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 Almost got busted yesterday! 
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Firing on two.
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Joined: August 31st, 2016, 12:12 pm
Posts: 322
Location: Hawkins County, TN. USA
Post Almost got busted yesterday!
My boss who is from France keeps pointing out that not only do I have two different style number plates but also from two different regions on my 2CV! He tells me, "You would get busted for that in France!".

I don't know what that is all about. I would suspect the front plate might be the original one registered to the car since it seems correct for that period. Why the rear plate has different numbers from a different region and appears to be a pre-EU style (missing the F and stars) I don't know.

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Although I my car is registered and I have a plate for it under the seat, I have yet to mount my American (North American style) plate to the back of the car. One reason is where would you mount it? I'm not going to drill holes in the hatch!

This guy looks like he might have bent the plate at an angle at the bottom to fit the curvature of the body:

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On my Trabant is was quite easy. I just used the holes from the European style plate as a reference point to find the center then drilled four holes for the smaller American style plate then plugged the European plate holes off:

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Since only half the states in the US issue one number plate (1974 or 1973 was the last year Tennessee issued two number plates) I can stick anything on the front as long as it's not from another US state, expired plate or something vulgar. So I have a decommissioned German plate from Zwickau plate on the front.

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I was planning on keeping the rear plate on the 2CV and fabricating some L brackets, drill underneath the bumper and mount the Tennessee plate to the bumper but I think that would look crappy.

Another thing I've seen is people using suction caps in the mounting holes and sticking it in the rear window (still crappy).

So I think I'm going to go with the bent plate route.

Anyway so I was coming home yesterday and pulled in the RH lane at a red light/intersection. I noticed a police car in the left hand lane while waiting for the light to change. I started to get nervous. Chances are if I did get pulled over and showed the policeman my plate, registration and insurance and explained that I had not yet figured out a way to mount it (and show respect!) he wouldn't write me a ticket.

He just drove on by. My guess was:

1) 6:00 and 6:00 is shift change for police officers so he was probably on his way home and didn't care. Off duty cops can still write you tickets or arrest you and have another officer pick you up if they want to. There has been several times I was going 10 miles over the speed limit during this time while going to work and have never got pulled over for speeding.
2) He had bigger fish to fry (or had some fish and chips and wanted to get home before they go soggy!)
3) Thought it was actually registered in another country and had yet to switch the registration over
4) Simply did not care

One time my friend and I were on a road trip and his Fiat X 1/9 was giving him issues and we were broke down on the interstate. His car is a UK spec version. He says he always runs British plates and has never been pulled over in 25 years! He just keeps the Tennessee plate with him.

A state trooper stopped to see if we needed assistance. I figured he would say something about the British plate on the rear but all he said was, "I know what the problem is, the steering wheel is on the wrong side!".

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September 8th, 2016, 2:29 pm
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Joined: May 10th, 2012, 4:14 pm
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Location: Belper, Derbyshire.
Post Re: Almost got busted yesterday!
Apart from the plates being of different styles and from supposedly different regions, they are actually different registration numbers at each end too, which is the significant thing that might attract the attention of the law if they were supposed to be the cars actual current real registration number, which they aren't. So you now have a US number (which I understand that in your state only has to go on the rear), but you've not yet put it on the car?

French cars had silver on black both ends decades ago, then moved to black on white both ends, then to black on white front but black on yellow rear. I think they're now on the EU standard smooth shiny perspex black on white both ends.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_r ... _of_France


September 8th, 2016, 5:57 pm
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Joined: October 22nd, 2014, 10:59 pm
Posts: 1994
Location: South-Limburg
Post Re: Almost got busted yesterday!
They have aluminium plates now. You have a Meurte et Moselle plate on the front and a Creteil (near paris) at the rear.


September 8th, 2016, 11:36 pm
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Joined: August 31st, 2016, 12:12 pm
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Location: Hawkins County, TN. USA
Post Re: Almost got busted yesterday!
Warren wrote:
So you now have a US number (which I understand that in your state only has to go on the rear), but you've not yet put it on the car?

French cars had silver on black both ends decades ago, then moved to black on white both ends, then to black on white front but black on yellow rear. I think they're now on the EU standard smooth shiny perspex black on white both ends.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_r ... _of_France


Yes. The only reason I hadn't mounted it by now is was trying to figure out where and how to mount it!

I drove my Trabant around for a couple of weeks with no number plate before I got around to mounting it.

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September 8th, 2016, 11:54 pm
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Joined: October 5th, 2009, 8:22 pm
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Post Re: Almost got busted yesterday!
As you only have to put one on the rear - how about leaving the originals where they are and popping your US plate on the fender?

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September 9th, 2016, 12:09 am
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Joined: November 4th, 2009, 4:00 pm
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Post Re: Almost got busted yesterday!
:lol: :lol: A friend of mine had a van [a Ford Tranny/BedfordCF or similar] with two different UK plates on.
I forget the exact reg, but it was along the lines of ...
X 123 ABC on the front
ABC 123 X on the rear
The amazing thing was that he ran it for several months, and it went through an MOT before it was noticed.
T. :lol:

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September 9th, 2016, 3:40 am
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Joined: August 31st, 2016, 12:12 pm
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Location: Hawkins County, TN. USA
Post Re: Almost got busted yesterday!
Kind of decided against bending the plate. I don't know if it would look right. Plus technically you're not supposed to alter the plate, like cutting it down to size to fit which I thought about doing. I'm thinking about going with the centered looked on the rear bumper with some homemade brackets bolted underneath.

Tennessee's evolution of number plates have changed over the years. I suppose whenever there is a budget cut, they look for ways to save money instead of simply raising the registration.

Before 1973 or 1974, we had two number plates that were stamped and painted by prisoners. Then they went to a single plate for the rear.

Initially the plates used the first number for the county then a dash and other numbers and letters. The lower the number, the higher the population. For example, whatever county Memphis is in, was a "1". Hawkins county where I live was "23". Sullivan county (Bristol and Kingsport) was "5".

In the mid 1980s, our county imposed a wheel tax on top of the state fee. So in neighboring Sullivan county the fee is $23 for our county it's $51. And a sticker to be displayed in the windscreen.

Then in the mid 1980s, the went with three letters and three numbers like "ABC 123" with the county underneath it.

Then they did away with the windscreen sticker and started issuing a sticker to go in one of the blocks on the plate along with the month and year the plate expires.

Eventually someone came to the conclusion that since the registration has to be renewed in what ever county you live in, why not just do away with the wheel tax sticker?

Now the plates are no longer stamped but metal with decals for the numbers and letters.

They also issue new plates about every 5 to 10 years for whatever reason.

I'm lucky that most of my cars are 25+ years so I can get a classic plate for $65 and no longer have to pay the state of county tax after that.




Then the

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September 9th, 2016, 8:05 pm
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Joined: March 24th, 2009, 9:18 pm
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Location: 15340 Mourjou France
Post Re: Almost got busted yesterday!
James

It's quite possible that both plates belonged to your very nice 2CV at different times. One of the oddities about French vehicle registration was (it has changed now) that if a car changed hands but the new owner lived in the same French département as the old one, the new owner had to re-register it in his own name, but the number stayed the same.

If the new owner lived in a different département, then the re-registration process involved the car getting a new registration number.

These changes of ownership involved the payment of a small registration fee, and the département would issue a new registration document - the carte grise ("grey card"). The new carte grise would also show what the former registration number had been (though only going back one change of ownership.

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September 10th, 2016, 5:02 pm
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