great plate for road-going Honda 1100XX Blackbird Seven [777 HXX] (or a Caterham 21, eg 3x7)

[SUPERLIGHT91]

As I once had plans to buy a Honda 1100XX Blackbird that didn't materialise, I bought myself the very nice ageless seven plate [777 HXX] to fit to it, but it didn't materialise.

 

I've had it on retention and printed in new and old style plates for some time. Next week I will fit it to my 2010 Superlight, but before I do I though I would test the water see if anyone wants it for their blackbird.

 

As are the rules with such things (one is supposed to list a price against all items on here), I'll say £1500,

.... but in reality I'd swap for anything even shorter with a no.7 in it, ageless, or interesting for a seven (and no, I don't wan't [D1C HD] or anything like that, I've heard them all before - just interested to hear if anyone in club has anything they'd fancy to change, buy or sell).

 

My initials are MJS - and I would actually swap my ageless plate outright for [C7MJS] that I missed out on some time ago (and my brother keeps teasing me about because he got [C7GCS] easily for about £400 when he wanted 'his' C7 plate.

 

Before you all start - "number plates - who needs them" - yes I agree, they are a waste of money etc, better to spend it on the engine or your next car, but they can make a nice finishing touch on an otherwise 'complete' road car that has it all, and I just happen to have been sitting on this one a while ready for my next seven, and its not been on general sale previously.

 

 

 

Edited by - Superlight91 on 3 Jul 2014 12:41:34

[Myles]

Hmm. I *do* have a blackbird 7 (a Westie) but I can see the conversations:

 

 

A: what's that?

Me: It's a Westfield.

A: Oh, ok - a bit like those Morgans and, what are they? - Catering Vans?

Me: Caterhams, you mean. Yes, I've got one of those too...

A: I see you've got a personalised plate - what's the HXX bit?

Me: Well it has a Honda blackbird motorbike engine, you see...

A:

Me: And the Blackbird bike had a model number of CBR1100XX...

A: Why didn't you get '777 WHB' instead?

 

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Yes sounds about right - I can imagine that conversation at the petrol pumps. Reminds me of a member on here who had a conversation at the pump something along the lines of:

 

A: I like the stick on carbon on the wheel covers

Him: no its real carbon fibre, like they use on race cars to save weight

A: nah I don't fink Halfords put that stuff on F1 cars

Him: okay, thanks, see you later mate

 

[BenF]

I am still completely mystified by people buying personalised plates but I suppose it could deflect the normal question when passers by ask me about my 7, which is 'did you build it yourself?', to which I have to answer no.

[Myles]

Again, they tend to reserve that one for when I'm in the Westie (which I didn't build) - and it sounds a bit lame explaining that my other car really *is* a Caterham - and I did (re)build that once.

 

Anyway, have another Boing

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Thanks Myles and yes - I can understand that would be a bit frustrating.

 

I collected my new car today - amazingly completely dry after last nights rain and this mornings showers, main roads were drying out quick - so it was my lucky day in the end.

 

Thanks - turns out the V5 has been sent off - so there's a couple of weeks until I get it back from the DVLA only to send off the retention certificate with the V5 again when it comes back again.

 

That gives me a couple of weeks to decide whether to fit 777HXX to it (and a few more weeks for a road going Blackbird owner to come out of the woodwork, and a last chance to find that illusive C7 MJS plate, which is the one I've always wanted.

[SUPERLIGHT91]

and Ben - I originally got into looking for a shorter plate for my 7 to:

- get a nice short one up front - because your normal plate is like fitting a plank vertically to the aerodynamics up front, and they look aweful on such a well honed machine

- save a bit of weight (all that excess perspex on a full size plate - oo about 50g worth)

 

I liked the idea of the stick on nose plate - even lighter and sleeker up front - but they have become such hassle at MOT time I've gone back to a slab of perspex. I'd just like to make it as compact as possible and still legal (as long as you have BS no. legal size letters and min 16mm all around the letters' its MOTable).

[Jonathan Kay]

Has anyone modified a nose to include a full-size plate flared into it rather than suspended below it?

 

Jonathan

[SUPERLIGHT91]

My plan was to fit a plate on a brass or stainless piano hinge so wind-speed pushes it up under the nose in motion, and it drops back into vertical position when car is stationary. Work in progress (track use only of course), but if you did use it on the road it would make worring about speed ramps up front a thing of the past too (then just the sump, exhaust and rear diff. to worry about traversing them)

[SUPERLIGHT91]

I also like the old Prisoner Series 2 car method where individual letters are stuck on the grill mesh. I doubt it would pass an MOT these days, but it was a neat solution, and I have mocked-it up on a standard (non 7) grill with this new plate (you can buy the individual letters from Framptons, once you've proved you actually own the plate with paperwork).

[SUPERLIGHT91]

.... some countries and states in the US (eg California) don't even need a front plate which improves the dynamics a lot. Seeing at motorcycles were allowed to drop the need for front plates by the 70s, I don't see why we're stuck with them. For now most of us are stuck with that long ugly piece of perspex.

 

Mind you, speaking of plates I'm surprised we don't have bar-codes instead of digits by now - its got the come, and that will put an end to overpriced collections of letters and numbers (but the sad thing is they will probably not drop the antiquated digit plates because DVLA has made so much out of the business in personalised ones - a licence to print money literally, I'd ditch mine though if everybody had to have the same and it was a neater solution across the board).

[BenF]

I also like the old Prisoner Series 2 car method where individual letters are stuck on the grill mesh. I doubt it would pass an MOT these days, but it was a neat solution, and I have mocked-it up on a standard (non 7) grill with this new plate (you can buy the individual letters from Framptons, once you've proved you actually own the plate with paperwork).

 

I like this idea a lot. But as you say, it probably will not work at MoT time.

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Grill no. plate - series 2 style

[SUPERLIGHT91]

this is the best solution in my book - but some might say it disrupts air flow slightly which you can't afford on higher powered cars in summer that need a lot of cooling.

[LesG]

What's wrong with having a stick-on plate across the top of your nose one, like I have? It's about as lightweight and aerodynamic as you'll ever get with these cars?

[Wile7]

I have a smaller 3/4 plate on mine now but used to have the Lotus style plastic letters on the grill as shown above. No problems with MOT (they were more concerned about the exhaust) 😬

 

I'm not saying it was 'correct' but my MOT station were very understanding about the car...

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Oo that's good to know you got some 'letters' through a test, I will try mine next test in November. I like stick on nose plates too as a minimalist solution and will ask the testers about stick on plates etc.

[Myles]

I think it's down to whether you have a sympathetic mot station or not.

 

There's always the Velcro option anyway. I've never had any problems not having a regulation plate (or even one at all).

 

Camera vans presumably have forward-mounted cameras these days to avoid the need for the operator to leave his station to manually grab the plate details and most other enforcement cameras around here take pics if the rear plate - so losing the regulation front plate isn't really much of an evasion tactic.

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Its a shame not all enforcement cameras are used on rear plates - so we can ditch the front plates (like the do in some US states), clean up the front of our vehicles -and improve the aerodynamics - save a few pence of fuel and grams of emissions each month by taking the plastic slab off the front.

[SLR No.77]

Quoting SUPERLIGHT91: 

Its a shame not all enforcement cameras are used on rear plates - so we can ditch the front plates (like the do in some US states), clean up the front of our vehicles -and improve the aerodynamics - save a few pence of fuel and grams of emissions each month by taking the plastic slab off the front.

The aerodynamics are better with a numberplate fitted.

 

Stu.

[SUPERLIGHT91]

:) I appreciate you might have something there - I think there is a market for a sculpted perspex front plate (ie heat up the corners and bend them into 'wing tips') - as a cheap alternative to the nose-cone spoiler sections :)

 

Mind you aerodynamics from the - killer wedge era (think Esprit and wedgy TVRs) - half of it is all about it looking sleek - so therefore it 'must' be faster - similar mind-set to adding racing striped :) On this basis alone a 22" perspex plank up front still looks wrong on these cars, and definitely spoils the look from the front - even if it has some sort of wedge 'spoil'er' effect in reality - I'd be interested to see a road car with a standard legal plate bolted on in a wind tunnel (they never seem to test this fitted to new 7s despite the fact most spend 90% of their life on the road)

 

Speaking of 'perspex' it could be further used to good effect: I am also surprised noone has come up with some clear perspex aerofoils to attach to the leading edge of the front wishbones - so you can still see them but the dynamics are improved.

[SLR No.77]

I seem to recall a wind tunnel test was done some years ago, and although a front number plate has a detrimental effect on the frontal area, it more than negates it by tidying the airflow passing under the car.

 

Stu.

[Jonathan Kay]

Beware!

 

Jonathan