I fought the law.

I fought the law.

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Discussion

shoebag

Original Poster:

1,137 posts

259 months

Monday 12th April 2004
quotequote all
What is it with this country that it s me off so much?
Had a great weekend in Jersey with Bumblebee, Steve K in his Viper GTS R , 15 Ferraris and 4 Astons hacking about the island. I dock at Poole harbour today and get pulled immediately by the passport/customs police ref my front plate. Their whole attitude stinks and the copper who stopped me was one of those who had a massive chip on his shoulder. (You know the type. Obviously he isn`t getting any!)
Spoil my day , my weekend, my week but you are not getting me to drill holes in the front of my Viper. Never ever!

Viper

10,005 posts

280 months

Tuesday 13th April 2004
quotequote all
and the law won?

you rebel, hope you got away with it !

te51cle

2,342 posts

255 months

Tuesday 13th April 2004
quotequote all
How about a stick-on plate like Velveteen ?

hazzardv8

180 posts

272 months

Tuesday 13th April 2004
quotequote all
sorry i disagree here,
if you want to live in this country you have to abide by the laws of the land(whether you like it or not) and the law says you must have a front number plate.
i've got an e type roadster and a gts so i do have some sympathy.(and i'm not really a miserable old sod)
just because the car was not designed to have a number plate is no defence.
we may as well all have those squigely number plates or none at all??

shoebag

Original Poster:

1,137 posts

259 months

Tuesday 13th April 2004
quotequote all
Well HazzrdV8 you do sound like a boring old sod!
My Viper GTS ACR cost me £50k and if you think I am going to deface it you are seriously wrong.
Your attitude sucks as much as the twatty copper who pulled me.

viper paul

2,485 posts

281 months

Wednesday 14th April 2004
quotequote all
As a ex Twatty Copper I am going to stay out of this one.

However with so many number plate recogniction systems being in use you will not get away with no front plate for long, even if you get a warning it will be registered with the force and if caught again you may well be targeted with anything from a fine to court if you persist.
Most of these system are used to protect us, your car is scanned before entereing any ferry, some major cities channel tunnel etc. no front plate then you need to be checked the long way by lots of Q&A.

In my opinion this offense will soon go to a three point penalty and sixty quid fine.

If you want a front plate by the way there are some holes pre drilled on the front underneath and I just used two peices of bent Ali, or Jon B sells a stick on thingy that works well.

viper_larry

4,338 posts

263 months

Wednesday 14th April 2004
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Talk nicely to Neil and he may produce some legal size stick on letters - that's what I did to save drilling?

vetteheadracer

8,271 posts

260 months

Wednesday 14th April 2004
quotequote all
Having to deface a car 'cos the law says so sucks! Stick-on number plates (like on a E-Type Mr. Hazzard) are now illegal. So you may have a front number plate but you are still up for 3 points should a twatty copper choose to be an arse.

If the police use the old "how do we know it's your car" argument they should try looking up the DVLA computer and typing in "Yellow with Black Stripes Dodge Viper GTS" and see how many it comes back with....er.....ONE.

I am f**ked off with the playing by the rules as all the real criminals (no insurance, no tax, no MOT) get away with it all the time and the police do f**k all about it, 'cos they know the courts won't do f**k all about it.


The Government say it is to protect us from terrorists, and how many terrorists are they expecting to turn up in a Dodge Viper?

I will get off my soapbox now and go and have a lie down........


>> Edited by vetteheadracer on Wednesday 14th April 09:47

Viper

10,005 posts

280 months

Wednesday 14th April 2004
quotequote all
Under sized dodgy front plate is on to cover up existing holes although not worth the aggro of not running one for me with a cop traffic station just a miles away. Even the lack of use the viper gets, I'm sure I'd get stopped sooner or later for no plate

viperdave

5,572 posts

260 months

Wednesday 14th April 2004
quotequote all
Agree with Jan and Nigel the viper was never meant to have a front plate and the Vette looks better without also.

Jan how about one like mine? Doesn’t look as if it needs any holes, as it is fixed on by two V shapes at the front and two hooks that go around the back of the centre fin on the front facia. The whole bracket is pretty discreet and all you really have is the plate just in front of the facia, I’ll post some pics later when I get home.

Unfortunately I don’t know were it came from as it was on the car when I got it but probably wouldn’t be too hard to fabricate an equivalent or may even have some identification marks if I look closely. If you want to take a closer look give me a shout and I’ll pop down to the shop one lunch time.

Also wasn’t there a big political hoo-ha a couple of years ago that the AACUK and Paul Strudwick got involved in that resulted in US cars that couldn’t be fitted with a regular plate could have the motorcycle size fitted, not sure if those really tiny ones count but I’ve been wondering if it would be possible to fit one discretely between the facia fins.

Ps do you carry around a broken one in the boot for just such an occasion “err it just broke off officer and I was on my way to halfwits to get a new one. Look here are the bits honest gov.”

Glad you had a good time until your return though.

viperdave

5,572 posts

260 months

Wednesday 14th April 2004
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As promised some pics.






>> Edited by viperdave on Wednesday 14th April 23:01

V1PER

6,630 posts

267 months

Wednesday 14th April 2004
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FRONT PLATES LOOK Dont run (or drive)with one never did on my CHEVY before either,In about 7 yrs only been pulled once and they were fine,told them it restricted airflow ant car was running hot....
But then as everybody knows my plates are perfectly legal

shoebag

Original Poster:

1,137 posts

259 months

Thursday 15th April 2004
quotequote all
It`s all good. The certain sticky plate my Viper friend made me has saved the day.
The good thing about sticky plates is you can peel them off!

hazzardv8

180 posts

272 months

Friday 16th April 2004
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nice compromise!!

V6GTO

11,579 posts

249 months

Friday 23rd April 2004
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This is what my 3000 GTO looks like
http://photos.fotango.com/p/eba00430428f00000002.jpg

neville turner

9 posts

277 months

Saturday 24th April 2004
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Motorcycles do not have to display a front number plate... why the hell should cars?

ws6

420 posts

247 months

Sunday 25th April 2004
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Hi fellow American Muscle owners...


My car hasn't got a home on this Forum so thought I'd look around at some others. I've already upset the Noble Owners by posting up a picture of one on fire !! See, turbo's do get hot !

Re: this thread. Totally agree, those of us that are "legal" and pay our taxes ect are an easy target.

My T/A runs without a front numberplate (although the blanking plate can come off)


My other other T/A has a stick on plate as there is no where, like the viper, for one to go ! It took years for the government to allow North American cars to use smaller motor-bike size plates but I feel with the amount of automated plate recognition cameras around being fully plated up (front and rear) will be a priority. I guess they will fully link, tax, mot and insurance and fine you accordingly for any that you haven't got.

I'm thinking of dumping the legal rear plate and fitting a old US plate - Yes officer, just imported it - where will all the speeding fines go ??

ws6

420 posts

247 months

Sunday 25th April 2004
quotequote all
Just thought I'd add this from the DVLA site

All registration marks must be displayed in accordance with The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 (obtainable from Her Majesty's Stationery Office).

Rules for the display of number plates are set out in law, briefly these are: -

A number plate must be displayed at the front and rear of motor vehicles (with some exceptions).
Number Plates must be easy to read and meet the British Standard.
Lettering should be black on a white plate at the front and a yellow at the rear.
The background surface should be reflex-reflecting but the characters must not.
There are separate requirements for traditional number plates displayed on vehicles constructed before 1 January 1973.
Lettering and spacing must be of a set size. They must conform to one of the groups shown at:- Number plates fitted after 1 September 2001 or Number plates fitted before 1 September 2001.


I wonder what the "exceptions" are ??? Probably motorbikes.

Also this bit re-imports........

Display of Vehicle Registration Marks on Imported Vehicles
(which have a restricted space for a standard sized number plate)
Certain imported vehicles may be permitted to display number plates with smaller characters if:

The vehicle does not have European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval

AND


The vehicle's construction/design cannot accomodate standard size number plates
Specifications for smaller sized plates (for certain imported vehicles)

Character Height 64mm
Character Width 44mm
Character Stroke 10mm
Space between characters 10mm


(motorbike size)

I'll find out what the exceptions are and post back...

jj

vetteheadracer

8,271 posts

260 months

Monday 26th April 2004
quotequote all
:ws6 said:
Display of Vehicle Registration Marks on Imported Vehicles
(which have a restricted space for a standard sized number plate)

The space for displaying a number plate is zero on a Viper!

>> Edited by vetteheadracer on Monday 26th April 10:21

ws6

420 posts

247 months

Monday 26th April 2004
quotequote all
I guess it cant be part of the SVA ?

But probably will be if it becomes too big a problem.