License plate mounting plate

[SneezerUSA]

Can someone provide me with the dimensions of the rectangular plate for the license plate (front and back)?  My newly purchased  1932 RP has neither. Currently has a Ford Model A taillight and a USA type license plate bracket.  Any help would be appreciated. Arnie

[Nick Turley]

Hi Arnie - you can buy them from Willie Mckenzie - ARP

[Mike Costigan]

This gives you the original sizes for UK plates, which, on the Seven, would have been mounted centrally beneath the radiator and behind the spare wheel. If the car was an original North American car this information would not apply and the licence plate may well have been located to one side under your existing lamp.

https://www.tippersvintageplates.co.uk/p...ent&part=2

[SneezerUSA]

Thanks for the two prompt replies. I have emailed Willi McKenzie to see what he can do for me. I am guessing the car was originally intended for use in the UK. It has the UK 2 blade fan rather than the export 4 blade

[Bob Culver]

I notice your car is lacking the flat steel strip which extends between  the tank brackets and outside of the spare wheel. The plate carrier normally attached to. It is a pain to change wheels and damages paint but a simple clamp to the spare wheel can be fabricated

[SneezerUSA]

Thanks Bob. I have a photo of a 33 and can see that bracket.

[Mike Costigan]

The link that I supplied to the Tippers website is slightly misleading, as the illustration they use for a pre-war plate shows illegal lettering. There was no specified font - for example the figure 3 could have a flat top or a curved top - but the lettering had to be of a consistent thickness (5/8"), so any lettering which had different thicknesses for horizontal and vertical strokes, like the image on the website, did not meet the legal requirement. The modern fashion for serif-lettering is also illegal.

   

[Howard Wright]

Hi Mike

I believe the preferred font is “Charles Wright” font (no relation  ).  It’s readily downloadable.  

I painted the plates on both my cars by printing out the letters and then using the chalk and pencil technique to transfer the image to the plate.

However I think in the States you have to purchase the license plate so for Sneezer the actual font etc is probably not useful?

Cheers

Howard

[Mike Costigan]

Charles Wright is a reasonable modern font to use, although I consider it more a post-war style; pre-war the figures such as 2,3,6,8,9 & 0 tended to have a much rounder profile. Hand-painted lettering almost always adopted a very 'circular' profile, and cast-alloy plates and those with individual cast letters were usually similar; the squarer-style similar to Charles Wright seems to have developed in the late-1930s with the pressed-alloy plates. 

A quick search through photos of my old cars produced the following:

Hand-painted:


  1969 crop (2).jpg (Size: 20.84 KB / Downloads: 220)   
  Image3 (2).jpg (Size: 24.88 KB / Downloads: 220)   
  IMG_5247 (2).JPG (Size: 24.46 KB / Downloads: 220)   

cast-alloy:


  019 (2).jpg (Size: 26.2 KB / Downloads: 220)   
  2018-06-20-0003 (2).jpg (Size: 19.99 KB / Downloads: 220)   
  rear (2).JPG (Size: 27.56 KB / Downloads: 219)

individual cast-alloy letters:


  006 (2).jpg (Size: 22.49 KB / Downloads: 220)   
  1986 Malvern (2).png (Size: 26.23 KB / Downloads: 220)

[Howard Wright]

Hi Mike

You’re right. Looking at my hand painted plates now the numbers do appear a little modern. 

Not that I’m going to change them. Hand painting my plates took ages and several attempts!

Cheers

Howard