Nashco
Well-known member
I really hate front license plates. Please take this at face value and let's not get into if this is right or wrong, it just is! This thread is for other like-minded people who don't want to put holes in the front end of their car but are required by law to present a front license plate attachment at some point.
Oregon requires a front license plate. My wife and I have run without front plates on many of our cars for years, as we can't stand to screw up a perfectly fine front end for the license plate. This has never posed a problem EXCEPT for Portland meter maids who are allowed to right tickets for lacking a front plate and do so quite frequently. For all of our cars we have some quasi-acceptable workaround, and this is my workaround for the Spark EV. I don't suspect many other people are in the same boat as me, but maybe I'll be surprised.
I had big plans to make a fancy bracket for the plate, but on a whim I grabbed a magnet from my fridge and noticed it stuck to the grill. I tried a few different types and found that the sheet magnets seemed to work best. I ordered this to test my theory:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#5769K52
Item 5769K52 - "Flexible Magnetic Strip with Increased Pull, 1/8" Thick, 3" Wide, 1 ft. Length"
I was ordering some other stuff at the same time, so shipping cost was negligible and the material cost was $6.65. When I got it, the magnet did indeed stick to the grill. The next thing I did was use two pieces of industrial adhesive backed velcro which I just had laying around. I stuck this to the license plate and to the magnet, velcro'd the magnet and plate together, and hung it on the front of the car to get this:
I normally drive with the plate tucked between the center console and the passenger seat. When I park in city areas with meter maids, I attach the front plate to the grill and also put something in front of the instrument cluster as a reminder not to forget the front plate when I'm leaving. One time I drove about a mile before realizing I forgot to remove the plate...fearing the worst, I pulled over prepared to double back and find my plate. Thankfully, the plate had enough magnetic force to stay clung in the short drive that I did! I don't think this would stay put in highway driving, which is fine for me as I remove it when driving anyway, just a warning for those that might want to do so that it's not recommended.
If anybody else has come up with clever plate mounting solutions, I'm all ears, as I'd like to try one that could stay on during normal driving but is still easily removable and easy to install. Meanwhile, this was a very quick and cheap way to make a front plate attachment without screwing up the front end of the car. I suspect this also works on Chevy Volts as well, since they use a similar front grill style.
Bryce
Oregon requires a front license plate. My wife and I have run without front plates on many of our cars for years, as we can't stand to screw up a perfectly fine front end for the license plate. This has never posed a problem EXCEPT for Portland meter maids who are allowed to right tickets for lacking a front plate and do so quite frequently. For all of our cars we have some quasi-acceptable workaround, and this is my workaround for the Spark EV. I don't suspect many other people are in the same boat as me, but maybe I'll be surprised.
I had big plans to make a fancy bracket for the plate, but on a whim I grabbed a magnet from my fridge and noticed it stuck to the grill. I tried a few different types and found that the sheet magnets seemed to work best. I ordered this to test my theory:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#5769K52
Item 5769K52 - "Flexible Magnetic Strip with Increased Pull, 1/8" Thick, 3" Wide, 1 ft. Length"
I was ordering some other stuff at the same time, so shipping cost was negligible and the material cost was $6.65. When I got it, the magnet did indeed stick to the grill. The next thing I did was use two pieces of industrial adhesive backed velcro which I just had laying around. I stuck this to the license plate and to the magnet, velcro'd the magnet and plate together, and hung it on the front of the car to get this:
I normally drive with the plate tucked between the center console and the passenger seat. When I park in city areas with meter maids, I attach the front plate to the grill and also put something in front of the instrument cluster as a reminder not to forget the front plate when I'm leaving. One time I drove about a mile before realizing I forgot to remove the plate...fearing the worst, I pulled over prepared to double back and find my plate. Thankfully, the plate had enough magnetic force to stay clung in the short drive that I did! I don't think this would stay put in highway driving, which is fine for me as I remove it when driving anyway, just a warning for those that might want to do so that it's not recommended.
If anybody else has come up with clever plate mounting solutions, I'm all ears, as I'd like to try one that could stay on during normal driving but is still easily removable and easy to install. Meanwhile, this was a very quick and cheap way to make a front plate attachment without screwing up the front end of the car. I suspect this also works on Chevy Volts as well, since they use a similar front grill style.
Bryce