I paid big bucks for a tow hook plate bracket to mount my front plate in VA after moving from PA. Did the same for my MB GLC 300. The Boxster is Guards Red so didn't want to attract more attention without a front plate. I easily remove the plate bracket and install the tow hooks (front and rear) on track days. Wife just got a new Acura RDX. The dealer had already installed the front bracket. I just can't get past drilling holes in the bumper for a plate bracket.

09 Boxster PDK w/Sport/Sport+

 

I think here in CA at least, it is for traffic cameras (mainly not coming to a full stop on a right on red - that's the big moneymaker) and also toll bridges and toll lanes on the (still-mostly-)freeways. Yes, they get the rear photo as well, but I can imagine that in court a single photo showing the front plate and the driver in the same photo is more convincing than a front pic of the driver and a rear pic of the plate. Just a guess. Luckily no direct experience yet, but I would be so pissed if I ever got a ticket that way that I just try to follow all the rules the best I can.

Here in San Francisco, CA, they'll give you needles and even shoot you up with Heroin (you may need to supply your own, I think. I've never actually looked into it). And if you're here illegally, you're more likely to get a college scholarship than arrested. You can break into a car and as long as you steal less than $1k, you don't need to show up in court following arrest. And if you happen to jump into a vehicle and try to flee the cops, well you won't get arrested since the cops are not allowed to chase you. Really good hearted people out here in SF, you know. Imagine if the whole world were like this. But we still have police and they're still working, so you never know what you might get a ticket for. Rant over, I guess.

 

Nice photos. The Vasek Polak license plate frame is cool too. I used to drive past them all the time when I lived in Hermosa Beach.

I'm remembering a little twist on my situation ... I replaced the blue rear with white front+rear plates when I first bought the car back in 1996. Then a couple of years later, I found the front blue plate tucked along side the fuel tank in the front trunk, under the carpeting. Oh well, would have been nice to have found it right away, or to have held off on the switch to white.

The really cool ones, I think, are the original black ones, which they've recently been making available as a customized plate (as in CAHRERA's pic above). Do you know when they stopped issuing those original black ones?

 

Were you pulled over for the front plate alone or was there another reason for the stop? I live in NJ also have been ducking the front plate issue for about 10 years although the Porsche and the previous Vette were not driven daily. Probably just stupid luck.

 

@evergreenbar, I'm not sure. The cop was lying in wait on a road that is pretty regularly monitored for speeding. I left very late for work that day which is when the cops write most of their tickets.
I haven't hooked up my V1 yet but I'm sure he had his radar on and I was briefly going above the 25 MPH limit but not by much. Either way he never mentioned anything but the plate.
When I had my 928 in the 90's I once got pulled over for no front plate near Rutgers. That time it was only for the plate... they definitely take notice.
In the Cayenne incident, I immediately produced the plate and apologetically mentioned needing a bracket. I keep the plate in the right seat back storage flap thing.
I would put it up near the windshield while driving through small towns like mine, but I'm pretty sure that would very soon lead to scratched and flaked off paint on the dash. Maybe I'll put it in a clear plastic pouch and put it on the dash in "high risk" areas.

 

We live in IA and front plates are required. My 991 was delivered without it, and rather than drilling into the bumper, I got a Skene plate holder which works well, and the drill points will not be visible to the casual observer if the plate is removed. Didn't like the asymmetrical look of the tow hook plate. Incidentally, if anyone is interested I have an OEM front license plate holder for the 991.1 (part # 991701051011E0)- will give it away for free if you wanna send me a shipping label. The dealership sent this to me, but I couldn't bring myself to drill into the bumper. Tried attaching this with automotive tape as some had suggested, but it didn't hold, so I got the Skene instead. Seems a waste to toss this, so if anyone's gutsier than I am and willing to drill, you may certainly have this

 

It's still a ticket here in WA for having the plate on the dash.

Cheers,
Tom

 

Same in WI.

Has to be 'secured' (screwed or bolted).

 

My ticket was a 'fix-it' ticket so all I had to do was put the front plate on, take the car to a CHP office for inspection and pay a $15.00 administrative fee. I took it back off when I got home.

My car was sold new in 1970 from Don Burns Porsche in Garden Grove. Other than road trips, it's never been out of SoCal. I tried for over a decade to find a "Don Burns" license plate frame with no luck. It's kind of funny because back in the day people probably threw them away in droves.


I heard it's also for speed enforcement because LIDAR likes a reflective surface.

 

 

A coworker of mine in NJ was in the "front plates make my car ugly" club. He ran into a cop, got a ticket, ignored it. Then he ran into the same cop a couple of days later - 2nd ticket. The next day after that - 3rd ticket. He now drives with front license plate on.

I guess the moral of the story is the system works!

My view of it is, if it's required in your state, put the plate on. You're not better than everyone else on the road. Then stop obsessing over it and focus on the larger things in life.

 

Sure. Just like what I do out here. I never actually stop at stop signs, since it's just inconvenient, I'm a hard charger that's always on the go, you know, and it just does not fit my lifestyle or the image I'm trying to project. But by slowing down a lot, I think the cops see that I respect the law, and that's the whole point of those red octagoal signs, isn't it. I tell ya, I'd be pissed if I even got a warning for not technically actually coming to a complete stop.

(did the sarcasm come through?) But Steve, I hope you don't get any tickets. Best wishes. But really, showing respect for the law by half assed compliance?

And if a license plate on the dash as a permanent solution really is legal in NJ, then wow, you guys are even further out there than CA.

 

Ha. You should have said red lights though. No one really stops at stop signs. Especially in California with all those 4-way stops.


There are two screw holes at the very bottom of my bumper. One day, I'll put my plate on there and sort of bend it and fasten it to stay that way as though I pulled too far over a parking curb thing. It's a new plate that has no sentimental value... I think its a good idea. Maybe not...