My Cobra never had a front plate on it ever since new. When I bought the car about 7 years ago it only had a rear plate. When I got the first ticket I had to go to the DMV and turn in my plate to get new ones so I would have both plates. That when I built the mount so I didn't have to put holes in the bumper.

Mine had a front plate, then when i had the emblems smoothed on the car i had all the holes filled, now i'll live with the tickets or put it somewhere on the dash.

Many 3rd gen guys make a bracket that extends back under the front chin and bolts up under there where ever you can. That way no holes in the front, and the law just states permanently mounted meaning no baling wire or duct tape.
I think the law mentions something about height, but if your bracket mounts the plate at the location of where it would be stock then you are good.

I think that there are even some motorized ones available to be bought, or for DIY's.

The flip plate is an option. but i dont think there is anything against putting it on your dash as long as it can be seen

Went to a small cruise last Sat late afternoon-early evening, and saw something that I did not really care for. This was the late Sat afternoon cruise at Bob's Big Boy on Willow in Signal hill. I got there a little early and went in to get something to eat. After an hour or so, cars started coming in and after about 16 or so cars were there, I noticed that I was 1 of about 3 or 4 people that did not have a front plate on my vehicle. Shortly the SHPD cruised through and drove through the area quite slowly. After intently observing the cars, he left.
Never have I seen so many front license plates on the front of, shall we say "Kool" cars.

Yeah, i noticed the same thing the other day, still i wont put a plate on my car

BTW, I did not object to the presence of the LEO whatsoever, only the fact that something is definitely changing in regards to the enforcement of front license plates in some areas, maybe all.
I have not noticed the same thing yet in Donut Derelict's of Cars & Coffee - Irvine so I will see if the ratio of front plates to no front plates has change at either one of those places. Mayve this is because of the location of the cruise itself. Signal Hill is known to be pretty rough on some things.

Are you in California?


The flip plate, swinging plate and other types of moveable plate mounts are illegal. So is placing the plate on the dashboard of the car since it is illegal to cover the plate with anything (like a windshield maybe) but on a safety note it's kind of dumb to place a piece of unsecured ALUMINUM on the dashboard of a car in any situation. If you've ever seen the inside of a street driven car after a collision, there is debris in there that you never would have thought would be an issue, no sense in adding to it. Besides, I sure would hate to be decapitated by my safety gear like the airbag on the passenger side.

I feel you guys for sure owning two Miatas, one with and one without front plates, I couldn't bear to go drilling into my car to keep LEO happy.

Slow down and think some and you can find a reasonable and still aesthetically pleasing solution.

It's aluminium.