The Camaro Club (UK)

Morning!

Got stopped by the cops on the way to work.
I may (or may not...) have been a little heavy on the accelerator and he pulled me over - but rather than give me a ticket, we had a chat about my plates.
Now, the plates that are fitted came with the car, and have been through at least one MOT.
The lettering is about 5mm too small, apparently.
So now I've been given two weeks to fix them, present to an MOT station for approval and send off the paperwork.

Any tips on where to go? Will UK lettering even fit on a 3rd gen aperture?
Should I be thinking of changing to a 5 or 6 digit plate to get them to fit?

So, yeah, late for work, but thankfully without a fine or points. Thank you Mr Policeman for going easy!

I don't think you'll get standard UK size letters on a 12x6" plate which is what the camaros only have space for.

There is a rule that on imported cars you can run the smaller sized letters as long as they are spaced correctly and as big as the space allows.. I think UK letters are 79mm high, and smallest allowed import size is 64mm high

Sounds like Mr Policeman didn't appreciate your display of power and decided to pull you up


Lifted from another site, from the DVLA:
"-All number plates must meet standard size for lettering and style (with the exception of imported cars that were not designed for UK plates and have a functional reason for not using standard size plates). Certain imported vehicles may be permitted to display number plates with smaller characters if: The vehicle does not have European Community Whole Type Approval AND the vehicle’s construction/design cannot accommodate standard size number plates".

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Ah that's interesting.
He did point out as well that my plates don't have the manufacturer on them, apparently plates need to have the makers details on them as well.
I've dropped a line to http://www.american-number-plate.com/contact <--- these people.

But yeah, he could've been far more 'by the book' about what happened this morning. He did point out that 5.7 litres only needs a gentle touch...

I've been stopped a couple of times on my plates and the normal policeman doesn't normally know that imported cars can have the smaller plates. On both times they have had to make a call back to "somewhere" when they then agree that the plates size are legal, then they start on the font size. I now carry the DVLA rules in my glove compartment (to which I don't have it with me today). The font size can be smaller due to an import as mentioned above. My car has always passed every MOT fine. When you explain that the policeman they don't seem to care and doesn't carry any wait (even when it was MOT'd 5 days previous)

I think they like looking at the cars...

I always buy my plates off the internet which makes a mockery of the law in respect of proving your shoe size and everything. They also will put a BS number on it and the name and post code of a made up garage if you want them too. What a joke it makes of the whole thing ....(Sorry, one of the things that really is stupid in this life)

When I had an age related plate fitted to my '72 Trans Am, the DVLA gave me a letter of permission to run motor bike size plates & font style, as the UK plates didn't fit the apperture.

The American style plates that you see on some cars can get you into trouble as the font is the wrong style/size. better to try & do it properly to avoid any problems with the plod.

cheers...Nige

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Too much power...not enough hands!!

Well, new 12x6 plates front and rear. Got some ally brackets to hold the plate proud of the aperture, and put a dap of RTV behind it to stop of rubbing on the lower part of the nose. I'll grab a pic eventually.
Anyway - all signed off at the MOT centre, the fix-it note is in the post to the Rozzers. Hopefully that'll be that... so long as I don't get on the loud pedal in front of the cops again.

Yeah ive had trouble with this before also, i had a stuck on plate for a year and got away with it until i was pulled over. Theres no space for a square plate in center of the front (without wrecking it imo) so i put the smallest plate i could on one side.

Heres all you need to know and they will make u set of plates also:

http://www.craigsplates.co.uk/import-number-plates.html

But really most cops dont know so they will give u hard time anyhows!!! Just drive it nice and quiet when u see one late at night and ur be fine

Well, here she is with the plate on -



And the slightly 'make do' fix was...



I know there's specific plate mounts available for the third gen front aperture - measure about 11x5" apparently. Might look into one in the future.

Hi i know its been posted a while but i was just looking over some old posts could you post some more pics of your rear number plate set up from behind not so close up Cheers Neil

I had a set of those flashy non pickup flash camera "royalfamily" no plates on my daily BMW

and was pulled up en route for work in about 1993

the police guy was pretty sharp in that although the no plates look normal in daylight he saw that there was no code/company undreneath them...................

promised that things would change!

they became impossible to replace

and when I fitted same no plates to my mum's car as I was IOM reg I told her NEVER get rid of them!!

First MOT they disappeared "The kind man told me that they had been repaired too often (with sellotape) and had to be replaced"
MOTHERs!!
I see that they can be obtained in South Africa...........place your orders here!

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Kind Regards
TopCat
Secretary
Classic Camaro Club
Member of The Association of American Car Clubs UK
Email :tboles@strathnoon.co.uk Websites: http://www.classiccamaroclubuk.com and:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdhLJtR_ZY4