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Nothing ruins the aesthetic of a car like front license plate laws
- Thread starter tzhu07
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In the past year I've moved to NY, a state that says you need front plates. Getting all my cars up here was a pain in the ass to get them shipped.
All of them took to the front plates fairly well.
I'm wasn't about to ruin the look of my Corvette.
So, I was mature about it and just never put a front plate on.
Its a whole 130 dollar fine * makes beating off motion * if you get pulled over without it. So I don't care. And it doesn't cost you any points in your license.
If that rule is ever changed and it does cost points, I'll get one of these
Are you allowed to place your license plate inside the car behind the windshield on the passenger side? I've seen a lot of cars like that, many of them being boosted cars with large intercoolers showing in the front.
I will say that I find the European-style license plate to be immeasurably more attractive that the stamped aluminum monstrosities we have here in North America.
The European plate is roughly 50% shorter (110mm vs. 160mm) than the North American plate, fitting much more easily into the sculpted front (and rear) bumpers of modern cars. The greater width of the European plate (and the absence of "fluff") allows characters to be larger and easier to read. And the European style are made of a plastic material that seems all but impervious to dings and environmental degradation.
The European plate is roughly 50% shorter (110mm vs. 160mm) than the North American plate, fitting much more easily into the sculpted front (and rear) bumpers of modern cars. The greater width of the European plate (and the absence of "fluff") allows characters to be larger and easier to read. And the European style are made of a plastic material that seems all but impervious to dings and environmental degradation.
I would, but in a crash or when I feel like being retarded and going really fast on a backroad in the corvette, I wouldn't want it flying out of the dashboard and hitting me in the face.
I don't really care that much about it. What really ruins the look on cars are the license plate frames that dealers give out with their names and logo on it.
Thats the first thing I always take off, that and Catalytic converters. Weld in a hollow pipe instead.
Why do you take off your catalytic converter? They help reduce NOx emissions which creates smog. Just leave it on, imo. Not worth the "sound" or whatever.
Yeah, but you might get to an age where you'll need the extension again.
Seriously, we don't have front plates in my state, but I wouldn't be that bent out of shape if we did.
I don't really live in a built up area, so smog isn't an issue ( However I go to NYC a bit, but typically in my F350 ), a few of my cars were made in the 50s and 60s and don't have emissions controls anyway. My Corvette is a performance car, the first thing I did to it was remove the entire original exhaust and had a local shop bend up and install a completely custom exhaust with no catalytic converters, hardly a muffler or resonator, it meets the noise requirements in the state.
Why remove it?
Better sound
Helps the engine breathe better, so more power
Increased MPG ( which I don't care about anyway )
I love the smell of unburned fuel in the morning.
I think out of all my cars, my late model Crown Victoria and F350 are the only ones that still have them.
So you are among the jerks who make others smell the fuel/exhaust, put HID bulbs in reflector type housing blinding everyone, etc?
Why would I put illegal HID bulbs in my car when it already came with the legal non blinding type.
What makes you say that?
The type of people who pit blinding HID bulbs in their cars tend to be what I would refer to as a " ricer ", teenagers and young adults who try to trick out an old Japanese car. ( LOL ).
I can assure I'm not that type of person at all.
Saying you don't like a loud car that idles next to you in traffic for 2 minutes is like saying that you don't like the old people who can't figure out the selfcheck and are ahead of you in line.
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It's not the noise. It's that when I am driving behind you, I have to suffer the horrible exhaust smell from your catless vehicle.
You're that type of person because the person who puts the HID bulb in a reflector because the person wants the better bulb and doesn't care it blinds others. You remove your cats ignoring the fact others have to tolerate that smell.
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LOL, reading through this thread I can clearly see that some of you regard this as an extremely trivial matter. But I've always been obsessive about design (studied architecture in college, and I'm currently working in the web design/development industry), so little details like this catch my eye.
Some of you are overblowing what I'm saying, making it look like this is one of my top priorities in life. This is just small talk.
BTW, as another poster here has mentioned, Steve Jobs also didn't like license plates, even the ones in the back.
Some of you are overblowing what I'm saying, making it look like this is one of my top priorities in life. This is just small talk.
BTW, as another poster here has mentioned, Steve Jobs also didn't like license plates, even the ones in the back.
So you do complain about the same people who drive bio diesel cars that smell far worse than my car? And in many cases are even louder? Or the commercial trucks that often put out huge plumes of black smoke and smell worse and are just as and sometimes louder? Or people in mopeds or motorcycles that are much more often louder and smell even worth ( 2 strokes )?
Typically blinding HID's are cheaper. As the nice one's don't blind people with the proper housings. The people who put cheap blinding HIDs in their cars couldn't afford most of my cars.
You probably hold people up at the checkout line by taking to long, no one complains about that. Where do you get off complaining about a car that you should hardly hear or smell if your windows are up?
I don't complain about people who do 60mph in the passing lane and won't get the hell out of my way.
Turn on your Air Con.
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LOL, reading through this thread I can clearly see that some of you regard this as an extremely trivial matter. But I've always been obsessive about design (studied architecture in college, and I'm currently working in the web design/development industry), so little details like this catch my eye.
Some of you are overblowing what I'm saying, making it look like this is one of my top priorities in life. This is just small talk.
BTW, as another poster here has mentioned, Steve Jobs also didn't like license plates, even the ones in the back.
This is kind of my point, If I'm spending almost 70,000 dollars on a beautiful sports car, I don't want some tacky plate ruining the front end.
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I live in a state that requires it. Most of my cars have been sporty 2dr/vert BMWs that don't come with front licence plates. Going forward though, I'll probably start buying Toyota's and Honda's and will have a front licence plate. As I age, the automobile is becoming more and more a device used to get me from point A to point B, unlike before where it was a status symbol/personality thing etc..
Yeah, I agree with you. Front plates are especially bad on sports cars that have steamlined faces.
Exactly. Which is why unless they start adding points to not having a front plate in my state, I'm not gonna put it on. I'll just pay the fines.
Whats the point of a front plate anyway? Most states get along fine with just a rear plate.
Two wrongs doesn't make a right. Even so, if not for the smell, you're releasing toxic chemicals into the environment that can affect people not only from your area just so you can have (what I find) a more annoying sound.
Tragedy of the commons.
I started to remove my front plate on the weekends. You know, recreationally. Then I found myself taking them off a few times during the work week like at lunch hour. Soon after that I would take em off before and after work and started to drift away from my friends. It all came crashing down on me when I felt the uncontrollable urge to drive around with my left turn signal on.
I've tried to cut back but it's hard. Real hard. I've gained weight.
