First time stopped in my GT40

[Seymour Snerd]

Here's a thought based on close but possibly unpragmatic reading of California vehicle code: here a missing plate would be a "fixit" ticket, which means to clear it you need to fix the problem and then get some officer to verify and sign off. So, you rig your plate with (say) velcro or wing nuts. Keep it in the car. Cop writes you a fixit ticket. You sign it, take if from him, say "Thank you, have a nice day sir", pause for a few beats, and say "Could you hold on a minute?"

Get plate out of car, stick it to bracket, take ticket over to cop and say "I have this ticket for not having a plate, but I've fixed it. Could you sign this for me?"

 

[Doug S.]

I wish things worked like that here in TX. For example, no current inspection sticker is a "fix-it" ticket, all you need to do is get a new inspection within 10 days and take it to the court in which the ticket is filed. They are more than happy to dismiss the ticket for you.....for an administrative fee, of course!

I like CA's idea better!

Cheers!

 

[Kirby Schrader]

this my front numbre plate mounting.

Yes, I tried that. The US plate size is taller, so there isn't any room to do that.
Well, at least... on my car.

Thanks for the picture. Nice car!

Kirby

 

[Kirby Schrader]

HA Kirby, he just wanted to see the car!

Kirby move to Arkansas, we only have a rear plate.

Yes, probably he did.... but I still got a warning ticket and wonder what will happen next time...

Arkansas? Too cold there!
:stunned:

 

[Daryl Adams]

Hey Jack, here's one spot where you guys in Arkansas are on the ball. With most of our state governments in financial trouble, I think the front plates should be eliminated everywhere. It would cut manufacturing costs and make life better folks like us.

Daryl

 

[Doug S.]

.... but I still got a warning ticket and wonder what will happen next time...
:stunned:

As I understand it, the warning ticket information is maintained in the state DPS computerized records (for a limited time, but I don't know how long). If you are stopped for the same offense again within the timeframe that the warning ticket information is kept, you'll likely be issued a citation.

This is from a question posted on city_data.com:

"It is usually kept internally within the PD who issued the warning citation for at least 90 days. Some keep it for 120 days."<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

This is from a member on a forum for law officers called (imagine that) officer.com:

"I like written warnings. When I was on patrol, we were required to either issue a citation or a written warning on every stop. Nowadays, with the racial profiling data requirements, written warnings are the way to go. They should contain all of the data that one needs to obtain for proper racial profiling and consent search data collection.

*Written warnings document why you stopped someone

* They are there to back you up if a motorist complains

* They explain exactly what the problem was. Like when you stop a woman for a defective "taillight", then she goes home and tells her husband that her brake light is broken. He goes outside and has her step on the brakes. The brake light works. Now he thinks that an officer was just stopping his wife to flirt. With a written warning, he can see that the stop was for a taillight.

* When writting a warning, it looks like you're writing a real citation. Every motorist that passes you while you're standing there writing, is under the impression that your violator is getting a ticket. It's a small psychological victory, but it works.

* Written warnings will help you when you end up stopping the same motorist multiple times. Should they complain to a judge or your superiors that you're harrasing them, you'll have a paper trail of how you've cut them a break in the past."

As for whether it goes against your record, there was this:

"It's a stat and no (in Texas) it doesn't go on your record."

It seems every state handles warning tickets differently...some are kept in a centralized data base, others are maintained only on the data base for the entity that issued the warning citation.

Good luck.......

Doug

 

[Chris Headon]

Kirby
I thought that in the USA there was only a rear number plate required, shows how out of date I am. As for airflow, MDA fitted my number plate at an angle just in front of the rad so that the air actually gets pushed into the rad at a higher flow rate than the car is going. This works really well on mine and I have never had cooling issues. I'm aware that US plates may be a different shape so this may not work, but it might be worth trying something similar rather than risk more tickets.
Note also that from the front the number plate looks OK as if it were totally upright. And yes the second picture does actually contain a car!:laugh:

 

[Dalton Veitch]

What number plate?

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

I have a rear plate on my Cobra. The front plate is somewhere- maybe in the trunk? I've been stopped, but not for that. I got stopped for going too fast.

Honest!

 

[Kirby Schrader]

Chris,

Thanks for the pictures! I like the second one...

You are correct with some states not requiring a front license plate. But, unfortunately, Texas does require one.

Lots of people don't have one here and just take the risk.

I've driven my Pantera here in Texas without a plate since 1990 and never had a problem. But that could certainly change...

As some folks have said... they wanted to see the car, I guess.

I'll try your method, but I think the plate is too tall...

Regards,
Kirby

Kirby
I thought that in the USA there was only a rear number plate required, shows how out of date I am. As for airflow, MDA fitted my number plate at an angle just in front of the rad so that the air actually gets pushed into the rad at a higher flow rate than the car is going. This works really well on mine and I have never had cooling issues. I'm aware that US plates may be a different shape so this may not work, but it might be worth trying something similar rather than risk more tickets.
Note also that from the front the number plate looks OK as if it were totally upright. And yes the second picture does actually contain a car!:laugh:

 

[Steve26]

"Wish you could still do that Cliff. All the WA license bureaus are wise to the kit car laws now. Impossible to get a new 40 replica registered with collector plates now. In retrospect I should have gotten collector OR registration first and then changed states."

IMPOSSIBLE? I have historic plates on my GT! I only run a rear plate and never have to buy tab's.

Steve26

 

[Kirby Schrader]

I was unable to call mine a historic anything. I tried everything I could think of after reading of experiences here on the forum. The insurance says it is a 1966 and it is insured for a stated value with documentation to back it up.

The DMV that I went to here in Montgomery County, Texas was not interested at all in titling it as a 1966.

My car is officially a '2007 Assembled Vehicle' on the title. I took a ZF out of a Pantera I had and put it in the GT40 after flipping it. I had to forfeit the title of the Pantera... I protested, but even the manager would not bend for that one.

Now, the title does say in the 'notes' on the side that the car is a 1966 Ford GT40 MkII replica...

Best I could do. I got a long winded explanation about 'gray market cars', how we have closed that loophole, we can't have people cheating on their taxes, etc., etc. etc.

FWIW,
Kirby

"Wish you could still do that Cliff. All the WA license bureaus are wise to the kit car laws now. Impossible to get a new 40 replica registered with collector plates now. In retrospect I should have gotten collector OR registration first and then changed states."

IMPOSSIBLE? I have historic plates on my GT! I only run a rear plate and never have to buy tab's.

Steve26

 

[DaveM]

"Wish you could still do that Cliff. All the WA license bureaus are wise to the kit car laws now. Impossible to get a new 40 replica registered with collector plates now. In retrospect I should have gotten collector OR registration first and then changed states."

IMPOSSIBLE? I have historic plates on my GT! I only run a rear plate and never have to buy tab's.

Steve26

Steve, either you registered your car more than 2 years ago or were EXTREMELY lucky. I went to 12 license bureaus in different parts of the state in 2008. All were wise to WA kit car law requiring registration as current year. None would go with the MSO 1966 year.

 

[John Milmont]

A buddy of mine cut out the numbers from his plate which drastically reduced the size making it easier to place. He was pulled over a few times for this, but never got a ticket. I guess no one really knows if this is legal or not!

I found a plate online and did this in paint to give you an idea, he also trimmed to corners to get rid of any sharp corners.

 

[Doug S.]

I'm sure that wouldn't fly in TX....we even have a law that prohibits license plate frames.....you can't "obscure" any part of the license plate. I'd suspect that cutting the plate in such a manner might well be "questionable", although I've never heard of any law that prohibits it.

Here's an idea....the original 427SC Cobras used a spring-loaded front license plate mount. The idea was that at road speed the force of the air against the plate would over-ride the tension of the spring and the plate would fold down to a horizontal orientation, allowing for full air flow to the radiator. Once the car's speed was reduced, the spring tension would cause the plate to return to it's original vertical orientation.

You might give that some consideration.....

Doug

 

[Steve26]

Dave,
My car was registered in July of 08! Have they changed the law since then? Mine was called an "assembled" 1966 FordGT40 by the officer at the inspection station. I know this was very lucky but when the error is in your favor you go with it.:thumbsup:

Steve26

 

I've got the same problem here in the UK with the GT40 and with the Stratos (no plates on the front of each of them). So far, I've been pulled by our 'Traffic Cops' which are the worst kind of police over here as far as vehicles are concerned. All I do is keep my front Reg plate in the car and show them when they tell you it is missing. I tell them the mounting brackets just fractured and I was lucky to ctach it before it flew off! It's worked a treat 3 times now....not even been given a 'fix it' ticket yet.......

A lot cheaper and less hassle than revolving, electrically operated drop down or wind-driven solutions!

Didn't James Bond have an Aston with revolving plates...............

 

[JvdM]

Julian a clause like that should be valid everwhere.
And then again, what is the chance you would see two GT40's in a month???

@ Kirby, the way Lucas mounted his plate looks a good option to me.

I just reminded an incident my brother had with his Corvette. He went to a meeting and while showing his car there he put a showroom plate stating "CORVETTE" in chrome letters on the front of his car instead of the normal licenseplate. He totally forgot that plate, drove home with it and around for several month's before a cop stopped him about that plate. My brothers excuse was that he came from a meeting and forgot to put the normal plate on, the same time reaching under the passengerseat to take out the normal licenseplate. At least he wasn't lying about it, just forgot to tell the timeframe. He did not got a ticket because he could replace the plate on the spot

 

[Dave Bilyk]

When I got my car, it had a half size number plate, but that still interfered with cooling. After that I painted the numbers on the rad screenmesh, passable and didnt interfere with cooling. Finally I decided that the lesser evil was stick on numbers. May not be technically legal, but are the required size and have a proper reflective background, 2 years and counting, so far so good .

Dave

 

[Kirby Schrader]

After considerable test fitting and messing around, I came up with this.
I had to drill new holes in the plate, but it is mostly visible when down and swings up out of the way when driving. I tried it out last Sunday when it was 96F outside and no sign of cooling issues.