European number plates on a US Aston Martin Vantage V8

[Andydandy]

Hi,
I helped my 86 year old dad to buy a Aston Martin Vantage V8 earlier this Autumn. It was initially sold i the US but have lived all of its life in Germany and Austria.
When we now are going to put on our Swedish number plates we have the problem that there are two "things" (mounts) that gives us problem when trying to put on the "long" european style of number plate!

My question is, is it possible to get rid of these "things" (mounts) without removing the bumper?

[Jon39]

I have never thought about or noticed this before, but having studied these photographs, it looks as though the USA rear bumper is standard, but with those two additional plastic infill pieces that you referred to.

As extra pieces, presumably they can be removed, to then provide the full size required for a standard number plate.
How those extra pieces are fitted, I do not know, but once that is established, the removal should be possible.
Hopefully our USA friends will be along to help you.

I hope that I will still be buying cars at age 86.
Enjoy the Vantage.

[Cold]

I imagine it might be possible to remove the infills without unbolting the bumper skin if you go in from the back, but you might need slim hands to do so. Get the rear of the car up in the air and have a poke around.

[V8 Vantage GT]

Those pieces have 2 plastic studs molded into them and are attached with nuts to the bumper. As well as a screw from above. They cover holes in the bumper. The car is USA (FED) spec, aluminum impact braces protrude through the holes they cover.

In short, you would have to remove the bumper to remove them, cut off the impact braces and have the holes filled in, or install a European (ROW) bumper.

[V8 Vantage GT]

Looking at you photo looks like someone has possibly tried to pry them off. You could try an slide a slim chisel between them and the bumper and using a hammer cut the studs. They are plastic and are easily broken. Then use metal shears to cut enough of the pieces away to enable the upper part to be rotated off the screw. The impact braces are small at riveted to the cars frame. You can possibly get a drill in and drill out the rivets. Your plates look quite wide and may possibly cover enough of the holes where they are not noticeable.

[Manx V8V]

Would it be legal to have a local plate made up to fit the existing recess?

I had this problem in the UK with several 'Japan market only' cars which I bought from import dealers, they all had a square rear number plate recess, but we had provision in our vehicle laws to fit a plate to suit the recess in those cases.

[dtmpower]

If you intend to remove the covers, why not just drill a large inspection hole in them so you can access / destroy the mounting studs ?

[Andydandy]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your advice. I have now looked more closely and I have seen the aluminium impact braces!

How are the fastened on the frame?

Are they fastened with rivets? I can not see any rivets from behind or from the front.

If I only could get rid of these it is not that difficult to make a nice looking metal plate to put the number plate on, that covers the holes.

Does any one have a sketch that shows how the parts are put together?

I can not see any of them in my manual.

Best regards

/Anders

[telum01]

I put Euro bumpers on my grey Vantage, no fitment issues at all even with the extra extrusions but I haven't inspected the backside of the bumper cover yet (will be at some point soon, need to fix a shoddy repair job by a shoddy body shop). Overall it's a much cleaner look. I think the lighting for the license plate is different between US and Euro cars, though, so it probably won't be a direct swap for that.

Here's on older pic with the license plate fillers (with smoked rear lights, my old set of wheels, and the standard rear airblade)


Here's a newer pic without the license plate fillers (with standard rear lights, my new set of wheels, and the N420 carbon fiber rear diffuser)

[V8 Vantage GT]

Andydandy said:

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your advice. I have now looked more closely and I have seen the aluminium impact braces!

How are the fastened on the frame?

Are they fastened with rivets? I can not see any rivets from behind or from the front.

If I only could get rid of these it is not that difficult to make a nice looking metal plate to put the number plate on, that covers the holes.

Does any one have a sketch that shows how the parts are put together?

I can not see any of them in my manual.

Best regards

/Anders

Here is another thread where you see the rivets. They are large, looks like bumper has to be removed to drill them out.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[nsjb]

Hi guys,

I'm shortly to ship my V8V back to the UK from the UAE and would also like to get rid of the two infills either side of the shorter number plate. I was wondering if anyone had any more info on this or photos of how to do it since the last posts? I don't really want to buy a new UK bumper and so would like to be able to whip off these two plastic moulds.

Thanks

[Snooglefinder]

nsjb said:

Hi guys,

I'm shortly to ship my V8V back to the UK from the UAE and would also like to get rid of the two infills either side of the shorter number plate. I was wondering if anyone had any more info on this or photos of how to do it since the last posts? I don't really want to buy a new UK bumper and so would like to be able to whip off these two plastic moulds.

Thanks

Hi - I'm also based in the UAE (Dubai) and I have already taken the two infills out and now have EU spec number plate space. You do need to take the rear bumper cover off as the infills are part of the US spec low collision protection like the standard front number plate mount. They simply unbolt but you can't access the bolts without removing the bumper cover.

It's not a difficult job, just takes a bit of time and patience.

[nsjb]

Hi Snooglefinder, thanks so much for your reply and sorry for late response. Is there any chance you could send me more info about exactly how you did the job?

Hi - I'm also based in the UAE (Dubai) and I have already taken the two infills out and now have EU spec number plate space. You do need to take the rear bumper cover off as the infills are part of the US spec low collision protection like the standard front number plate mount. They simply unbolt but you can't access the bolts without removing the bumper cover.

It's not a difficult job, just takes a bit of time and patience.
[/quote]

[nsjb]

Hi Snooglefinder, I’m only get around to the job of removing the number plate fillers so I can fit a standard UK plate. I was wondering if you thought I could drill two large circles out of the fillers to directly access the bolt and simply unscrew them? Or would that not work?

[JonnyCJ]

Bumper cover removal really isn’t that difficult. Fitting whilst a tad trickier is also pretty simple for one person.

I’ve had mine off and on again 3 times now without a hitch.

This is a good guide https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin/4...

[Snooglefinder]

Agree with Jonny,

It's an easy job to remove the bumper and I don't think drilling holes will be a successful fix - you won't get the access required to remove the bolts etc as I recall.

Good luck with the job.

[nsjb]

Okay, many thanks guys. I'll try and whip off the bumper.