The 'E' Type Forum

I have just imported a 1969 2+2 from the US and will be registering it in UK soon. Does anyone know if there are any legal restrictions (DVLA) to putting an adhesive number plate on the bonnet and a raised silver and black plate at the back? Many thanks, Bernie.

You can do both legally.

What colour is the motor? Often the front number plate sticker can look better if it's done with white letters and numbers on a black background instead of vice versa.

Bernie2015 wrote:I have just imported a 1969 2+2 from the US and will be registering it in UK soon. Does anyone know if there are any legal restrictions (DVLA) to putting an adhesive number plate on the bonnet and a raised silver and black plate at the back? Many thanks, Bernie.

I read once, not sure where, that the E-Type is the only car actually with a proper dispensation for the adhesive front plate.

Please share your experiences on registering for the UK, and what you needed to change , I'm doing the same shortly - once the car's a bit further on.

As far as I know, the adhesive front umber plate in the UK is not, strictly speaking, legal. However, also as far as I know, NO ONE has ever been stopped or queried. Maybe because that is the way the plate was originally shown. I'm sure you're safe, providing the size and spacing of the letters/numbers is correct by UK regs

From number 34 in the Forum's collection of Factoids:

The stick on front number plate is technically illegal in the UK but Jaguar seem to have got away with it because it was a beautiful car and such an export success. It remains illegal to this day although recently one of the Jaguar Clubs approached the DVLA for a definitive answer. They said they were unconcerned and it had become 'custom and practice' on an E-Type for over 40 years so no action would be taken. This concession applies to no other car - past, present or future.

Simon P wrote:From number 34 in the Forum's collection of Factoids:

The stick on front number plate is technically illegal in the UK but Jaguar seem to have got away with it because it was a beautiful car and such an export success. It remains illegal to this day although recently one of the Jaguar Clubs approached the DVLA for a definitive answer. They said they were unconcerned and it had become 'custom and practice' on an E-Type for over 40 years so no action would be taken. This concession applies to no other car - past, present or future.

Friend of mine is a traffic officer who agreed in full with the above. :)

Thanks for all the replies, it will be opalescent blue and will post it when done

D-Types have never had a number plate front or back. I was never stopped in the UK.

PeterCrespin wrote: never

Does number plate recognition work with the stick-on plates, for example Dartford crossing or will the help me save some money :D
Tim

ANPR cameras are generally slightly above the line of the vehicle, looking down (there are exceptions, obviously!). Therefore, the angle of our plates on the bonnet probably favours reading ours over one that is flat - but generally speaking, the ANPR technology is quite good these days.

Heuer wrote:

PeterCrespin wrote: never

:?

Indeed, never, as proven by your examples. I see stick-on and painted UK index mark characters, no numberplates.

I'm hoping I can get away with something similar in the USA, where sadly I HAVE seen pressed aluminum [sic] plates, at least at the back :-(

timhum wrote:Does number plate recognition work with the stick-on plates, for example Dartford crossing or will the help me save some money :D
Tim

Dartford crossing has charged me a couple of times so I fear they can scan a bonnet plate!

They use rear facing APNR cameras at Dartford. Actually it is not the 'stick -on' plates that are the problem, it is the fact the Construction and Use regulations say it must be fitted in a vertical position. However the Police are confident the sloping plate on the 'E' Type bonnet can be read by their speed cameras. Can't say the same for the front plate on the Lotus Elan though - the characters are riveted to the stone guard grill which is deep in side the front opening. You can read the plate if you are standing 10' away but a camera on a pole has no chance!

Heuer wrote:Can't say the same for the front plate on the Lotus Elan though - the characters are riveted to the stone guard grill which is deep in side the front opening. You can read the plate if you are standing 10' away but a camera on a pole has no chance!

Which, for a lesser transgression, was an MOT fail on my S2 when I fitted a long numberplate direct to the bodywork under the back bumper for my tidied-up look.

The first MOT went fine, but after that (did they tighten up?) I always had to attach a temporary plate with the characters in better view 4-5" lower, just to pass the test.

Slightly off topic:

It was mentioned last week with some conviction, that it is not illegal to dispense with fitting the forward facing number plate to a motor vehicle - the premise being that if motorcycles do not have to display one then it would be unequal that the motorist should have to!

The reason bikes no longer have to display front plates is safety-related. I remember the logic was that a plate mounted lengthways on a front mudguard could act as a blade, 'cutting' pedestrians. It suited me because I prefered lightweight alloy guards which tended to fracture around the plate mounting holes, but always struck me as a load of tosh.

If you hit a pedestrian fast enough for the back-to back front numberplates to be a cutting issue, it's certain they'd have other problems to deal with!

The same goes for cars but I can't see you getting off a charge because of a bike exemption. Maryland is surrounded by states that don't require a front plate but we still do :-(

Had to look at the date there to make sure it wasn't 1st April! Or was there a pun - "mentioned with some conviction " !

Paraphrasing, but the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations, 2001, requires a front number plate to be fitted in as near vertical position as possible, to, in effect, all vehicles (with exceptions), while allowing motor cycles first registered before 1st September 2001 not to have one fitted to the front, and requiring motorcycles first registered after that date not to have one.

While I accept that there aren't too many traffic cops - sorry Roads Policing officers - out there who are likely to enforce it these days, I'd like to see the stated case which allows not to fit one to a car on the basis that motorcycles are allowed not to have one! Or be in court when the argument is put forward!

While I was not around at the time that motorcycles were first exempted from the requirement to have a front plate (lengthways on the mudguard) my understanding was that it was as much to do with the potential for the machine to be affected by a crosswind as anything else.....

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001 ... 561_en.pdf