Success on a plate?

Getting the right numberplates...

Today I want to vent my feelings about one of my pet hates when it comes to classic cars, a small and fairly trivial thing but one that irritates me far more than it should: so many fine cars are ruined by the wrong style of numberplates. You may think that's not important and as long as it's legal who really cares, but the numberplates are what give the vehicle its unique identity and you can find out so much of its history from the registration displayed on them so to me they are the focal point of the vehicle and can make or break its appearance. After spending thousands on a restoration, why spoil it for the sake of a few extra pounds to buy some correct-looking plates?

Nice car, shame about the plate. It's legal now but wasn't when new and a reflective one would be much better

Black plates seem to be the 'in thing' among classic car owners and for pre-1968 vehicles they are pretty much always the right choice as they were all that was available at the time. However, they also now appear on many much newer vehicles and really don't look right to me. Although reflective plates became compulsory for new vehicles on 1st January 1973, they had in fact been introduced as an option in 1968 and in practice most new vehicles registered after that date would have had them as they were the trendy modern style and the black plates, while still legal, were considered old-fashioned and rarely chosen.

No no no, a Mark 2 Escort would never have had black plates when new and they look awful

In 2015, the law changed to allow black plates on all vehicles registered as historic under the rolling 40-year tax exemption, which means these plates can now be fitted to vehicles that could never have legally had them when new, and owners may like them but they do nothing for originality. Black plates on post-1975 vehicles are technically still illegal, yet many owners seem to get away with them by buying them as 'show plates for off-road use' but using them on the road. To me these just look ridiculous and so wrong, especially when the vehicle has a prefix registration. Then there are various fancy fonts such as italics and the German-style plates favoured by the Volkswagen community, which are again sold as show plates but end up being used on the road with dubious legality.

Doing it right - imported just a few months ago but the new plates are period correct and look great

While black plates after 1972 are definitely wrong (except on London buses, which had some peculiar exemption allowing them to continue until about 1985), on the other hand reflective plates on a pre-1968 vehicle may not always be. Vehicles of this age that required a new plate after 1972 would almost certainly have been given a reflective one, and many owners chose to upgrade to the newer style to make their car look more modern. This is particularly relevant if you want to replicate how one of these vehicles might have looked in later life rather than in as-new condition, and for that authentic banger look you could maybe try a combination of black at one end and reflective at the other. It's ironic really that back in the seventies and eighties people were throwing away the original black plates in favour of reflective ones, yet the exact opposite is now happening in the classic car world.

Even worse than the incorrect use of black plates are reflective ones in the current font, which is very different from what went before and sticks out like a sore thumb. These may be the cheapest and easiest style of plate to obtain, but this font simply didn't exist before 2001 so it is totally anachronistic and destroys any hope of period correctness. You might get away with it on an eighties or nineties vehicle that could have received a new plate during the 2000s when still in everyday use, but an older style looks much better. Before the new registration format was introduced in September 2001, there was actually no single standard font and there are numerous types that although generally similar differ in detail, the Serck style with its distinctive squared-off characters being a particular favourite (but sadly no longer available).

A bent Serck, wonderful and it looks so right on an old lorry.

The physical construction of the plate is also an important consideration to get the right look. When reflective plates were introduced in 1968, the method of making them was the same as the old black ones: a metal plate with raised characters, either stamped into the metal from behind or applied as individual plastic digits. Laminated plastic plates with printed characters didn't appear until the 1980s so they don't really look right on vehicles from the seventies - my 1981 Triumph Dolomite must have had some of the earliest examples. I have even seen black plastic plates, which would never have existed at the time as the technology to make them wasn't developed until long after reflective plates became compulsory. It was always a niggle to me that some brainless moron stole the original stamped metal numberplates (yes, really - someone went around the estate one night ripping numberplates off cars and throwing them in a hedge!) from my 1978 Fiesta and it ended up with modern plastic ones as the car was in everyday use and they had to be replaced urgently.

Definitely the original plate and now a bit faded, but replacing it would ruin the car's character

There are exceptions of course. For instance, the holy grey grille has a post-2001 front plate but this would have been bought as cheaply as possible by the previous owner to keep the car roadworthy simply because the original one had failed an MoT. It is thus part of the car's history and I wouldn't advocate replacing it with an original-style plate featuring the name of the supplying dealer, as this would look wrong against the condition of the rest of the car and its general lack of originality. When restoring a vehicle though, it is likely to need new plates so it's worth investing in the right type as part of the restoration process as this will be a very small proportion of the overall cost but something that shows care and attention to detail. At one time it was actually illegal to make reflective plates in anything other than the post-2001 font but contrary to popular belief this no longer appears to be the case so there are no legal obstacles to having appropriate plates.

The post-2001 font just doesn't suit classic cars with suffix registrations

It may seem like I'm making a lot of fuss about nothing and maybe I have a form of numberplate OCD, but they are an important finishing touch and often end up spoiling the ship for a ha'porth of tar. Post-2001 plates may be the easy option, but never look right on old vehicles and it isn't that difficult to obtain a more authentic type (there are companies who specialise in recreating old plates featuring the logos of long-defunct dealers), so a little more effort and expense will be well rewarded with a much better looking car. Numberplates are a simple thing, but one that can make a big difference to the authenticity and period correctness of the vehicle without spending vast sums of money, so there's no excuse for getting it wrong really.

As a rough guide:
Pre-1968: black metal plates with white or silver raised characters
1968 to early 1980s: reflective metal plates with raised characters in a pre-2001 font
Mid 1980s to August 2001: reflective plastic plates with printed characters in a pre-2001 font
September 2001 onwards: reflective plastic plates with printed characters in current font