Euro Plates? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Zerohour3k · #1 01-26-2006, 03:33 AM

Alrighty, here's a question for you guys.

My 84' 300D is a Euro, complete with the euro plate holders on it. Obviously, I'm keeping the current NJ plates on the back (since I don't feel like getting pulled over).. but I was thinking of buying a Euro plate for the front of the car (German one). Anybody have a good site to get these things off of?

Also, I want your opinions on this.. should I go with MY plate numbers on the Euro plate (Non-authentic, but safer).. or should I go for a german plate number (Random, but more authentic, with german characters). I'm leaning towards using my current plate #'s, so that I don't become a target for the cops.. since I question the legality of this whole thing. So, sites, opinions?

(Not exactly a 100% diesel topic, but hey, it's for a 300D, and I consider the Diesel forum my unofficial 'home' anyway!)

#2 01-26-2006, 03:44 AM

eBay

German plates $16 buy-it-now price.

greasybenz · #3 01-26-2006, 04:10 AM

hey thats really cool!! maybe ill get a biobenz plate.

ive seen people here with german plates but they will have them mounted behind the US plate. Thats probably what ill do OR some people put the german plates on and have the US plates in the windows so the cops can see the US plates but can have still have that authentic german look.

t walgamuth · #4 01-26-2006, 11:42 PM

we dont have plates on the front, so on one of my benz purchases it was a california car with a cal plate, so i thought "cool" i will leave that on the front. my dad said "i wouldnt do that, son". of course i ignored him... silly. not too long after that i was in chicago and parked my car at a parking garage and happened to notice the guy taking down the cal plate number. so i had to stop him and so forth. if i hadnt noticed him doing that when i came back if the car was parked with the front to the wall it might have been a problem.

also i suspect some police might not think it was cool either.

so i prob wouldnt do it unless the german plate said cool car or something like that.

tom w

300SDog · #5 01-26-2006, 11:57 PM

That print yer own $16 German plate ebay link is excellent.... If it was me I'd try for some kinda comical German slogan like "eideketen schwindler" and go for it!!

Or how do they say "ass bandit" in German?

And if its obviously a custom vanity plate on the front then cops will leave you alone. But I sure as hell wouldnt try fakin my real plate number in German, that would probly be magnet for trouble.

SumDude · #6 01-27-2006, 12:27 AM

Quote:

how do they say "ass bandit" in German?

Esel Bandit

Veloce300DT · #7 01-27-2006, 03:18 AM

I'd say that if you are going to get a euro plate, go all the way... Dont worry about having the same numbers on it as your real rear plate does, a euro plate is a euro plate and if for some reason you get a citation for it, its numbers wont matter.

I personally like random numbers, but of course in the proper order for the region. Some european cities use letters from the name of the town the car is registered, etc.

I got my euro plate in Sept. 2005, and have had it mounted on the front of my 300DT since and havent been stopped for it yet. It is Illegal to display a non CA plate on the front of your car if there is no CA plate present on the front at all. But lots of people dont even have front plates as many new cars do not have provisions for them, so I figure that its not really a very highly regulated requirement here in CA. My w202 doesnt have provisions for a front plate and it hasnt been an issue since that car was new.

Click on my avatar to see my profile pic which shows the front of my car with the euro plate.

I am from Italy so I bought a mock Italian EU plate, but opted to go for the random letter and number combo, aside from choosing Milano as my city of registration. Thats what the MI is an abbreviation for.

Happy plate shopping!

I think i purchased my plate from europlates.ca if I remember correctly

Jmana · #8 01-27-2006, 07:58 AM

I have been seeing euro plates on the BACK of cars here in NC (the long, skinny rectangular ones). I don't know if the state is selling them or what is going on. The first one I saw on a Jaquire, and the next one I saw was on a Dodge Caravan! I am going to look into it, because that would look cool on my 300SD! But even if NC is selling them, I'm sure I'd get stopped when driving into another state.

#9 01-27-2006, 09:03 AM

The Euro 123 bumpers, as I am sure you have noticed, have a rubber strip on each side rather than one long strip. If you remove the front plate, you will notice that the rubber mounts loosen and slide in a slot on each side allowing you to move them closer together so that you can mount a US plate.

I don't remember how the rear mounts, but it mounts with no trouble at all.

Enjoy,

airbus · #10 01-27-2006, 09:37 AM

I brought my own...
In NY-State it is required to have two license plates, front and rear, as far as I know they don't tell you they have to be the same, though

OK, I'm being a smartass here...
Long Island cops don't seem to care about it, I've been driving around like this for more than three years now, got pulled over once for 'unsafe passing' and passed a police checkpoint once without getting in trouble for it. I wouldn't drive it into the city, though.
If you want to make it look 'authentic' try to get a plate from Stuttgart, the first letter is an 'S', to make it look even better, try to get a plate from that time, the design changed slightly in the mid-nineties. Older plates don't have the blue part on the left like mine.
If you need more info on how plates look over there (which letter for which town, which letters are not used, registration and inspection stickers, etc.) let me know.
BTW, do yourself a favor and don't buy one of those 'fake' german plates they sell over here (aparently to VW-people, mostly...). I think that's just embarrassing, those random letter-number combinations and the sticker that says 'Bundesfinanzverwaltung'. The Bundesfinanzverwaltung has nothing to do with car registrations. And they don't have custom plates in Germany, the first 1-3 letters always stand for the town/region the car is registered in, you can only choose the the next 1-2 letters and the 1-4 numbers. Those are the patterns, I use "T" for town, "L" for letters (some are not used on older plates) and "X" for numbers and the dash in between the letters disappeared on the newer plates:
T-L X
T-LL X
T-L XX
T-LL XX
T-L XXX
T-LL XXX
T-L XXXX
T-LL XXXX
TT-L X
TT-LL X
TT-L XX
TT-LL XX
TT-L XXX
TT-LL XXX (most common)
TT-L XXXX
TT-LL XXXX
TTT-L X
TTT-LL X
TTT-L XX
TTT-LL XX
TTT-L XXX
TTT-LL XXX