Front License Plate Holder

[NuttyGambler]

Hey the dealer plate issue is one I say RIGHT THEM UP. I pay plenty for my plates, and they so called "dealers" who only have a "dealership" so they can have dealer plates... Why should I pay their share?

As to the front plate, MN ALMOST got rid of them in the session before last. Then the cop lobby started jumping up and down and the leg, backed away from it. This session they are trying to find billions of dollars to balance the budget, so might be a low priority...

My reasoning will be this to an officer. I will simply say, collector cars are not required to have a front plate in the state of MN, this is a collector car to me, I would gladly buy a collector plate for it, but given it is not 20 years old I can't. I will not distroy the front bumper to put a plate on it. Write me up if you must, but I think you can understand my thinking.

After that it is up to him if he wants to be a jerk or not.

The car has seen many officers already and most have just waved and smiled.

 

[jt2233]

This has been discussed in another post, but I was thinking of mounting the plate under the front bumper. Not on the bumper but just behind it. Maybe on a spring loaded hinge. Someone else offered an idea to mount it in the smae location but have it hooked to an electric motor to be able to raise and lower it as necessary. The law here in the state of Washington requires a front plate about 1 foot from the ground. Seems to me this would do just fine. Your thoughts and comments are appreciated.

 

[FDCAPTAIN]

jt2233

Your idea sounds good. If you mount it on the front right side, just like the classic early birds.

The inside edge of the plate will be over the lower air intake by just a couple of inches.

Go for it!

As for those who choose to break the law, I find you a very poor example of what our youth need now, and if I were a cop I would write you up for your lame brain excuses. I have zero tolerance for law breakers!

You should all be ashamed of yourselves and if I meet you on Thunder I will not associate with you.

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'56 TBird '02 NM Bird
'98 F250 4X4 SCab
'68 AMC AMX
'73 Volvo 1800ES
'01 Olds Aurora 4.0

 

[K6RU]

And I tore the tag off my new mattress too.

 

[Gobird]

FDCAPTAIN I'm not going to touch THAT one.

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02 T-Bird 9293
69 Vette
73 MGB
97 F-150 4x4
2-Seadoo Jet Skies
a dog a cat and a couple hundred fish in my pond

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[Howlee]

next project, i bought some acrylic plastic yesterday in a strip 3/4 by 3/16 thick. i am going to try and cut and glue a bracket that will go threw the gril and wrap down around the top of the bumper. This will then come forward. this I will attach to the licence holder with a screw and nut, one on each side. since the lower part of the bracket just clips in place, this should hold and not do any damage to the bumper. it's going to rain tomorrow and I finished my new home page so i will start on this then. I'll let you know how it works, and how I feel it will effect the grill. Keep smiling. John

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Blue/Blue Prem. w/full accent
In my Garage as of 1/25 #6333 LIC: BLU TB

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[greyfox11]

FD
"As for those who choose to break the law, I find you a very poor example of what our youth need now, and if I were a cop I would write you up for your lame brain excuses. I have zero tolerance for law breakers!

You should all be ashamed of yourselves and if I meet you on Thunder I will not associate with you."

I tried and tried NOT to respond to your post. Just couldn't let it go. You ever go 66 in a 65mph zone, or 36 in a 35 zone? I retired last April, have driven fast all my life. I decided I was going to drive the speed limit regardless of where I was going. You have any idea how difficult that is? If you can honestly do that for a week, it honestly won't bother me that you don't speak to me when you see my yellow bird without a front plate.
That is like telling me I am not a christian because I don't go to church on Sun/Wed and Sat.
I applaud you, but it can get lonely up there on that high horse.

 

[Erict]

Wow... Alot of emotions over this one...

Can we put some perspective on this?

Please.

Lets get a reality check here...

People are entitled to understand granularity and make their own judgement...

Given Greyfoxe's view on this point.
His logic would keep laws unchanged. Maybe we need to look at real issue and solve its problems.

Rather that attempt to apply laws that are were built for one purpose and are now used for an other.

In this case a tag on a car no longer meets any criteria for safety, or identification. 1 2 or 10 tags will never change anything when deliberate attemps to foil the system in place are used.

The advances in technology allow us to dream up better ways to do things...

Why not use what makes all of us better people, our collective imagination to resolve a problem, rather than attempt to put down someone or elevate ones self above everyone else.

My two cents in something that has gone way over the top.

BTW... If it does not matter in 5 years from now, it does not matter now, give it a rest.

Lets work on drunk driving before we work on missing front plates......

 

[FDCAPTAIN]

I knew I would get bad comments from the percentage of car owners who feel these little things are rights instead of privilages.

I am not better than anyone, but if I wrote anything less than compliance with the laws , I would have let down more of the readers and more importantly, myself.

FORD had better get the message, GM did, and most of it's top of the line cars have superior molded brackets in the front rubber bumpers.

This is my last post on this subject, I have given you the message, go with it.

 

[txktom]

I probably oughta put this in the "let the stories begin" topic, but here is my license plate story. I asked the dealer if he would leave the front plate off--the car looked so great without it. He said the couldn't do that because Texas was a 2-plate state and they had to put it on. It was the law. I knew he was right, so I didn't complain.

When I picked the car up, the front plate bracket wasn't on the car. I asked why. The salesman said that he and the sales manager and the make-ready guy and some others had talked it over and none of them wanted to drill into that beautiful front end!

When I reminded him that it was the law, he suggested that I go talk to the officers at the local Texas Department of Public Safety office and explain that this was a classic car and shouldn't be drilled! I said I didn't think that would do much good. (Frankly, I couldn't imagine trying to make my "classic" argument to a cop.)

The permanent plates came in a couple of days ago, and I'm going to go ahead and butcher the front end.

BTW, I got stopped for front plate violation once before--when I was nineteen. I had a custom '57 Chevy sporting a '53 Chevy grille with eight extra grille teeth. I had taped the plate up in the front window, thinking I could give the cop a story about the bracket breaking and walk. He took a look at that spectacular grille and let me walk, but said he'd seen the car before (I drove the road daily to college) and I'd better have the license plate on correctly, one way or another, by tomorrow. I went home and put it on, which wasn't easy, as I recall. There was no place to put it with all those teeth....It is still painful to talk about this horrible 1963 event.

So that is why I'm putting the car on the new blue Tbird--two police episodes in forty year would make me some sort of career criminal, I guess.

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[jawill2000]

I have to add my pennies. I picked up my Bird yesterday and was a little disappointed to find that the infamous bracket had been mounted. With all due respect to everyones opinions, what's the big deal? IT AIN"T THAT BAD. My son-inlaw is a police officer here in Massachusetts and he said if you want to give them (the cops) a sure fire excuse to stop you and go on a fishing expedition for other violations, the best way to do that is to omit the mandatory (in Mass) front plate. I can live with it.

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Jim Williams
red/red/std blk premium #2 of 2 VIN 1FAHP60A62Y111592
Mass. tag JWBIRD

 

[Chief]

Those of you who opt to install the front lic. bracket should consider painting it to match the car. It improves the look 100%. The cost is $50-60.

 

[chris_terrapin]

Hi, I live in Texas where front plates are also required, and my dealer did the same. Once I got the front bra and put it on, I've been seen by several patrol cars, but not stopped. My plan is to say "my husband just put the bra on, didn't even notice the plate was off... let's see if he left it in the trunk for me" (and smile a lot!!)

Plan B is to modify the bra so it can fit over the plate holder. I have the equipment & materials to do it, if necessary.

 

[LON O'CONNELL]

I live in Texas and have not mounted the plate to the front of the car. I carry it in the storage area behind the seats without the mounting bracket. We drive this car only on weekends. Since October 9th the car has a grand total of 1,015 miles. I do believe that if this car was to be used as a daily driver I would have no choice but to mount the plate to the front end. But seeing as this car is only averaging 84.33 miles per weekend or 42.16 miles per weekend day I am going to leave it off and just carry it with me. Maybe this makes me just a part-time law breaker.

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Yellow/Yellow Prem. 02 Bird w/full accent
1999 F150 Super Cab 4x4 Off Road
1998 Taurus SE Sport 24V

 

[jodrod]

chris_terripin,

I don't think I have you listed in the database, please see my post "Database Info for the New Birds - post here".

 

[greyfox11]

Originally posted by FDCAPTAIN:
I knew I would get bad comments from the percentage of car owners who feel these little things are rights instead of privilages.

I am not better than anyone, but if I wrote anything less than compliance with the laws , I would have let down more of the readers and more importantly, myself.

FORD had better get the message, GM did, and most of it's top of the line cars have superior molded brackets in the front rubber bumpers.

This is my last post on this subject, I have given you the message, go with it.

FD
I apologize to you and the rest of the members of this board.
You have strong feelings on this (as do I).
My response to you last night became personal, that is inappropriate. What makes this medium work is different perspectives shared in a spirit of a common bond.
I have read a lot of your posts, you have some good stuff to offer. I would hope that my post (even though that is how I feel) wouldn't discourage you, or someone else, expressing their thoughts on this board.
Heck, we are all here to get the most enjoyment out of these pretty great cars.
Maybe next time, I will do that thing of "siting on it overnight before I hit the send button".
By the way, I am still not putting the dumb front plate on my car.
Sorry if my post made you uncomfortable in any way.
Dean



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greyfox11
yellow,yellow,prem #8415

 

[Erict]

Beauty Greyfox...!

 

[Birdman93]

I had to come back after I heard about what had been posted.

#1. Ford is NOT going to put a LP bracket on every car built, just because some states require it-the brackets are shipped as an accessory, and mounted by the dealership, if the state the dealer is located in requires it-otherwise, Ford is leaving it up to the individual owners to decide whether or not they want to display a front plate. Iowa's laws only require that you display a front plate-how it is displayed is up for interpretation.

#2. For the participants in Thunder-I leave it up to you to decide whther you want the front plate on the trip-I don't wear a badge (at least not on a regular basis), and I'm not a judge.

This is somewhat of a personal choice for all-if your state says you have to have it, and you choose not to, so be it.

I personally don't display a front plate, as my Thunderbird was built without one, and they are no longer available through Ford or any other source.

The guy who went to jail in Colorado-did he go to jail for the plate not being displayed-or because he had illegal fireworks? Was the knife concealed? Both of those offences are punishable by jailtime.


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[Gobird]

OK, have we had enough of the front plate thing. Lets find something else to disagree on.

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02 T-Bird 9293
69 Vette
73 MGB
97 F-150 4x4
2-Seadoo Jet Skies
a dog a cat and a couple hundred fish in my pond

 

[jt2233]

I just spoke to a guy named Greg at "Retro Rods" in Mukilteo Washington. Told him about the front plate and the idea of mounting it under the bumper. He needs to look at the T-Bird, but told me it should not be a problem to hook up an electrical devise to raise and lower on demand, as he has done this before.
I told him I would be in touch as my Bird is not due until June or July. Once it's completed I will post pics.

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