Is it legal to have a black no.plate with silver lettering,if so.is there any restriction up to what year of vehicle.?
They are only legal on vehicles registered up to 1st Jan 1973. After Jan 1973 they must be the reflective type. Anyone selling them is really only selling them as 'show plates', as they aren't legal for road use on modern vehicles, even though some people do use them.
Front number plates stopped in 2001, according to the gov.uk site. "Motorcycles and motor tricycles registered on or after 1 September 2001 must only display a number plate at the rear of the vehicle. If you ride a motorbike or motor tricycle registered before 1 September 2001 you can also display a number plate at the front, but you don’t have to." A number of classic bikes did have a front number plate arranged along the top of the front mudguard – fitted in a way that could cut pedestrians in half in an accident. Although this would be illegal on anything modern, this is completely fine if it is the original spec of the bike. I would have said that these types of front number plates died out in the mid '70s.
The old front number plates that stood up on the front mudguard used to get the nickname 'Bacon Slicers' for obvious reasons.
Interested in this as maybe 5-10 down the road,getting an old Honda twin/sidecar,an as a hobbyhorse picking up some of those classic cheapies,that are usually stuck on a farm in Wales under cover for GD knows how many years..
