Breakthrough In Vehicle-Specific Number Plate Brackets.

How many times have you seen a well prepared show car let down by having its number plates dangling from a couple of self-tapping screws drilled into the bumper or boot lid? Apart from detracting from the finished appearance of the vehicle, this leads to the plate being easily damaged, as well as the likelihood of the paintwork beneath it being scratched and chipped.

In the case of personalized number plates, costing as much as thousands of dollars, it seems a pity that there is not a better way of attaching them to your prized vehicle.

The problem generally, is that car manufacturers do not seem to put much effort into designing their number plate mounting areas. Our locally manufactured vehicles, Holden, Ford, Mitsubishi, Toyota, etc, at best provide a couple of speed-nuts in the bodywork from which the number plates literally dangle.

Some of the up-market European manufacturers, Audi, Mercedes, Volvo, etc, do provide well engineered mounting points. Unfortunately, they do not match our local number plate sizes. Even if you opt for the "Euro" style plates (available in most states in Australia) which suit the size and shape of the mounting areas on these cars, you will usually find the attachment points do not line up with those in the plates themselves.

What is needed is some form of intermediary bracket which matches the holes in our number plates to the mounting points provided on the vehicle. Tasmanian car enthusiast, Philip Reeve, has developed a system which achieves exactly that outcome.

Based on his experience with a new Audi A4 (standard dealership practice is to drill holes in the boot lid to hang the rear plate!), Mr Reeve set about developing a secure and effective mounting system for his vehicle. The result, which his small business, Lakin Custom Plate Brackets, now markets, is a mounting plate CNC machined from aluminium and drilled to match the vehicle for which it is designed. The brackets are also curved to match the curvature of the body of the vehicle , so the fitted plate matches smoothly with the front and rear of the vehicle.

These vehicle-specific brackets are rapidly becoming popular with motoring enthusiasts and new car buyers in Australia. A truly “custom” service is provided for owners of vehicles which they haven’t yet listed in their inventory. The personal nature of their business allows them to design and manufacture new lines, usually within their normal delivery timeframe. Customers simply register their interest online at the company's web site.

Perhaps rattling, dented, ill-fitting number plates will become a thing of the past.