Special Order Work


There are limitless variations in the front and rear designs of vehicles as well as an ever-increasing variety of number plate styles available. Add to these variables the fact that any two customers, with similar plates being fitted to similar vehicles, may well have different ideas of how they want them to look and it's not hard to understand that a large proportion of our work is of a 'one-off' or 'bespoke' nature.


Luckily, this is something for which we are thankful. Doing the same thing every day would be boring in the extreme!


On this page we have a collection of some of the jobs we've completed which have required us to develop something a little different, in order to get the required result.


We rely on our customers for material for this section of our web site, and extend our thanks to those of you who have provided your photos and comments. We hope this may help potential customers to understand the sort of work we're happy to take on.


Click on a link below if it catches your interest, or just scroll down the page to browse.



Signature Plates on a Mercedes C63 AMG

Poor quality frame on Signature Plates.
larger image

At between $2,000 and $4,000 per set, the Victorian 'Signature Series' number plates are a pretty serious investment.


Unfortunately (to our minds) the product as received is extremely disappointing, as the images here show. Click on the images to see them in detail.


One of our customers asked us if we could come up with a way to fit Signature plates to his C63 Mercedes-Benz in a way that would do justice to the price he paid.


As you can see, the bulky, rectangular nature of the plate assembly and it's bracket as supplied, was going to look ridiculous, especially on the "pointy" end of the Mercedes.


Poor quality frame on Signature Plates.
larger image
Standard Signature Plate against front of Mercedes C63.
larger image

The first step then, was to remove the cheap and poorly fabricated "picture frame" from the plates. Inside, the number plate itself was a neatly presented 250mm by 100mm item, which fitted perfectly into one of our standard range of one-piece number plate covers.


Our customer agreed that the number plate should be curved to suit the vehicle so that's just what we did! We also made a special former and bent the number plate cover over it to assume the same curve as the mounting panel on the front of the vehicle. We then manufactured a bracket to also match this panel, with provision for the mounting screws in the plate cover.


The finished product can be seen below. Compare it with the image of the plate and bracket as supplied. We don't think there's really any comparison.


Standard Signature Plate vs a Signature Plate mounted in a LAKIN bracket against front of Mercedes C63.
larger image		 Signature Plate bracket and cover assembly ready to be fitted to the C63.
larger image

Update - August 20th, 2009


Our customer, Gary, kindly supplied us with before and after photos of his vehicle. These are shown below.


Standard Victorian plate on the back of the Mercedes-Benz C63.
larger image		 Rear Signature Plate mounted on a Lakin Custom Plate Bracket and fitted with a modified Prestige cover.
larger image

Plate mounted on the front of the Mercedes-Benz C63 using a specially made bracket and modified cover.
larger image		 Close-up of front Signature Plate mounted on a Lakin Custom Plate Bracket and fitted with a modified Prestige cover.
larger image


Prestige Plates on an HSV Astra (AH) VXR

HSV Astra VXR with modified Prestige number plate.
larger image

We were presented with a similar job with a customer's HSV Astra VXR. The Prestige plate is very similar to the Signature Series on the Mercedes above, except that the plate itself is solid acrylic. This makes it even more important that the plate be protected from stone chips, as the plate is not protected in its standard form.


Details of the process we followed with this vehicle are shown on a separate page. Patrick kindly sent us these photos which show the finished results.


Prestige number plate as modified by Lakin Custom Plate Brackets for the front of an HSV Astra VRX.
larger image		 Prestige number plate as modified by Lakin Custom Plate Brackets for the front of an HSV Astra VRX.
larger image

Close-up side view of a Prestige number plate as modified by Lakin Custom Plate Brackets for the front of an HSV Astra VRX.
larger image		 Prestige number plate as modified by Lakin Custom Plate Brackets for the rear of an HSV Astra VRX.
larger image


Half Size WA Acrylic plates on a Lexus RX350

WA acrylic half-size number plate fitted by dealership to 2009 Lexus RX350.
larger image
The problem faced with fitting the WA acrylic half-size number plate to the Lexus RX350 with the adaptor removed.
larger image

Peter bought his 2009 Lexus RX350 and had the dealer fit his special half-size acrylic plates for him. The result is shown on the right. In fairness, it wasn't a straightforward exercise; as you can see in the lower photo, removing the plastic adaptor leaves a whole fleet of holes on show.


The dealer's efforts on the rear mounting were not much more successful. Here, They used a cut-down advertising panel turned on its back to adapt the small plate to the more widely spaced mounting holes.


Perhaps we should be grateful. . . I know our local Audi dealership would have had one of their factory-trained technicians simply drill a few extra holes in the tailgate, if faced with a similar situation!


We couldn't locate exactly the same model Lexus RX in Tasmania, so Peter took some measurements for us to enable us to develop a pair of brackets. He actually sent us the plates themselves too. We were able to countersink the mounting holes so the stainless steel tamper-proof screws could be fitted neatly.


WA acrylic half-size number plate fitted by dealership to 2009 Lexus RX350.
larger image		 The rear face of the WA acrylic half-size number plate fitted by dealership to 2009 Lexus RX350.
larger image

The end result is pictured below.


We had the brackets powder-coated in white but, unfortunately, the colour match wasn't close enough (difficult with a pearlescent finish and with the vehicle being on the other side of the country). Before Peter supplied us with the following photos he had arranged for his local body shop to spray them to match exactly. The tough powder-coating base will at least help to protect them from stone chips.


WA acrylic half-size number plate fitted to a Lakin Custom Plate Bracket on the front of a Lexus RX350.
larger image		 Close-up side view of a WA acrylic half-size number plate fitted to a Lakin Custom Plate Bracket on the front of a Lexus RX350.
larger image

WA acrylic half-size number plate fitted to a Lakin Custom Plate Bracket on the rear of a Lexus RX350.
larger image		 Close-up side view of a WA acrylic half-size number plate fitted to a Lakin Custom Plate Bracket on the rear of a Lexus RX350.
larger image

As well as many photos, Peter also sent us much feedback on the fitting process, part of which is included below:


"Hi Philip


Firstly, you and your team are to be congratulated on very fine, precision, light engineering. The brackets are perfectly made, everything fits, and all the right screws and other bits and pieces are there. Even the mild curvature on the front is a perfect match. Congratulations and well done!


. . .


So thanks for all the trouble and effort you went to in trying to sort my dilemma – even to the extent of tracking down a similar vehicle in Tassie! One thing's for sure: the finished result is better than what was there before.


I will certainly be returning to you for next car and next (not so narrow) plates!


Kind regards


Pete"


Copyright © 2008 - 2010 LAKIN Custom Plate Brackets. Powered by Zen Cart
Web site design and development by LAKIN Custom Plate Brackets™