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MG Midget and Sprite General - Sticky Number Plates

I am just wondering how legal is it having sticky number plates (ideally one to replace the square boot one, and one stuck onto the bonnet?)

Cheers :)
Rich K

I may be corrected but they will not be strictly legal as the surface should be completely flat (presummably so they reflect evenly and(?) for the reg to be read)

You'd probably get away with it as long as the rear one is illuminated

and black plates would not be strictly legal for later cars

P.S. assuming a UK car
Nigel Atkins

The only actual regulation is that you display one on the front of the car, and one on the back - then it's up to any individual copper on any mood of a day!

There are plenty of folk who have them stuck on, and it's fine - but you might want to check with your MOT centre, as they will be the ones who will either comment - or not - on it.
rachmacb

Depends on year of car, maybe; before 1973 the rules were less onerous.

I use stick ons front and rear on RWA/73; front on panel below rad grill; rear onto ally plinth on orig position.

The char set is reasonably similar to current; backgrounds are yellow and white (but not really reflective!).

A
Anthony Cutler

i know lots of people who have them on their minis, plus i have seen loads of mx5's with sticky plates on their bonnets.

i was going to go for the standard yellow/white plates (instead of the black and silver)
Rich K

Sticky plate on the bonnet will not pass an MOT by the letter of the law.

It states the plate must be on a vertical plane, as such a sticky plate on the bonnet is not on a vertical plane.

Run without one at all, its still only a £30 fine and tbh, noones is going to abuse a cute wee midget with laws they know very little about.

£120 deep in number plate fines now for every car ive owned, but never experienced a problem with the midgets
PeterJMoore

I might not have it 100% right but there are requirements for numberplates, some are even retropective - I can't have the period style on my car for road use

below is from the excellent AA BOOK OF THE CAR (1970) some regs have changed since then but it'll give you an idea

just lost what I'd typed so I'll just say I think you'd be aright with a Midget

ETA: Peter posted whilst I was loosing text

Nigel Atkins

Oh just for the record as many classic owners argue about this -

Vehicles manufactured BEFORE 1st January 1973 are allowed to display traditional style 'black and white' plates i.e. white, silver, or grey characters on a black plate

plus if you're actually using your classic at night then reflective numberplates are a very good idea especially when you consider the size and light you get from the rear lights on the early cars
Nigel Atkins

As I said - speak to the place you do your MOT and see what does and doesn't get caught by the cops in your area ;)
rachmacb

This is the official DVLA document http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/forms/~/media/pdf/leaflets/V796.ashx
Geoff E

its interesting, as the guide only mentions the actual plate itself (and whether you can have a black and silver one or not)

may have a wee chat with my MoT man, and see what he suggests, or at least what his bribe level is?
Rich K

See also pages 8 and 10 here - http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_067666.pdf

If you want to look up The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations and its ammendments

Anthony –
‘Vehicles manufactured after 1 January 1973, must display number plates of reflex-reflecting material’ but as I keep saying I’m sure you’d get away with it in a Spridget

Rach –
yes you’re got to get the plates passed your MOT station but I don’t think in a Spridget you need worry about the Police unless you (not meaning you Rach but all of us) upset them and you’d be a fool to do that and deserve what ever you get – yes the Police can be in a bad mood but with a Spridget driver?!!
Nigel Atkins

Rich if you have a regular guy and he's definately going to be there when you take your car in for MOT then maybe, possibly have a word in advance if you think he's a decent sort of guy only

You should have vertical really:-

Regs here for you
Before 2001 vehicles
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/regulation/7/made

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/regulation/5/made

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/regulation/6/made

Nigel Atkins

I had my car's bonnet reg mark inspected by a traffic cop who didn't commit to legal or illegal. He said it would need a court case and a proper test conducted which involved marking a triangle etc etc which didn't interest him in conducting.

He said I might have trouble at the MOT and one year I did so I now carry an MOT acceptable number plate with me on MOT day in case I have trouble again.

Daniel Thirteen-Twelve

Go to the VOSA website and look for publications you will find the MOT testers Manual.
It says the usual things about being clear not going to fall off etc. Then for vehicles reg after 01/01/73 the plate must be vertical or as near vertical as possible and has black letters on the correct coloured background letters. From that I would expect a pre 73 car to pass with stick on plates.

Mike
M J Pearson

That's right Mike

If the vehicle is pre 73 effectively a stick on plate is acceptable and all other rules regarding dimensions are sort of arbitary

I think the confusion seems to stem from (for me anyway) that when I was a lad I always believed that stick on plates were reserved exclusively for E Type Jaguars. I believed the story that the E Type had special permission to use this type of plate on the front of the car on the basis that a fixed plate in the vertical position would "ruin" the sleek lines of the car. Seems not that all cars of the era had the same benefit! It was a romantic story anyway!
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

Mike, Bob, Rich has a 1500 so could be in the very slight and light grey area but I'm sure it wouldn't cause too much trouble especially if his usual MOT tester is used to classics, might not even enter his mind

Daniel, I suppose carrying the MOT acceptable number plate to the MOT isn't a lot of hassle (except I'd forget to take it) but surely you'd have to actually mount it on the car to pass, assuming you have somewhere to mount it

I find charm and good looks always sucessfully gets me out of these situations - or, more likely, it could be I always go back to the same place and am curtious to the tester before, during and after the test and give a few pence for a can of drink after the test regardless of outcome and they know I'll rectify any advisories and advice promptly

Not that I want, expect or get let off any MOT item, just a bit of common sense, I prefer a fair strict tester if there's anything wrong with my car I want to know

They've (usually see one of two guys) given me advice and pointed out non-MOT bits to me too

Being friendly and building a relationship can easily pay you back well - of course it has sometimes gone the other way but that's with companies run by rip-off merchants and con-men not with guys doing MOTs
Nigel Atkins

Interesting point...

Nigel's post says that vehicles MANUFACTURED after 1/1/73 must have reflective plates, whereas Mike's post says REGISTERED after 1/1/73.

My MGB was manufactured in 1967 but registered in 1976. Can I legally use white letters/numbers on a black background?
Dave O'Neill 2

Just to add extra info for people, some of the stick on ones do have legal overall size, spacing, typeface and reflectivity. (eg www.craigsplates.com - no affiliation other than as a satisfied customer)
I would have thought that one of those stuck onto the back is very close indeed to vertical and so is less likely to get you pulled. trickier to acheive that at the front though. I too am tempted by the stick on one at the rear, but will probably stick to my pressed metal one as its patinating nicely now! It technically isn't legal either as it doesn't have the manufacturers name & postcode on it but it would take a very picky officer to spot that.

-Craig
C Robertson

just checked MOT testers manual definately says registered after 01/01/73

Mike
M J Pearson

Dave, from DVLA booklet INF104 'Vehicles manufactured after 1 January 1973, must display number plates of: reflex-reflecting material'

see page item 7 on page 8 here - http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_067666.pdf

thus you can have black plates (and not pay road tax)

It's not often I know something my mate doesn't about cars so this subject is now well set in my mind (until I forget again)
Nigel Atkins

Might not be worth the hassle of being stopped continually, while it is still wearing its 'R' suffix registration.

When I finally get round to transferring my 3-letter 3-number registration, I will have white on black plaates.
Dave O'Neill 2

Dave I don't think you'd get stopped by a copper in a car that clearly looks like a '60s MGB with either plates but you might have fun with some MOT testers

If you're going to use the B at night I'd still put reflective plates on for safety and they were used well before 1973, just seen an old photo with a G reg on refective plates - I'm too young to remember, well to have noticed or bothered
Nigel Atkins

Nige you have now reminded me of how we change in life.

As you rightly suggest yellow reflective number plates were available long before 1973, I seem to remember them being available around 1963/64 (A reg) and in that time most people wanted to fit them because it was vogue "in fashion"

Nowadays of course everyone wants to use the black and white number plates because these are vogue with classic car ownership. How strange a race we are LOL.
Bob Turbo Midget England

Bob I had no idea they went that far back that's interesting

and when has any fashion been a particularly good idea

oh yeah, having reflective number plates on cars in 63/64 was a good idea, just broken my own statement, doh

In my first Spridget nearly 20 years ago I was going down a dual-carrageway at some lick at night when I was suddenly bearing down on the dim rear light of a cyclist well out on the inside lane, turned out to be a MGA doing about 40 mph with his n/s rear light not working and black barely illuminated rear plate

Ever since then I've thought reflective plates were a good idea, even though my Spridget at the time had black plates but all my lights and wiring were new and working

I think the MGA to be going that slow must have been lost and returning from stopping late at a show or visiting friends or just purchased (???)
Nigel Atkins


From wikipedia [yes, I know its limitations]:

All vehicles manufactured after 1 January 1973 must display number plates of reflex-reflecting material..... This type of reflecting plate was permitted as an option from 1968: many vehicles first registered before 1973 may therefore carry the white/yellow reflective plates and, where they were first registered during or after 1968, they may have carried such plates since new.

HTH

Doug Plumb

Nige

Weren't your headlights working on that particular evening? (I too own and use an MGA)

Nige of course a reflective number plate is safer! but so are/is

Crumple zones
colapsable steering columns
run flat tyres

ETC ETC

So I guess you get the jist of the arguement do you buy a supersafe Mercedes slk roadster? or do you buy a Spridget?
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

Bob,
The difference is that most modern safety enhancements cannot be readily retrofitted or designed into a Spridget. Whereas, if one wishes - or if Nigel wishes - a reflective numberplate is about as easy a retrofit safety upgrade as it is possible to fit!
That said, my car has silver on black number plates. Because they are legal and look nice (in the daylight)

Guy
Guy

Bob,

(BTW the third line of my last post was taking the mickey out of me not you)

I know my suggesting reflective numberplates for safety is a bit hypocritical having run a few classics as dalies (and previously a Spidget with black plates) same as me believing in seatbelts but not rollover bars for road cars (even having rolled a car with bar fitted)

And people can say something is a good idea and then have others and/or themselve ignore that fact

I didn't pick the car to be a MGA it just happened to be so and I mentioned it as such on here as many would recognise what I meant with the (early?) MGAs having small tail lights

My car had very good headlights, as I said new lights, wiring, connectors, ect.

Visabilty may have been down a little because of rain (or mist, I honestly can't remember which) but it wasn't enough to really mention or have that as an excuse for anything either way

The MGA had the light out and the rest of his lights probably not as bright as they could have been, doing 40 mph on a trunk road (which he has has ever right to do), heck it might even have been his o/s light out, I could have many details wrong but the memory I was left with was how the car didn't stand out well on a potentially very busy road at night

Your SLK remark was very hurtful to me though as many in my club have arrived at that car as they've got (even) older and I'm only 50

Same as when I was a member of the Jag Enthusiast Club 10 years ago and didn't own a Jag, when asked what Jag I owned I replied "I don't, I'm too young"
Nigel Atkins

Well I am always fancying an SLK and I am sure one day the urge will become too strong! It is not far away I suspect! :)
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

they're actually a good car, well so the owners keep telling me many of whom used to be B, (new) F and one TD and (£14K) Midget owner

I just ask the former TD and Midget owner if he's turned up in the taxi again and whether his engine went in the delivery vans

you could get a Crossfire a lot cheaper, a couple of friends had them (manual g/box) and spoke very well of the car
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed between 28/03/2011 and 29/03/2011

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