I want a shorter front number plate made - 6 digit reg

[zed4]

Hi,

I want a shorter front number plate made up for my TVR. I have a 6 digit reg number already, so can get away with a shorter plate without having smaller characters.

My question is, what dimensions should I be getting? I want to make sure the characters are at the legal height and spacing, but just remove the blank space each side of the first and last letter. I see the standard plate is 20.5 x 4.5". Would 16 x 4.5" be ok?

I don't want to cut down my existing plate before anyone suggests that.

Anyone suggest anywhere to make one up too?

Thanks,

Dan

[SturdyHSV]

zed4 said:

Hi,

I want a shorter front number plate made up for my TVR. I have a 6 digit reg number already, so can get away with a shorter plate without having smaller characters.

My question is, what dimensions should I be getting? I want to make sure the characters are at the legal height and spacing, but just remove the blank space each side of the first and last letter. I see the standard plate is 20.5 x 4.5". Would 16 x 4.5" be ok?

I don't want to cut down my existing plate before anyone suggests that.

Anyone suggest anywhere to make one up too?

Thanks,

Dan

• Look at existing plate.
• Measure size of 6 characters and a little extra.
• Get one made up of that width.

www.fancyplates.com will do pretty much anything. You can specify the width you want somewhere in the process. Cheap too.

[zed4]

SturdyHSV said:

• Look at existing plate.
• Measure size of 6 characters and a little extra.
• Get one made up of that width.

www.fancyplates.com will do pretty much anything. You can specify the width you want somewhere in the process. Cheap too.

Thanks, was kind of hoping to order it today, as well as another standard plate for my girlfriend's car. My TVR isn't with me right now, so can't measure it.

Was hoping someone would know of a common dimension.

[rigga]

Fancyplates do a 3/4 size front plate option, that's popular on tvr`s.

[Krikkit]

This pdf gives the minimum legal dimensions needed for a plate.

[Roo]

[r11co]

The regulations state that there has to be a minimum of 11mm between the edge of the typeface on the plate and the edge of the plate itself. You should be able to calculate the plate width required using the standard sizes for the characters and spacing with 11mm added at either end.

PS. Just get a full size plate and cut it - that is what whoever you ask to make this for you will do anyway.

[zed4]

rigga said:

Fancyplates do a 3/4 size front plate option, that's popular on tvr`s.

Yeah, my brother ordered that and it was shorter than the standard plate though, so looks illegal. The letters are all squat.

[zed4]

Roo said:

Perfect, my guesses were about right then. Where was this taken from?

[zed4]

r11co said:

PS. Just get a full size plate and cut it - that is what whoever you ask to make this for you will do anyway.

Really? Will they round the edges off accurately and evenly?

[jdw1234]

zed4 said:

rigga said:

Fancyplates do a 3/4 size front plate option, that's popular on tvr`s.

Yeah, my brother ordered that and it was shorter than the standard plate though, so looks illegal. The letters are all squat.

Had on my F355. No one ever noticed or cared (Police, MOT etc.)

If you are worried just put a normal one on for MOT.

[Roo]

zed4 said:

Perfect, my guesses were about right then. Where was this taken from?

Craigs Plates.

[Captain Muppet]

zed4 said:

r11co said:

PS. Just get a full size plate and cut it - that is what whoever you ask to make this for you will do anyway.

Really? Will they round the edges off accurately and evenly?

It's easy to do by hand with a saw, a file and a bit of masking tape to mark out/protect the edges. Putting a nice neat even curve on it is easy enough by hand. At least I've always found it was.

Although they might have a router template or something to remove skill from the equation.

[zed4]

Captain Muppet said:

zed4 said:

r11co said:

PS. Just get a full size plate and cut it - that is what whoever you ask to make this for you will do anyway.

Really? Will they round the edges off accurately and evenly?

It's easy to do by hand with a saw, a file and a bit of masking tape to mark out/protect the edges. Putting a nice neat even curve on it is easy enough by hand. At least I've always found it was.

Although they might have a router template or something to remove skill from the equation.

Ok, thanks. Maybe I'll give it a go.

Shot of how it looks at the moment for reference:

[Shaun_E]

Before:


After (Fancy plates supplied)

[Poko]

Halfords do them too, albeit expensive.

I've heard of a few horror stories of some less knowledgable police giving fines / pulling you for a short plate and I wanted to have the Halfords name to simply point at and say they claimed it was all legal etc.

[r11co]

Captain Muppet said:

zed4 said:

r11co said:

PS. Just get a full size plate and cut it - that is what whoever you ask to make this for you will do anyway.

Really? Will they round the edges off accurately and evenly?

It's easy to do by hand with a saw, a file and a bit of masking tape to mark out/protect the edges. Putting a nice neat even curve on it is easy enough by hand. At least I've always found it was.

Although they might have a router template or something to remove skill from the equation.

It is exceptionally easy to do it yourself with a little skill and a lot of common sense. The trick is to score the adhesive backing along the cutting line with a Stanely knife before you start sawing so you don't rip it off the acrylic. The plate itself is made of relatively soft material and can be filed to shape without much effort - use the off-cuts as templates to get the radius of the corners.

If you can't DIY then you are handless! Machine moulded plates are often more raggedy along the edges than one finished by hand, not to mention that you can centre the letters in the plate more accurately (which by the look of your original plate wasn't done very well - more white space to the right than on the left!

Edited by r11co on Thursday 13th June 17:11

[Roo]

Poko said:

Halfords do them too, albeit expensive.

I've heard of a few horror stories of some less knowledgable police giving fines / pulling you for a short plate and I wanted to have the Halfords name to simply point at and say they claimed it was all legal etc.

That's why my very small front plate was bought from a legal supplier. Not Halfords though.

It has all the correct markings on it.

[R8Steve]

Just buy a normal one and cut it, it's easy enough to do and retains the required postcode on the bottom. It's now an MOT requirement i believe and most of the custom plate places don't do it.

I did it to mine with a 5 digit plate and have had no MOT or police issues and it looks so much better

[aka_kerrly]

Roo said:

Bizarre that you pay more money for less plastic plate!

Are those Fancy plates BS approved then with all the post code etc on the bottom?