Howdy,

I have seen a few posts about this and figured I would show what I was using as my front license plate holder. When I got my car last year, I was not happy nor anxious to drill holes in my front bumper. After cruising the internet and these forum boards I finally came up with an idea for our car based on what I saw someone else doing.

Essentially it was creating two clamped on mounting locations on the lower grill using:
- 2 long stainless steel studs
- 4 large fender washers
- 4 smaller washers (because I couldnt find the right inner diameter fender washers)
- 8 nylon lock nuts
- A strip of rubber used for outdoor applications on doors and windows
- 4 rubber washer gaskets.

With this design I wanted to create a cheap (~$15), rust proof, low profile front license plate holder that didn't create any permanent damage to my car in the event that I moved to a better state without front license plates (which I ended up doing). I also didn't like the idea of the license plate flexing/rubbing/vibrating against the painted front bumper with a rubber bumper as some of the aftermarket under car mounted license plate holders do.

I believe I hit all my targets (low cost, appearance, durable, and no permanent damage) and have tested it for a little over 10,000 miles before removing it after I arrived in my new state. The front lower grill was not damaged and the nuts had not moved back.

Attached are some pictures of it. I would highly recommend this over some of the other options as it was cheaper, and in my opinion more robust then some of the more expensive options out there. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I got all my parts at homedepot for ~$15 and it took around 30 minutes to install as I had to unscrew the front undercarrage panel to reach my hand up and inside to place and hold the stud while I wrenched on the lock nut.

One thing I wish I had done instead was find a hex head stainless steel bolt that was the length I needed instead of the flat head I setttled with. No stores seemed to have what I needed and I didn't have time to order one online. It was a pain in the **** to hold in place with a flat head screwdriver on the inside of thr grill as I started torquing down the lock nuts. You can hold the stud with a pair of plyers on the outside but I didn't want to risk damaging the threads. I did this when removing and it didn't seem to cause an issue but I figured I would still share.

GTSPE4

 

interesting and very simple solution.

 

Thanks for sharing that. My solution was less expensive yet but may not work in all states. I checked with our State Patrol before doing my mount and was assured that since the entire state name and plate number would be visible I would have no problems.

 

Patent it you never know.

 

Pretty cool design.
Simple and yet inexpensive. Doesn't have any pizzazz, but if you're like me, I only use the front plate for yearly inspection stickers.
The best part of your design,....you can position the plate centered, off to the left or to the right if you wanted.
Good thinking and good luck going forward!

 

Great job ... I did a similar mod to my 2011 V6 back when I first got it in May 2010 ... here is the thread:

https://themustangsource.com/f801/20...ll-mtg-483866/

After almost 4 years and 85K miles, everything about the mod is just as solid as the day I installed it.

I remove it twice a year for waxing and only complaint is it can be kind of a PITA to get back bracket & screws lined up while re-installing (an extra set of hands would be helpful).

Doug

 

Or you could use this.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/flipdo...te-manual.html

They make a motorized version of this as well.