The point of this blog is not to debate whether or not everyone should be required to rock a front plate, but rather to vent some frustrations a "friend" is having about the selective enforcement of the law.  It seems like every other yuppie driving around So Cal in their BMW, Mercedes, or - insert overpriced European car here - is exempt from the law when it comes to displaying the mandatory front license plate.

In Orange County CA, where I currently live, most of these high end luxury vehicles either have an "authentic" European plate to show how worldly the driver is, or they have a decorative piece of metal in place of the front plate with either a giant Bavarian Motor Works emblem or the famous three-spoked Benz insignia.  The other half of these law breakers just have nothing at all, not willing to taint their precious front bumper with a gaudy license plate, and gasp at the thought of drilling 2 small holes for the sake of following the mandated vehicle code (Even though my "friend" falls into this category).

So why is it that Johnny Law decides to look the other way when its time to dish out tickets?  There are legions of soccer moms and young-urban-professionals cruising the streets, breaking the law every time they make a run to Starbucks, but no one gets ticketed.  But when any other car, lets say a basically stock Subaru Impreza, goes without a front plate for a week, it gets pulled over like its running drugs in the fender wells and slapped with a ticket?  If you are driving anything made before 1990, look out.  That alone is probable cause in these areas.

For those of you running a front mount intercooler, I feel your pain.  Do you: A) Draw more attention from the fuzz by 'riding dirty' without a front plate, risking the 5-0 discovering your other illegal mods, or B) Just suck it up and sacrifice air flow (as well as aesthetics) by shielding half of your intercooler from fresh air?

I'm not saying that my "friend" didn't violate a state mandated law along with all the other law breaking rebels, but it bothers the hell out of "him" that the only way you can get away with breaking the law is if you have enough money.  I guess this is just how the world works, but it still pisses me off. (Oops I think I gave away my identity.  Flame on, I guess.)