Replacement VIN plate

[bluesbrother30]

Have one of the larger Cheshunt VIN plates. Long story short, my car when purchased by me in boxes was a DHC. Discovered, with list help, that my car was originally a FHC verified by frame numbers. My VIN was changed 30 years ago to a 45 to meet with the California requirements that a saws all created. Now that it has a top grafted back on and about to be registered for the first time in 20 years correctly as a FHC, I need a new VIN plate. Any recommendations for a blank, as close to original, as possible??

Mike Summers

[Concrete-crusher]

I have had a new vin plate on order from Paul Matty for a couple of weeks now , I?m hoping to collect it tomorrow , I will let you know how it looks

[tedtaylor]

RD enterprises sells them here in USA

[elanfan1]

Or you can order them via an official Lotus dealership. If you take your evidence with you they should be able to order a plate stamped with the correct numbers. I did exactly this many years ago.

[Frogelan]

Morning

I have a replacement plate from Paul Matty which was engraved by them. It is "acceptable" but lacks attention to detail on the printing, for example the word Lotus has the wrong font.

If some competant firm does a proper job I will update it.

Andrew

[S3FHC]

Good morning Mike,

I?ve never heard of a car having the top grafted back on but I?m impressed!

I hope you can find a VIN plate,

Mark

[nmauduit]

Or you can order them via an official Lotus dealership. If you take your evidence with you they should be able to order a plate stamped with the correct numbers. I did exactly this many years ago.

would you post a photo of that official repro plate (not necessarily of the numbers, but showing the top part, the various fonts, the lines and spacings)? just curious to see if the official ones are better than the various kinds offered here or there...

[elanfan1]

Or you can order them via an official Lotus dealership. If you take your evidence with you they should be able to order a plate stamped with the correct numbers. I did exactly this many years ago.

would you post a photo of that official repro plate (not necessarily of the numbers, but showing the top part, the various fonts, the lines and spacings)? just curious to see if the official ones are better than the various kinds offered here or there...

Car sold eons ago so cannot unfortunately. Have discussed VIN plates with Andy Graham and he is pretty much on top of the aftermarket fakes so I'd be very surprised if the factory ones aren't bang on correct.

[tesprit]

This eBay seller has reproductions of the various Lotus VIN plates for sale and this one should match the one you need: https://www.ebay.com/itm/LOTUS-CHESHUNT ... SwQjNW8o7L If your original plate was hand engraved like the one on my S2 you can scratch in the information yourself by hand with a cheap electric engraving tool and if it was stamped, a professional engraving shop should be able to take care of it for you. Just ask around at your local shops that sell sports trophies and they should be able to point you to someone with the skills and equipment to stamp the plate for you.

Dan

[bluesbrother30]

vin-plate-2_li.jpg (51.52 KiB) Viewed 2134 times

Here is pic of my VIN plate and a pic of the RD Ent. plate they have in stock. Thanks for the referral !!

Mike

[bluesbrother30]

Pic of the RD Enterprises VIN plate that is in stock

m

[bluesbrother30]

elan-pic.jpg (44.87 KiB) Viewed 2128 times

Hey Mark.......yes it was a challenge even finding a donor top. But, armed with several electrical cords and a Sawzall in a downpour, I cut the top off a crashed car. Many thanks to Mike Ostrov for his hours of patient tutoring in the art of glass fiber repair. Working on the car now, so a bit dirty but the top turned out great, not a seam to be seen. Heading out for all new electrical next week.

Mike Summers

[S3FHC]

Hi Mike,

the roof looks great in the photograph!
I?m guessing that the car is an early Coupe as the boot hinges look like the earlier slim versions?
(was the roof a pre-airflow or did you need to modify it to suit?)

Mark

[elanfan1]

Nice job!. Doesn't look too far away now.

[Concrete-crusher]

I got my new vin plate from pm yesterday , it looks pretty good to me.

vin-plate.jpg (62.36 KiB) Viewed 2069 times