Axon's Automotive Anorak: A brief history of offset number plates

The youngest lad of this small family group was still buzzing after his visit to some of the exhibition stands, and was asking his father why some of those “nice red cars” (Alfa Romeos I can only assume) didn’t have their front number plates “in the normal place?” 

His dad didn’t really have an answer, and sadly I didn’t have the time to chip in, but the enthusiastic boy’s question was a good one I thought, and got me thinking about that potential OCD ordeal – offset-mounted front license plates.

More commonly associated with Alfa Romeo than any other car brand, offset front plates have historically been mounted off-centre more for design aesthetics – and now trendiness – than any functional reason, save perhaps a marginal aerodynamic advantage.

Alfa Romeo’s rationale for placing its front number plate off-centre is a perfectly logical one, dedicated out of necessity by the Milan marque’s distinctive and long-lived shield-shaped ‘signature’ triangular grill that traditionally cuts down deep into each Alfa model’s bumper.

The first ‘regular’ production Alfa Romeo to have its front plate set over to one side (usually to the right when facing the car, on the near-side) was the exquisite 750/101-Series Giuletta Spider of 1955, bodied by Pininfarina. The Spider’s low frontal area and full-length chrome grill, with the radiator located immediately behind it, meant that placing a licence plate in front of it would have compromised the model’s cooling, leading to the off-centre positioning.

This unorthodox number plate mounting was soon adopted for other Alfa Romeo models with deep triangular centre grills, including the cute Zagato-bodied 101 Giuletta SZ, plus its TZ1 and swarve 2600 SZ coupe, and even the Matta 4x4 for Italian military use. The later, and long-lived Pininfarina 105-Series Giulia Spider retained its predecessor’s right-mounted front number plate position, as did numerous Alfa Romeo models from the 1990s onwards.

These included the ‘916’ generation front-wheel-drive Alfa Romeo GTV and Spider, plus the stylish 156, the 159, Brera/Spider and 147, GT Coupe, as well as the current Mito, Giulietta III, Giulia III, Stelvio, 4C, and the stunning 8C coupé and Spider.

Offset licence plates have not the sole reserve of Alfa Romeo, however. In the late 1960s, for example, Pontiac’s design team adopted more ambitious and extravagant grill and front bumper shapes for models such as the large Le Mans and Bonneville, leaving no space for a regular centre-placed licence plate, so an Afa-esque side mounting was employed instead.

Many subsequent makes and models have also chosen to position their number plates over to one side, so as not to jeopardise radiator cooling and/or aesthetics. These range from seriously exotic machinery such as the BMW M1, Ferrari Enzo and LaFerrari, Bugatti Veyron and Chiron, and the Pagani Zonda and Huayra, to lesser performance cars such as the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO and some Morgans.

Daihatsu has long been a keen advocate of non-centred licence plates, too, as used on its Copen, Mira TR XX, eK and HiJet MPV models, to name just a few. Numerous 4x4 SUVs have also featured the same positioning over the years, including the DKW Munga, Jeep CJ-5, Land Rover S1-S3 and Volkswagen Iltis (plus its Citroën C22 sibling), with the Japanese domestic market Nissan Moco, Suzuki Every Turbo, Hustler, Wagon R, 1990s Fronte and Every Wagon also featuring the same positioning.

Increasingly, home-modified and tuned cars (often Honda Civics, Audi TTs, Nissan GT-Rs, and what have you) use aftermarket brackets to allow mounting of the plate using a tow hook socket, which is typically off to one side on the front bumper. In theory, this helps avoid damaging the painted bumpers with screwed in mounting brackets. There is even a school of thought that suggests a number plate mounted off-centre is good for an extra power boost, given the cooling aid and aerodynamic advantage such positioning can offer, even if it challenges any OCD tendencies some folk might have for none-uniformity.

To answer that you boy’s question though, whilst crossed the main bridge at FOS, the main reason the Alfa Romeos (plus various others cars, as we have now seen) have their number plates mounted off-centre is because they look cool, and surely that’s reason enough!

Oh, and as for off-centre rear licence plates, like those found on the current Land Rover Discovery, well that’s another story entirely, and one that I’ll save for another day, especially having had time to speak to the model’s designer about this – Gerry McGovern – whilst guiding him around the car and classes at this year’s Cartier ‘Style et Luxe’ as one of the guest judges…