The Chemist is off-center! (with his license plate)

[Tribewolf]

I kinda like it. But instead of going through all the work figuring it out, why not use the retractable one that the Vette guys use?

[Chemist]

Originally Posted by Tribewolf I kinda like it. But instead of going through all the work figuring it out, why not use the retractable one that the Vette guys use?

1) No easy way to mount it on an N/A.
2) I wanted something off-center.
3) I get perverse pleasure from the fabrication process.

[mistergib]

OK guys.....this thread on our ugly front tag mount got my juices flowing so
I spent the day in the garage fabricating another alternative to the stock
location. I, too, live in a state that requires a front tag but I have never
mounted my front tag, so I've been lucky where the cops are concerned. The
two things wrong with the stock location is that it blocks needed cool air
to our motor, and, it just looks funky that high up right in the middle of our
grilles.....detracts from the look of our front ends....

Anyway, when I bought my GXP, it came with two front tag mounts in
my trunk...don't know why, but it did. So, I decided to modify one of them
since I had a spare.

I dremmel'd off approx half the length of each of those four mounting spikes,
sanded what was left, and put 3m adhesive tape on the end each one, plus
I still have the 3m adhesive strip in the curved middle. I then turned it upside
down and moved the whole mount down to where the bottom of the tag is
even with the top edge of the long, horizontal opening at the bottom of our
front end facias.

So, it still attaches in the middle to keep everything balanced, but much
lower.....I think it doesn't look so stupid now and doesn't block near the air
that it did. I will take some pictures tomorrow morning and post them on my
signature photobucket site. You can see what you think then....???

[diamoney]

Byron,

I don't know if you planned it or if it is just sheer dumb luck (and I have my suspicions...), but the curve formed by the lines of the headlamp, the foglamp and the inside angled edge of the plate holder seem to keep it from looking an afterthouht.

Good one on ya!

[Envious06]

Love ya Chemist, but I got to tell you the truth, that plate is fugly... I'm sticking with Aztec's solution...(when I eventually get caught) anything off to the side just doesn't look right, but hey, if you like it, thats all that counts. Appreciate the info anyway.

[EVIL_SOL]

Ebay has a similar one for $89 - VA legislation states if a vehicle is not manufactured for front license plates you don't have to have one. I don't know if I could talk my way out of a ticket for this one since I have not seen any Solstices without one. I hate that I have to have one in the first place.

[mistergib]

...ok guys.....I finished modifying the front tag mounting bracket moving
it to a much lower and ascethic position.....it no longer looks as gawdy or
inhibits the air flow as the stock mounting position did.....IF you have to
run a front tag, I believe this is our best alternative.....

Go to the following link to my photobucket gallery...enlarge it and see
what you think....

http://s234.photobucket.com/albums/e...t=P1020174.jpg

[AWhatstice?]

Originally Posted by Bagpypr I think it looks nice. Great design, low profile. It has that old British roadster feel to it. Nice job!

I received 3 warnings going from Houston to Big Bend TX (West TX - ChemRun '08) running no front plate. All said they wouldn't have stopped me other than for no front plate This and other no front plate stories might be what got Chemist started. I'm buying into the low slung side front plate look . Better than twist tying my front plate on whenever I go out of town

[Derf]

Originally Posted by mistergib ...ok guys.....I finished modifying the front tag mounting bracket moving it to a much lower and ascethic position.....it no longer looks as gawdy or inhibits the air flow as the stock mounting position did.....IF you have to run a front tag, I believe this is our best alternative.....

Looks Good, for another way to do this see this link:

Lowered License Plate w/pics

[mistergib]

Originally Posted by Derf Looks Good, for another way to do this see this link: Lowered License Plate w/pics

That looks good too....I tried that first, but doing it that way caused the
mount to bow inwards on each end, and since I wanted to put a chrome
frame around the plate, that wouldn't work unless I wanted to bow the
chrome frame also...... the tag by itself looks fine that way.

[King-Oka]

Sorry Chemist,
Appreciate the effort you put into this, but I'm sticking with my upside down lowered plate mount location. I feel your pain - this car should not require front plates.

[GMO]

For those of us who want to switch-out our stock grills, the lowered plate will no longer work. The Vette hanger works great for a GXP but looks like crap on the N\A due to the curves of the front. Chemist, keep us updated on how it goes. I'm interested.

[mistergib]

Originally Posted by GMO For those of us who want to switch-out our stock grills, the lowered plate will no longer work. The Vette hanger works great for a GXP but looks like crap on the NA due to the curves of the front. Chemist, keep us updated on how it goes. I'm interested.

...thats really not the case.....with my front tag mod, I did not use the
grilles as part of the mounting of the plate at all....so, unless the grilles
you would be changing to, would protrude out too much, then you would
be able to do something similar to what I did....it's all in what look you
are after....?

[rob the elder]

First, I applaud Chemist for his inititative and the nice design. As to whether people like it or not, that is personal taste but who cares? It's his car and his decision.

And thanks for sharing. One of the nice things about this forum.

Before I went with Dave's Corvette hide away plate, I was seriously considering scanning my front plate and printing it in 60% size so shrink the size of the plate. You still have a "front plate" its just a bit smaller. And when the genearmarie drive past, they see it there.

But after driving with my plate hidden for over a year and 16000 miles with no problems I decided to just continue the march with my hideaway plate.


I understand that there is a mounting challenge with an NA but it would seem that making a bracket or interface pare to fit the hide away plate would be an interesting challenge too.

[Chemist]

Again, I appreciate all the thoughts/opinion/etc. I did about 650 miles yesterday with no problems, so the mount itself seems to be quite stable. I heard no vibration/whistling from it, and I hear/feel no scraping as I go in and out of driveways and parking lots.

For those of you running lowered plates in the middle, that's what I did for 3+ years. I just wanted some solution that did not obscure the front grills at all. This does that. I also wanted something for less than the $90-100 that the one on eBay costs. This does that as well.

If you like it, keep looking here as I will get production numbers when I return to Lubbock. For those of you that prefer some other solution, God bless you with that.

diamoney, the angles are what they are to make manufacture easy, to minimize material costs, and to keep the plate tucked in close to the frame. If I had free and open access to bending and curving machinery, I would go back and do some minor design tweaking.

To all, the plate in my bracket design is where it is (in general) because of where the pipe to which I attached the bracket is located.

Again, the bracket allows me to follow the law, which I _will_ do, and I like what it looks like on my car. Your mileage may vary.

--Chemist (For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. --Romans 13:3 )