Number Plates: Show plates

[Steve Broughton]

Oh Dear that would definitely have the berks sorry boys in blue after you, nice bike wassat Yam ?XJR1300 ? (adopt homer simpson voice) “OHLINS oooh errr!!!!”

[eddie cotter]

yeah steve an xjr 1300, did a few xjrs, nice bikes! 😉

[Martin Pearson]

Unfortunatly its not a nice little earner over here Eddie, there is only one legal font now so all new vehicles must be done with this also there are very few fonts the law will accept for older plates. The laws regarding number plates over here are quite strict, in fact they changed again this month. We do some plates but we sell them as show plates and take no responsibility for customers getting stopped.

[WP_Graphics]

Yeah, I aggree with martin, the law is more strict over here..

Saying that I have done quite a few number plates over here…

Does anyone actually know the exact font that is used in the current number plate??

Gav

[Robert Lambie]

Ill post a pic of the plate I have on my own car here tomorrow if I remember…
I sometimes do plates printed with the pc60…
I use the correct font but in Photoshop bevel the font to make it look 3-dimensional. Just like the old fashioned plates except its flat. I also ghost the logo of the model of the car repeatedly in the background. The I little border all round it. Looks smart! It’s all printed on one piece of clear vinyl with the pc60. You just stick the clear to the reflective backing and then the plastic on top… still very law abiding and ive never had any feedback of complaints from the police… its easy done and ive seen me get £40-£50 For the prints only 😉

[eddie cotter]

yeah over hear, you only get pulled over if you are driving an impreza
in reverse at 100mph, we aint got many coppers:D 😀 😀 eddie

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[steve]

Eddie i drove my Impreza at 100mph in reverse..got done for loitering! 😀 😀

[Adrian Howard]

Heres mine i have posted before and still have no problems with the Law
and still gets lots of comments and jobs from it

Adrian

[steve]

this is mine!

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[eddie cotter]

nice wheels steve, i see you are making loads of money 😀
any chance of a loan 😀 😀 😀

[Martin Pearson]

Gavin you cant get the legal font unless you register and buy/rent a machine to do plates legally. But you could do what we did. Popped into the post office got a leaflet that explains the new rules (and shows the correct font), scanned the leaflet and duplicated the text. Took a bit of time but we now have a complete set of letters and numbers which we can use to make up number plates. I still tell people they are only show plates though as I am not registered to sell legal plates.

[eddie cotter]

this is my car, as i cant afford a jag 😀 😀 😀 dont get to drive it much, as the wife always robs it on me.

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[Adrian Howard]

If anybody wants the legal font in ttf form
email me and i will post it to you
the board does not allow ttf upload

[Joe McNamara]

Be careful with “show plates”.
I had a set of plates on my shogun with a chiseled font – black/dark grey – very easy to read but not according to a pain in the ass plod who gave me a fixed penalty fine for them 2 days before christmas last year.
It’s relatively easy to get registered ( so I’m led to believe ) and there’s a good profit to be had from numberplates.
You can get the blanks and reflectives from grafityp .
Cheers
Joe

[Kevin.Beck]

we used to supply both stardard and show plates. But we now only do show, as we couldn`t compete with the car shop down the road £9 apair. well we could but it wasn`t worth the bother. the owner of the said car shop poped in about a year ago, asking if we would do showplates for him, @ “trade” prices. (just suppling the cut numbers, with app tape on) I nearly died when he said that his current supplier was too dear, @£3 a pair. 😮 😮

with the show plates we can get any thing from £18 – £30 a pair.

Robert, i have never tried to do the ghosting with the p6, is it just the case of printing on clear, applying that to the plate, then dropping on the reflective backing? Do you just print as normal, due to the substate being clear, does that give the transparent look?

kev

[Richard Urquhart]

hi joe its well easy to apply just fill in the form and send dvla £40 wait 2 week and they send you back your supplier ref number which you need so you can buy the backings etc etc there are 2 companys who you can use i dont know if i can say here so let me know ,there is good profit in it i,m told and going on prices i have been given it sounds good

[Kevin.Beck]

rich.
are u saying when you become registered, u can only buy from certain suppliers? 🙁 🙁
kev

[Martin Pearson]

Hi Richard, are you saying as a registered plate supplier you are told where you must buy the blanks?
How do you do them ? have you had to buy/rent the machine that stores all the details about the customer and prints your post code on each plate?

[Richard Urquhart]

no mate you can buy them from who you want i was just saying i found 2 companys offering good prices you have to keep records of every number plate i.e you need to see a copy of there v5 also i.d like drivers licence and its your details on the plate i.e d-mite signs cro6rd or what every you put on your application form

[Richard Urquhart]

martin as i said they give you all the stuff you need in way of tools and lay out board ,roller etc etc thet even supply you with a case to keep all the numbers and letters in
or you can buy or hire a laser printer in which case you do the layout on screen and send to the printer then just roll and its all done 😀 😀 😀

[steve]

bought this plate this morning GUESS THE PRICE? S77GNS

[Steve Broughton]

Steve, probably about a grand but IMHO WHY? SAD SAD SAD 🙁 if I had that much money to waste I’d probably give it to charity.

[steve]

Steve I buy plates for investment made £600 on one this week not as SAD as it seems mate

[Sparky]

Steve,

Don’t forget, Mr. Broughton would only want to do them if he could make them from 18mm medite, routed, hand painted, router cut lettering & then gilded 😆 😆 😆 😆

Nice one m8, earning £600 for selling a plate has gotta be good business in anybody’s book.

anyway, I’m gonna be a saddo too, gonna have the plate off my dad’s trooper for my van K20BS ….. Budget Signs :))

[steve]

nice one Sparky I paid £240 for S77GNS they are there if you look hard enough

[Sparky]

£240 for S77GNS was cheap enough wasn’t it 😆 😆 😆

Funnily enough, i went to buy the trooper a couple of years ago, with Dad & drove it home 25 miles for him ….. then the penny dropped !! Told him it was “MY plate” but I had to wait until the car was gonna be sold 🙁

[Steve Broughton]

Hey Spark 😀 are you sure that “BS” don’t stand for Bull Shine 😎 heres one for ya T055 ERR 😀 😆 only £10k, Steve Parrish the ex-bike racer, truck racer and all round big heads reg. no. is PEN15, says it all really. 😛 😛 😛 😀 😆

[WP_Graphics]

You can just about see my plates from here, fraid they are just plain legal plates..

[steve]

a mean machine Gav what is it? I had a Prodrive scoobie- mind blowing!!! had to get rid as i was attacked by car thieves- all the rage in Bradford- from grown up racer to jag pipe and slippers overnight pity I cant get the ladders on the roof!!

[Henry Barker]

Over here you can have whatever you like using 6 or 7 letters or numbers for about £350, and that lasts 10 years before you need to renew.

[WP_Graphics]

Hi Steve,

It’s a vauxhall Cavalier 4×4 Turbo, pushing out circa 370BHP…

This is what I mainly do, the signs are a bit of a side line which I enjoy doing for a hobbie.

check out no advertising please

Gav

[Jonathan O'Lone]

can someone provide me with the details of the company ‘grafityp’
as i would like to contact them – email/www/address etc.

can i have a copy of the DVLA font too plz?

are there any other supliers for numberplate equipment / supplies in northern ireland / ireland ?

best regards to all – jonny

(mod-edit) admin@uksignboards.com

[John Childs]

Graphityp UK Ltd
103 Mariner
Tamworth
Staffs
B79 7UL

Tel: 01827 63300

[Mike Brown]

Jonnny – I think Adrian @Signrite can help you…click on the link below and then scroll right down to the last but one entry…

https://www.uksignboards.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2045&highlight=

more soon

mikethesign

[Terry Bull]

These are a design that I have done mail order for several years
all painted and airbrushed before being rolled together

This customer knows the risks but that how he wanted them

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[Richard Urquhart]

wicked mate wicked i love them great work 😀 😀 😀

[steve]

We recently became a registered Number Plate manufacturer and the calls are starting to come in predictably mostwant doctored plates! this as you all know i can not do I will now need to find out the best way of actually making plates can anybody fill me in on how best to do it I have all the signmaking kit but no rolers i also have a router do i need tobuy the acrylic from anybody else as i can cut my own I think this method will suffice simply type in the reg mark spaced as the DVLA would have it and cut in black in reverse mount the mark to the acrylic and apply yellow/white reflective over the acrylic and text seems simple but is that OK where can i get screws and covers I NEED THE FONT and am prepared to pay for it CAN ANYONE HELP it needs to be Mac format i await the usual flood of assistance.

[Martin Pearson]

Steve, thats how we do them at the moment, we cut text in reverse with a 5mm border at the same size as the acrylic, this makes application easy as there is no measuring up. Apply the vinyl to the acrylic and cover with an adhesive faced reflective. We get them from Grafityp as you can buy them in packs of two so we dont need to buy large quantities. As for the acrylic if you are making legal plates you cant cut your own as the acrylic now has to carry a BS mark, but if you are making show plates I dont see this being a problem.
We dont have a roller we just give them a good squeegee, but I read on the boards that someone bought an old mangle at a car boot sale for a couple of pounds that works a treat.

[steve]

Thanks for that Martin have you any idea what the BS ref No is for the acrylic?
The blurb that the DVLA sent me with my licence had no mention of any production guidelines or preferred suppliers for components I have now had 5 enquiries all 5 wanted me to doctor the plates

[Kevin Flowers]

quote steve:

Thanks for that Martin have you any idea what the BS ref No is for the acrylic?
The blurb that the DVLA sent me with my licence had no mention of any production guidelines or preferred suppliers for components I have now had 5 enquiries all 5 wanted me to doctor the plates

Hi
don’t do any reg plates myself but do some work for a local motor factors,
found the attachment amongst his browsing material. It was sent to him by a larger factors who supplies him ready made plates because he was the seller top the final user he had to follow the guide lines set out. He enquired at the DVLC because he supplies a lot of plant vehicles that spent most of the time off road it was made clear to him if he supplied a plate that did not meet the now set standard and a vehicle was caught on the road with that plate and a direct link could be followed to him supplying the plate he would be prosecuted. (how many customers would give details of where a plate was purchased if it saved their own skin ?)
How anyone may stand if they supply a plate only for show use i don’t know, but if you make a plate following a majority of the road laws e.g reflective back ground etc it could be argued you are making a reg plate all but and illegal font and lay out, could be a expensive argument just waiting to happen. So i would advise caution and may be us signmakers as a collective should try to get the DVLC to clarify how we stand on the issue of show plates.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but its better to be aware of the risks even if you proceed. 😉

Regards

Kevin (KTF)

[Mike Brown]

…beautiful example of hand-finished plates Terry!…real beauts!

more soon

mikethesign

[WP_Graphics]

Terry!!!

Please tell me what air brushing is!! I’ve no idea, never seen it done and I would like to know..

Thanks 😀

Gav

[carla ritchie]

hi all i no im new so if im butting or saying somet im not allowed please remove and let me know wat it was

ok we do mainly show plates make a good living at it really

we use the oki 3 part system find it does the job nicely

oki c3200 for £250 down a bit now adays probly
clear sheets from lg signs
reflective sticky sheets from ebay and victory
plastic acrylics from victory

print clear sandwich in middle of plastic and reflective and roll them

we do any thing any 1 wants on them from £10 -25 a plate

i have a little sticker for the back says there show plates and were not responsible and a disclaimer printed on wall for them to read

if any 1 wants the fonts uk legal is charleswright also charles wright 3d which is just a font layerd on top of charles writght standard and then u shade the 3d 1 to 40 percent black just msg me happy to send it out for u

will share all files if u want ive loads of back grounds and badges fonts ect

as for the bs number to the man above who asked its just a regulation mark that the plastic is made correctly by the right folk

total cost us of making a plate is about 3 quid

hope this helps some 1 cheers for now