So for those of us fortunate enough to live where front license plates are not required, we can choose to dispense with bolting the plate bracket monstrosity to the front bumper

However, AFAIK, all the X300s came with the mounting holes in the bumper anyway, so one is still left with some blemish.

Or such as in my case, the car last came from a state where a front plate was required, so again there are mounting holes present.

Now, the holes aren't too terribly bad, and if one had a mind you could simply ignore them, put some attractive "plugs" or stainless button head bolts or even go to the extreme to have them filled and painted.

But in my case, to add injury to insult, the tapping screws used to mount the actual front plate to the ABS plastic bracket were long enough to hit the bumper itself and mar it up quite effectively. So not only did I have the two relatively "clean" bolt holes, but right above them two additional very "unclean" chewed up pits

So, I had some options as mentioned above, or I could just put the front plate bracket back on with some decorative full sized plate. But I didn't want to do that.

Instead I ordered a 2.75" x 9" piece of 316L Stainless Steel Sheet #8 Mirror, 14G (.0751") with 1/4" radius corner cuts. I then carefully drilled two M4 screw sized (4.4mm) holes at a 7" spacing and mounted the polished plate to the bumper.

I added a chromed metal and painted Union Jack emblem I ordered from a chap in Australia to finish it off.

I think it looks pretty sharp

I could have left the plate plain, or even used some sort of Jaguar emblem, but I thought I had plenty of "growler" and "leaper" representation already on the front of the car and the colors of the flag were pretty attractive and stand out.

So if you are looking to cover up a front bumper that has been marred by previous license plate installs, this is an option.

I think I spent about $30 on the whole kit.


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My 97 X300 does not have mounting holes (although your solution looks great)

That looks nice but here in Australia we have to have front number plates otherwise they couldn't get us with speed cameras LOL

Lucky!

So it sounds like some markets where front plates are not required did not have the holes by default. Interesting.

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Heh, yeah we have the traffic light/intersection cameras here, but interestingly several municipalities across the US are starting to remove them due to various legal challenges.

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Yep. We have them here in Washington, but back in the 90's when I was in California, the City of Pasadena installed a few and a group of lawyers took out a television ad informing people that they had the right to face their accuser and a camera could not be an accuser without an officers testimony in California. They told people to simply not show up to court nor pay the fine and there was nothing that could be done about it since they'd never affirmed the citation by either an agreement to par or appear. Eventually California cities started installing them anyway, but now most of them are taking them out because statistics show they cause more accidents than they prevent due to folks slamming on their brakes to avoid the possibility of a ticket. Cities nationwide are following suit and there are now fewer cameras around the country than there were just 5 years ago and falling rapidly. By 2020, they should part of the dustbin of history. Good Riddance!

Red-light cameras being stopped across Southern California, country

As a UK citizen I am intrigued with the front plate, or lack of it in certain States! I guess there is no problem going from a must have to a not needed State? If you move home, to a different State, do you need to change the license plate? And how long before you have to do it? In the UK and certainly in Portugal and Spain, you have six months grace before you have to re-register to a local national plate and begin to pay national taxes and meet MOT requirements.( Although I see a few cars that do not bother)

Right. No problem travelling state-to-state.




Yes, when you move you must meet all the licensing/registration requirements of the new state, including new license plates. I think most states allow 30 days although how ardently the time limits are enforced naturally varies. Broadly speaking I don't think enforcement is a high priority issue in most areas.

However.....

Since licensing fees can vary tremendously from state-to-state they are always some who will license a car in one state even though they live in another. This is most common in cities that are right on the border of two states. The state police will occassionally set up sting operations for a week or two to nab the obvious cheaters.

Cheers
DD

Here in Australia they are not planning on getting rid of speed /red light cameras in fact they are getting more of them

We don't have a constitution like the US which makes us face our accuser instead they have a midnight sitting of parliament to make it impossible to fight them that whatever the camera sees is gospel

They also made it illegal to own radar detectors and jamming devices as well if you get caught with any of these devices its immediate licences suspension

The Government over here has figured out that if we have poor public transport and infrastructure I.E. roads and so forth we are more likely to use our own transport which means sooner or later they are going to make money from you
It's a very big cash cow for them the speed camera on the highway up from my house makes 3 million dollars a year cant see the government giving that up any time soon

[QUOTE=al_roethlisberger;997863]Heh, yeah we have the traffic light/intersection cameras here, but interestingly several municipalities across the US are starting to remove them due to various legal challenges.

Legal challenge? Our Australian local governments rely on the huge revenue generated from speed/lights cameras. Cop cars are fitted with number plate readers detect unlicensed drivers,unregistered vehicles or any outstanding fines.

Number plates are made reflective to assist with this.

So a front number plate here is law. I didn't like the look of the plate stuck on the front bumper and had a plastic bracket made to mount it below the bumper. So I too have the old holes. Was hoping to have them filled and painted. Maybe your option would be cheaper.
Thanks.