Personalised plates: Tell Me I'm Wrong
Chris Harris has a problem with personalised plates but invites you to set him right on the matter...
Yes, we know it's a 911, thank you very much
I have tried to deconstruct what it is that has led to this trenchant view of cars which exhibit a more personal legal signature and I haven't yet landed upon a single, cogent reason for it. It's a combination of factors.
All about the car
The car is always the star for me. I love cars and I suppose in some small way I love the ubiquity of the normal registration number set against the often special feelings a car can radiate for its owner. The private plate contaminates the simplicity of this man/machine relationship. It could be perceived as quite perverse that someone who makes a living out of publicly talking about cars actually prefers a more internalised appreciation of vehicles, but that's the way I feel. If you are lucky enough to own an M3, I would hope that would be enough and that adding an M3 prefix to the plate wouldn't add much to the driving or ownership experience.
Press offices love novelty plates, Harris less so
Natural selectionI worry for the practicalities too. I may be completely paranoid, but I think a fancy plate probably exposes the owner to a greater chance of being stopped by a police officer for a minor offence that might otherwise have been allowed to pass, and to random acts of vandalism. Again, this might be my advanced state of paranoia, but whenever I have a press car with a silly numberplate it makes me wince.
Socially, I deconstruct the application of special plates in a way that many people will find plain odd. This isn't the place to explain my odd views on the world and the universe, but even accepting the inequalities of life as being nothing more than natural selection, I find it odd that someone who is successful enough to buy a Veyron, or any other car that stops passers by from 100 yards, should feel the need to add a zany numberplate. For me it spoils the aesthetic.
Yes, that's Riggers and yes that plate says 'Lust'
Personal vs private
Of course I am not immune to good numberplates - and this is probably another of my underlying issues. So many of these plates are just not cool or amusing. They are banal, not obviously explainable and when strangely spaced just look odd to my eyes. They often cheapen very desirable cars. 30 years ago there were just enough private plates around to satisfy the potential audience in the UK, and it was an audience that didn't much care about having its name (or an approximation thereof) on their cars. Nowadays, people want the personal touch and commit terrible crimes against spacing and fixings to achieve their goals.
To be clear, private plates I find a little easier to handle. Often inherited or attached to older cars that wore them in period, they can be subtle and dignified. I especially like them on old snotters - I think anyone who owns a genuinely valuable plate should always try and place it on their least valuable car.
'Performance' SUV, personalised plate - nuff said?
Ducks.
I have one. But it came with a car. I'd have never actually gone out and got one. And I wonder how many people have been given them for a birthday/Christmas by the better half and been "forced" to fit it. A bit like wearing the Christmas jumper. But all year around, and she'll know if you bin it....
Plate one ends with the guys name in short form, EDY it was a gift to him so he decided to have it transferred and fitted just because he had it. He had the spacing done as per a normal plate and it doesnt look overly tacky or particularly noticeable.
Plate two is just to cover up the fact that he gets a new car every few years. Guy works in sales and doesn't want people thinking he is doing overly well when he pulls up at a customer site in what would a 6 month old Merc for example. I dont even think the plate is relevant to him just a cheap £250 jobby he got randomly from a DVLA sale
I have nothing against them but then wouldn't chose to have one either!
I like private plates & I like people who collect private plates. I like associating plates with people, for example one of the area's best car collections belongs to a man named affectionatley in the South Wales section as "Mr GE" because of the "GE" plates featured on his cars.
I was at a show the other week and a guy turned up in an XJ220 with a plain old K plate on it, looked fantastic in my eyes.
I just don't get the fascination with them, especially when most of the time they need to be explained, they just shout 'look at me'.......
The cherished/private plates generally look decent, i.e. Having 52A on something nice doesn't spoil it.
BUT most personalised plates are naff, very naff.
Also, at the mega-car end of the market the plates are done to add another personalised, expensive touch. Anyone with £1m can buy a Veyron, but to put 1V on it or something? No.
I've happened to have bought a few cars with model-related plates already on them (911, M3, M5) and it seemed churlish to remove them, so I've kinda come round to the idea.
My girlfriend (Rebecca) has a plate (on retention currently) that reads W1 BEX. I find this offensive, but on her Polo GTI it did look quite cheeky I suppose. Perhaps girls can pull off 'me' related plates better?
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