Number plates

They were fitted with pressed aluminium plates from new but the problem now is that no one supplies the front plates (they have a very slight curvature and the plate ends are asymmetrically shaped) so people opt instead for stick-on replacements.

Hi there,

I've got a 61' Navigator which hasn't got the original front number plate and I was thinking of getting one. Does this now mean that there is no-one in this country that makes them? I assumethe platewould have the same profile as those on aJubilee.In the case ofstick-on replacements is it still possible to get a plate with the right profile for the front mudguard?

...is it still possible to get a plate with the right profile for the front mudguard?

My own research suggests not. The supplier(s) are able to produce stick-on plates in their 'standard curved style' (which, from my observation, is smaller-radiused than authentic plates), leaving the purchaser to trim the ends to the Norton shape of rounded front and pointy rear (if that makes sense).

Previously wrote:

Hi there,

I've got a 61' Navigator which hasn't got the original front number plate and I was thinking of getting one. Does this now mean that there is no-one in this country that makes them? I assumethe platewould have the same profile as those on aJubilee.In the case ofstick-on replacements is it still possible to get a plate with the right profile for the front mudguard?

Hi Sam, you can still get the main front number plate steel new, drilled to suit the mudguard posts,but you'd have to get a plate maker to make up the actual numbers. I recently bought one for my Navigator, which is the same as the one for my 1959 Dommie - both made by Fred Williams - and they come with the rubber "U" channel that fits on the bottom. I would have thought that there are quite few classic numberplate makers who can make the curved plates to fix on the main plate. I see them at Classic Bike shows and you can find them on the internet.

Cheers, Lionel

Previously wrote:

Hi Sam, you can still get the main front number plate steel new, drilled to suit the mudguard posts,but you'd have to get a plate maker to make up the actual numbers. I recently bought one for my Navigator, which is the same as the one for my 1959 Dommie - both made by Fred Williams - and they come with the rubber "U" channel that fits on the bottom. I would have thought that there are quite few classic numberplate makers who can make the curved plates to fix on the main plate. I see them at Classic Bike shows and you can find them on the internet.

There may be some confusion here (mine,possibly). The query was of course about the plates that are pop-riveted to the sides of the De Luxe Jubilee/Navigator front mudguard whereas your response seems to refer to the more normal, centrally-located plates that attach to the top of the standard type of mudguards. Or perhaps I've got it wrong.

Thanks all for your suggestions.

Quick Google for 'Classic motorcycle front number plate' produced this result,

http://www.tippersvintageplates.co.uk/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/tippers?opendocument&part=6

Pressed aluminium and curved for the front.

Steve

Hi all,

Best place I found was http://www.jepsonandco.com/ They were very helpful and freindly when I phoned them regarding my 63 Navigtor.

The end result, aluminium pressed plates front and back for £26.59 inc VAT and postage. Bargain. Just waiting to be bolted on.

Jeff.

Hi

I have a late Dominator for which I want to fit the front number plate.

It currently has the mountings on the chrome mudguards, and I have the blank number plate holder. However, the only aluminium plates that seem to fit are the ones with 6 digits. My bike has a 7 digits registration number, but the 7 digit plates are too large for my number plate holder. So I am a bit confused. What year did it become illegal to have those front number plates?

Many thanks

Isaak

funny enough, there is a 1964 Dominator in the 1967 film The Sorcerers. That bike has a 7 digit number plate (you can check on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VgESScm8ew)

Be very careful when fitting 'pedestrian-slicer' front number plates. There can be very little or no clearance between the rear edge of the number plate and the headlight lens when the forks are fully compressed. Easily measured by doing a little light off-roading and fully comressing the forks at the bottom of a bump and hearing the tinkle of broken glass... Gordon.

Previously wrote:

Be very careful when fitting 'pedestrian-slicer' front number plates. There can be very little or no clearance between the rear edge of the number plate and the headlight lens when the forks are fully compressed. Easily measured by doing a little light off-roading and fully comressing the forks at the bottom of a bump and hearing the tinkle of broken glass... Gordon.

A front plate was the cause of an 80 mph cartwheel and two bikes written off after hitting a humpback bridge in my youth. check clearance!!!.

Was there any "Correct" number plate? Number plates would have been added by the dealer when the bike was ordered, since numbers were issued by local authorities in the days before DMVL in Wales was set up.

It would have been up to the dealer to source the number plates. I remember that stick on numbers were available from Halfords, so anybody could make up their own plates.

Back in the 1950s and early 1960s the standard style plates were pressed aluminium with raised letters & numbers. Stick ons are still available now.

Previously wrote:

Hi all,

Best place I found was http://www.jepsonandco.com/ They were very helpful and freindly when I phoned them regarding my 63 Navigtor.

The end result, aluminium pressed plates front and back for £26.59 inc VAT and postage. Bargain. Just waiting to be bolted on.

Jeff.

Hi All, just as a point of interest, both Jepsons andTippersdo a shield shaped rear pressed aluminium number plate as fitted to T120 Bonnevilles if you should ever need one. Cheers Big Alan Clarke, Shenstone branch

Hi all,

Aluminium plates may have been the standard in the fifties and sixties but some places STILL used signwritten plates well into the sixties. Trinders of Banbury were one such dealership.

Jim

Previously wrote:

Hi,

I have a late Dominator for which I want to fit the front number plate.

It currently has the mountings on the chrome mudguards, and I have the blank number plate holder. However, the only aluminium plates that seem to fit are the ones with 6 digits. My bike has a 7 digits registration number, but the 7 digit plates are too large for my number plate holder. So I am a bit confused. What year did it become illegal to have those front number plates?

Many thanks

Isaak

Hi Isaak,

I don't think front number plates were ever made illegal, I think it was just an advisory suggestion possibly by the government of that time.

I think the endresult of this was that manufacturers ceased to fit or make provision for the fitment of a front plate.

Iam of course prepared to be corrected on this point.

Ian.

Ian is quite right - front number plates ceased to be compulsory, the reason cited that it was to reduce injuries to pedestrians in event of a collision - hence the nickname. Gordon.