05 NovPeriod Licence Plates

Am I the only one who finds it bizarre that people go to such great lengths to make a car original, then put modern plastic number plates on the car? The popular plates seen on our cars are usually either black plates if allowed, or just boring modern plastic ones. Surely though that doesn’t mean people with cars made after 1973 shouldn’t be able to add a bit of uniqueness in this department.  I’ve always thought the old yellow/white aluminium plates with raised digits that went on our cars at the factory have a really nice period charm, and considering they take up so much visual space on the car I’m surprised more people don’t go for vintage yellow and white plates.

My car still has the original plate from 1978 at the back, and I’m reliably informed that it’s described as ‘flat raised digits on an aluminium background’, but the front plate doesn’t match at all (its a modern plastic). So I’ve put an order in for a period looking one to replace it.

Another one that I like is the style of plate on the last spitfire off the line at Gaydon:

Which seems to be an all pressed affair, but still looks distinctly different from a lot of plates on the market now.