Old Stye Number Plates

[Vinylseats]

There's nothing worse than an old car with modern number plates. It's like when you used to see British Leyland cars with Halfords white plastic hubcaps stuck on.

[mk2_craig]

Lord Sterling said:

Looking to try that http://www.dealerplates.co.uk site as my Sterling has an original dealer plate oin the front, but the rear plate has been changed for one of those 'modern' EU flag/GB plates. Anyone dealt with dealerplates.co.uk before?

 

Twice so far. Have a before and after of my Sierra:

 

 

Generally very pleased. The chap doing them only has access to a certain range of fonts for the dealer lettering and reproduces graphics on a 'near as I can get it' basis, so if you're a complete perfectionist then to do appreciably better you would need to take the old plate to a graphic designer and pay them a fair old whack to get a replica done. At £25 quid a pair these weren't a bad compromise, not sure how durable they'll be though, they seem to be the same construction as standard modern font plates.

 

Also had some done for my dad's Punto, including a twin pinstripe around the plate, they do look good. It should be THE LAW to have the wider digits on a pre-2001 car!!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

^ That repro plate is spot-on - the font looks perfect. One of the best I've seen, in fact. 

I guess the only  (and I mean only)  minor detail is the original plate had squared edges. However, I guess they just don't exist any more? 

[Vin]

Really? The replacement looks nowt like the original...it was a while ago though...

[HMC]

Yep, almost time for a replacement replacement 

[MarvinsMom]

i had to change the numberplates on the black mini when i got it.

it had these on when i got it, some horrid, modern plastic things that did nothing for the car.

so i got some proper period ones from Tippers, the correct raised digit version on a metal backing, which is how i remember  numberplates been like in the olden times.

they suit that car far better than them crap plastic things.

[mk2_craig]

On 5/5/2019 at 9:43 PM, Dick Longbridge said:

^ That repro plate is spot-on - the font looks perfect. One of the best I've seen, in fact. 

I guess the only  (and I mean only)  minor detail is the original plate had squared edges. However, I guess they just don't exist any more? 

I think dealerplates ceased trading a while back now. At the time they did offer for a few quid extra to modify the Sierra plates so that they came with square corners rather than rounded ones, this involved shaving off 5mm either side. I decided not to bother. 

 

I wish I still had that car. 

[mk2_craig]

Shite plate making equipment on Ebay!!

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/e11304.m43.l3160/7?euid=2a0e97ef25f04739bce476152aa9c1e7&bu=43154548413&segname=11304&crd=20200428023702&osub=-1~1&ch=osgood&loc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F223989344589&sojTags=bu=bu,ch=ch,segname=segname,crd=crd,url=loc,osub=osub

[HMC]

Fantastic! A group save would provide an AS (“show plate”) making service, although I suspect it would be problematic to organise. It’s not clear what is included in the set. Theoretically at £20 a pair 30 sets would cover the purchase cost; add a scanner and replicating dealer logos etc; it’s probably easier to resort to an e bay specialist that crop up from time to time.

[mk2_craig]

[BorniteIdentity]

Which means, in a few days, he'll take less.  

It's not really worth much to anyone as monetising it legitimately will be - let's say - difficult.  (and he's got no 4s!)

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to get a batch of proper number plates made up for my old relics, but I think he needs to be stuck with it a bit longer and accept a bit less for me to be interested.  I'd probably f**k up the first few attempts anyway!

 

[loserone]

1 hour ago, HMC said:

£20 a pair

Well up for this

[Isaac Hunt]

I used to make up plates as a lad when starting out in the parts business. 

IIRC, the ‘oblong acrylic’ were a non stick reflective, on which the black letters were applied (like letraset transfers).  The acrylic was highly self adhesive on the reverse side.  The two parts were then put through a ‘mangle set of rollers’.   There was an ‘art’ to that, to keep it parallel on the leading edge so that the plate didn’t come out on the ‘squif’.   IIRC, that was the Hills Hi-Speed system.  

When you got adept at the ‘letraset’ and ‘mangle’ side, you could say they were Hi-Speed.  Although, when training a new starter (especially a fat fingered yoof with a lack of dexterity) the waste bin did get a bit full.

when they introduced the Q prefix, there was no ‘letraset’ one had to use an O and a part of 1.  Needless to say, I saw some good Q’s and some proper PMSL Q’s

The White and Yellow reflective was a Bit larger than the acrylic, so a sharp craft knife was used to run down the plate to trim it.  That was quite impressive when you had mastered it.

The ‘Serck Italic’ font was a special based on a typeface design created by William Towns (Of Hustler Kit Car Design) IRRC.  I ran them on my cars at the time.  There was a bit of a ‘brooh hah’ about their legality and I think by the time we got to the very late 80’s Serck has stopped them.  

I’m not sure if the Serck System worked the same as the Hills system.  I have half a hunch, some systems used an adhesive reflective.  It was a long time ago.

 

[BorniteIdentity]

15 minutes ago, Isaac Hunt said:

I used to make up plates as a lad when starting out in the parts business. 

IIRC, the ‘oblong acrylic’ were a non stick reflective, on which the black letters were applied (like letraset transfers).  The acrylic was highly self adhesive on the reverse side.  The two parts were then put through a ‘mangle set of rollers’.   There was an ‘art’ to that, to keep it parallel on the leading edge so that the plate didn’t come out on the ‘squif’.   IIRC, that was the Hills Hi-Speed system.  

When you got adept at the ‘letraset’ and ‘mangle’ side, you could say they were Hi-Speed.  Although, when training a new starter (especially a fat fingered yoof with a lack of dexterity) the waste bin did get a bit full.

when they introduced the Q prefix, there was no ‘letraset’ one had to use an O and a part of 1.  Needless to say, I saw some good Q’s and some proper PMSL Q’s

The White and Yellow reflective was a Bit larger than the acrylic, so a sharp craft knife was used to run down the plate to trim it.  That was quite impressive when you had mastered it.

The ‘Serck Italic’ font was a special based on a typeface design created by William Towns (Of Hustler Kit Car Design) IRRC.  I ran them on my cars at the time.  There was a bit of a ‘brooh hah’ about their legality and I think by the time we got to the very late 80’s Serck has stopped them.  

I’m not sure if the Serck System worked the same as the Hills system.  I have half a hunch, some systems used an adhesive reflective.  It was a long time ago.

 

For the sake of brevity, @Isaac Hunthas agreed to be the operator if we pay for the thing.

Well volunteered mate. This place etc xoxo

[Tadhg Tiogar]

On 2/1/2012 at 6:07 PM, Vinylseats said:

There's nothing worse than an old car with modern number plates. ....

There's nothing worse than a modern car with black-and-silver plates.

[Andyrew]

We have/had both types at work. The adhesive acrylics onto a reflective with the numbers printed onto makes a nicer plate.

Print on backing throw into the jig, grab an acrylic, peel back half the film to a sort of 90°angle to the plate, place the acrylic above the backing and line up along the top, drop down the acrylic onto the backing,whip the rest of the film Out, Wang it through the mangle. 

The newer type,  where the number is printed onto a clear film , this is then rollered onto a acrylic or metal backing that is the reflective and adhesive all in one makes for a shite plate. I've never bothered to make them as they always looked shit.  Also another issue was that because the printed letters on the clear film actually print in a very very dark grey and not black so they were not technically legal.

 

[Timewaster]

Number plate bits on ebay... 

How fucking much??!! 

 

I too have made plates over several jobs / systems. 

That is by no means the best system and AFAIK it is illegal to supply number plate components to an unlicensed manufacturer so you might have trouble getting the reflectives or acrylics once that stock runs out. 

 

With independent factors and spares retailers disappearing rapidly I'd say that was £200s worth at the most. 

 

And you will likely cock up the first half a dozen you make so factor that in too. 

Oh, and the whole illegality of it if that bothers you. 

 

[UltraWomble]

Shame that Designaplate guy isnt still going -they were really good plates.

[bunglebus]

I'd like some correct era plates for my Passat, it's got modern font ones at the mo. My mum's Dolomite had the Serck ones with proper "4", always wondered why they were different

[mk2_craig]

On 4/28/2020 at 4:37 PM, Timewaster said:

Number plate bits on ebay... 

How fucking much??!! 

 

I too have made plates over several jobs / systems. 

That is by no means the best system and AFAIK it is illegal to supply number plate components to an unlicensed manufacturer so you might have trouble getting the reflectives or acrylics once that stock runs out. 

 

With independent factors and spares retailers disappearing rapidly I'd say that was £200s worth at the most. 

 

And you will likely cock up the first half a dozen you make so factor that in too. 

Oh, and the whole illegality of it if that bothers you. 

 

I see someone offered £395 for it, successfully.  Wasnt you was it?

[Timewaster]

36 minutes ago, mk2_craig said:

I see someone offered £395 for it, successfully.  Wasnt you was it?

Not me.

I have no desire to make any more number plates. I've done my share.