Retractable Front License Plate Holder
 

So I'm in Ma, and we have to have front plates. Super annoying. For some reason recently they've been really enforcing it. I got pulled over while driving my uncle's M5 CS to his storage facility. I have the stock 93 front bumper, and I'm not going to drill it. I hear some things about retractable ones, maybe used by Corvette guys with the same issue.

Does anyone know anything about this or a product like it? I don't think they're going to let me get away with having the plate on the dash anymore,

Thanks!

No experience with the retractable. But FYI the front OEM plate holder doesn’t require any drilling.

I’m with ya on not wanting the front plate. My state requires both too. BUT…in my state there were options. If you haven’t yet, you might want to check your state….

* A “Special Interest” plate. Available at extra cost. ($75 annual). You must have another car registered traditionally, and it’s not to be used for routine commuting etc. Only one plate issued for the rear. And a “message” can ordered at no extra cost.

* Antique or historic plates available once the car reached 30 years old. Only rear plate required. Front plate is OPTIONAL. No renewal in my state ever. So it’s not taxed either. Not to be used for commuting.

Plates in the dash always looked cheesey to me, and worse than just wearing the front plate anyway. It also advertised the “no front plate” violation. And also kinda dangerous

i wish my JDM one didn’t have holes through the bumper!

If the holes are in the middle and you need a front plate, use a stock bracket to hide them.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...25a50392ec.png

I was in the same boat as you when I got my FD - Live in MD, where a front plate is required, but my FD came from a no front plate state (SC), so it didn't have the OEM bracket assembly.

Don't know of any retractable setups, but like Sgtblue suggested, you can buy the OEM Mazda front plate kit. That will be the easiest bolt-on installation, assuming your car still has the OEM bumper reinforcement beam under the bumper cover. Sometimes the bumper reinforcement piece gets hacked up or deleted by previous owners when installing front-mount inter-coolers.

After pricing out the OEM bracket kit, I opted to fabricate my own bracket since I had most of this stuff laying around the shop already. I used some 1/16" thick aluminum bar stock, and 2x M6x1.0 bolts, 4x M6x1.0 flange nuts, and 4x suitable fender washers (i.e. outside diameter about 1/2", inside diameter large enough to run M6 bolts thru), a decent looking generic black plastic license plate frame, and a few aluminum pop rivets.

You use the M6 bolts, the fender washers and 2x of the M6 nuts to go thru the pre-existing holes in the bumper reinforcement beam (same holes the OEM kit uses) so you basically have 2 studs hanging down to bolt your bracket to. The bracket itself is basically just AL bars with 90* bends in them riveted together and painted black when done. Pictures might explain it better than words...


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...32068a49d1.jpg
End result - designed it so the plate looks like it "floats" just ahead of the bumper, and doesn't block too much airflow into the radiator opening
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...7b081eddf9.jpg
Shot of the mounting bolts underneath. Hard to see the black painted bracket against the bumper skin, but you can see the yellow bumper reinforcement beam that the mounting bolts go thru.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...5ba35f9f05.jpg
Top view, gives an idea of how I bent the AL stock and where I fastened the pieces together with pop rivets. Key point is that the license plate & frame are integrated with the structure
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...63e6687635.jpg
And here's a side view that shows how it "floats" out front, and gives an idea of the relative spacing.

https://mossmiata.com/904-885-cp-fli...paign=shopping

One of the Miata vendors (coulda sworn it was Moss) used to have a spring loaded one. Once you got going 15-20mph the wind would flip it down but under that speed it would look like a normal front license plate.
They must have been illegalized.

There was a guy from MD with a cayman at one of my track dates that had a 7/8 scale exact replica of his play made as a sticker and stuck it on the front of his car.., they are required in VA too but on the rare occasion a cop says something I just say "I understand, you're doing your jobs I accept it" and they usually don't bother wirh a ticket

"The best way to get a badlaw repealed is to enforce it strictly." Abraham Lincoln.

True story….
Some years before my retirement the state’s Corvette Club was in town on a “cruise”. Most members fit the stereotype of the balding middle-aged plus owner, and of course many were successful and influential. Despite that demographic we got a complaint that they were doing burnouts and donuts in a shopping center lot. I showed up and from a distance observed 3 or 4 just finishing up. Instead of writing them for Careless or Reckless driving (moving violations that can be written on private property), I instead set up on a street adjacent. As the offenders exited I stopped and wrote each for no front plate.
The following year a bill was introduced for the “Special Interest” plate I mentioned above and I was told that the Corvette club had lobbied heavily for it.

This is interesting. I'll do some research. Thank you.

Interesting. This is very much what I've heard about. Thanks for posting.