since 1968. With that it seems to take the eyes away from it just being a plate and something different. Just my 2 cents.

 

I have no suggestion real or imagined. What you did on your bumper is very cool. The problem is further complicated when you have to run a front plate. Around here tag lights are a HUGE concern for some leo's so we make sure and put plenty of light on the plate! peace

 

48 Ford, this works for me,License plates are a necessary evil

 

OK heres my Idea. Run bumerettes like a corvette. tunnel the plate into the body under the deck lid. Use one of the cheap cool thin outer covers like you show above to cover the edges of the plate.
Very much like the yellow 48

 

I often think about the small details like these but I haven't paid too much attention to the license plate yet. Probably because I'm not at that point in my build yet.

I do think that I'll be making provisions with my nerf bar designs to accommodate a plate out back. Not sure about the front yet.

 

I feel somewhat relieved to find out that I'm not the only one who finds these little details important. Nothing looks worse to my eye than a nicely designed car that has a license plate that looks like it was nailed on as an afterthought.

One of the best improvements that can be done to the tri-5 Chevy's is to swap the stock bumper for the station wagon bumper. This moves the plate from the decklid (where it looks nailed on) down to the bumper, where it looks like it belongs.

One of the first modifications I made to my '35 Chevy after bringing it home was to relocate the plate from the stock location on top of the left taillight. I hated the way it looked hanging out in the breeze, and I still have a scar on my forehead from bending over and catching a corner of the plate with my face. I sunk it into the back panel, which looks 100 times better, and helps break up that huge expanse of sheel metal. I'm running YOM plates, so I don't have to worry about a front plate (thank goodness).

 

Thank God someone finally brought this up. Everytime I look at a stock 40s' keester, I hold my finger over the damned tacked on license plate to imagine how it would look uninterrupted. The trend of tacked on accessory lights drives me nuts too. Show off those curves man!


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I too have thought about the license plate mounting. And like you, I tend to like the '49 Chevy license guard. Just so happens I am building a "49 chevy, but the one I bought did not have bumpers, let alone a license plate mount. I will use the bumpers off my 51 fleetline and I was lucky enough to purchase an original GM accessory '49 license guard on ebay for only $20 with original box.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321018050379?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Also currently on my watch list is a thin chrome license plate frame for that finished look.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400331973896?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Sticking the license right in the middle of the decklid where it sticks out from the car totally ruins the flow of the car.

 

The 40 license plate definitely has a "pin the tail on the donkey" look to it!



Our good 40 was really banged up when we got it.
The decklid had the perfect smashed spot right where a license plate could be sunk in.
At first the bright yellow YOM plate seemed to make it stick out a bit,
but after 5 years like that I can't imagine it any other way.







Like I said though,
there was a really large deep dented area in that spot,
right where the latch handle/hole would be it was all tore up.
This was an easier repair than english wheeling a patch panel.
Not sure if I could do it on a nice decklid.



I've been thinking about the license plate treatment for the rusty 40,
so this is a good time for a discussion.
Fortunately right now I don't have a license plate,
so its not a priority.

I really like your bumper treatment!

TP

 

Thanks!

I think yours looks great. Certainly a classic solution to the problem.

This was Sam Foose's '48, and it's a beautiful treatment. It shifts the car's style into a later era, though, and I prefer to do stuff that looks like it grew there. I'm not constrained by "period correct", but on my own stuff I like to make adjustments that appear faithful to the era of the original design.

I haven't paid a lot of attention to details of the tri-5's, but that sounds like a perfect solution. I suspect that the Detroit designers (or their management) were committed to using the required emblems, handles, and license plates to fill up empty surface areas, while customizers usually try to do just the opposite.

Man, you stole that one! Lucky you. New repops are over $100, and I paid about what you did for a rusty, pitted one. Since I wanted mine shortened and grafted into the bumper, of course, the condition was unimportant.

Thanks again! I'm following the evolution of your coupe (the radical one) with great interest.

 

Mine slides onto the receiver,,have yet to come up with anything too clever...the bumper is 6" C-channel. I guess i could have sunk license plate into the tailgate when I built that...planning ahead is not my strong point

 

Here is the plate with a Chev. station wagon guard that has been narrowed and a center light installed. One more option.
deChrome

 

Some people box in the rear plate for a 12 inch wide modern plate, then decide they want YOM plates to match the car and can't fit a larger older plate.

 

Great thread. Reading with interest.


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A flip up or down plate when the vehical is running and hidden when its parked. for trucks I have seen some rise up out of the front rail of the bed on a truck or from between the cab and bed when running and retract when parked or swing down just under the body of the car when running and swing up when parked.

In some places it maybe illegal to not have a "visiable plate" at all times.

a simple hinge and a 12 volt accuator will do the trick.

Yes, I know its kinda a mini-trucker thing/ street rodder, but it does give a very clean look and the OP ask for options

just a thought
Godspeed
MrC.

 

That guard is nice. Anybody know where this frame came from? Kinda similar, but slimmer.



Edit: I have now learned that it's a So-Cal accessory part. Nice!

 

The law in Wisconsin states you have to have two plates, front and rear. I try to not draw attention to them so just a simple surface mount in back and a mount to the spreader bar in front, pretty slick hey !!

 

I personally have never been a fan of a frenched in plate. More times than not, to me, they do not fit the car.

 

I don't like them frenched but do like them in they're own littlehole with glass over it. Where the plate has to be mounted from inside. SO custom. Love it. I also do like them on the bumper with a surround.

 

Agree totally. Keep it simple and mount it in or above the bumper.