TheSamba.com :: View topic - The enigma of the rear license plate bracket

Mon Dec 27, 2010 2:03 am

I dont have a rear license plate bracket on my car, but what does the correct one look like for a '65 squareback? My plate sits right on the hatch, but looking underneath it and underneath my hatch panel, I only have two holes for the plate (where its actually bolted on) so it doesnt look like somebody hacked any extra holes in my car.

Im confused by the ones I see that would require me to drill extra holes in my hatch.

Is this the right one?

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1006216

Mon Dec 27, 2010 3:12 am

I don't know? My first car was a square and was that same as yours. Just screwed straight into the two holes with no brackets.

Mon Dec 27, 2010 3:17 am

Weird right? Of all the cars in our group, only two of us (out of 5) have rear brackets, and one of those rears is actually a front.

What happened to them?

Mon Dec 27, 2010 3:43 am

I think a lot of them disappeared when the plates were changed on the cars. For example, when an original CA car with black plates was taken out of state or re-registered years later, the plates may have been removed and the brackets lost. That's the only explanation I can come up with. It really doesn't make any sense, and I for one do not appreciate the extra holes drilled into my hatch. I am under the impression that there were at least two types of rear brackets and they differed in years, probably '67 and earlier and '68 and on because of the license plate light change.

Mon Dec 27, 2010 4:02 am

two are for the Mounts holes
then the plate mounts to it
the ones that are to Skinny for regular plates
or Longer and skinnier
are for Different country plates

if you look into a thread about Australian bumpers i think
they have a pic of the bumper with a notch in it for the Square'ish license plate

the long ones are for european plates like Great Britain and the like.

there are a couple rear plate mounts
as well as light housings
not sure if the mounts changed specifically with the change of lights
there were 1s with 1 light and 1s with 2 lights

and the notch/fasty changed Where that housing was positioned
Not Sure about squares

One im used to seeing

and the middle one

Dont Remember which is wich
i think the adjustable one is for the front

Mon Dec 27, 2010 12:53 pm

sharkskinman wrote:

two are for the Mounts holes
then the plate mounts to it
the ones that are to Skinny for regular plates
or Longer and skinnier
are for Different country plates

if you look into a thread about Australian bumpers i think
they have a pic of the bumper with a notch in it for the Square'ish license plate

the long ones are for european plates like Great Britain and the like.

there are a couple rear plate mounts
as well as light housings
not sure if the mounts changed specifically with the change of lights
there were 1s with 1 light and 1s with 2 lights

and the notch/fasty changed Where that housing was positioned
Not Sure about squares

One im used to seeing

and the middle one

Dont Remember which is wich
i think the adjustable one is for the front

I have on of these on the front of my car.

And I have holes two holes that look to be for the top bracket on the rear hatch.

Mon Dec 27, 2010 1:46 pm

i think the mounting holes for them are the same front and rear
the front (yours?)
has a mound for mounting
the adjustable one May be for the rear

but i always thought they were for the ront
but?

i dont have one on the front now
and the back one ifs the skinny one in the bottom pictures

it came from a classified ad so dont know what Type they are for

Mon Dec 27, 2010 1:56 pm

Rear license brackets were supplied by the DEALER!!.
Front ones on a T-3 came with the car.
So, it is hard say what your original bracket was.

BTW, the hole spacing on license plates in the USA, is standardized. No need to change the bracket when moving from state to state.

Mon Dec 27, 2010 2:40 pm

sharkskinman wrote:
One im used to seeing

The first one I think is a bug rear plate bracket.
The second one is used on both ends of a Notchback.

Mon Dec 27, 2010 7:52 pm

Agree With Russ- our plates were screwed directly to the tail gate on the squareback's here in Australia as well.

Only the front of the square had the bracket fitted (and both front and rear of the notchback).

It was sad that I drilled the tail gate of the black square to fit a number plate. One of those things I wish I had never done. I wonder why VW didn't supply a bracket for the rear?

Mon Dec 27, 2010 10:12 pm

Because there were so many different license plates used around the world.
And most were used on the rear of the car. Many places do not use a front license.

Tue Dec 28, 2010 12:35 am

Russ Wolfe wrote: Rear license brackets were supplied by the DEALER!!.
Front ones on a T-3 came with the car.
So, it is hard say what your original bracket was.

BTW, the hole spacing on license plates in the USA, is standardized. No need to change the bracket when moving from state to state.

I didn't mean that plates from out of state were different, I was only trying to provide an explanation as to how the brackets were lost. When a car was taken out of state and the plates were removed, the brackets may have been lost. I know that my hatch has two holes closely inset for a bracket, but I have no bracket. The previous owner drilled two extra holes because the bracket went missing at some point.