Not much brings a tear to the eye of a sports car owner more than being forced to install an ugly license plate to the otherwise perfectly proportioned front-end of your new baby. The owners of Corvette sports cars have grappled with this for years, but with 30 states requiring a front license plate to be fitted, it's just something many of us have to get over.
The current Chevy Stingray C8 Coupe provides the best solution so far (for instance, the C6 models necessitated actual drilling to mount the plate frame), and the folks over at Corvette Blogger have outlined the C8's more integrated design based on a chat with Kirk Bennion, Exterior Design Manager for Corvette.
The good news is that the C8's updated license plate cover doesn't interfere with airflow or cooling and is neatly positioned in the center of the front fascia. The cover can be removed by inserting a flat head screwdriver into the top right-hand corner slot to pop it off. Once that's done, you'll be able to see the plate's mounting holes - note that the Corvette's design means you'll need to slightly bend the license plate in the middle, but this ensures that it sits flush with the front design.
Conveniently, Corvette supplies all the tools needed to fit the plate, including the two mounting screws. Although there's no getting away from the fact that the sports car looks better without the license plate in front, Corvette's new solution looks like progress to us.
Unfortunately, some states have a minimum height requirement which would make the installation process we've just explained redundant. If you live in one of these states that clearly have no regard for sports car styling, the plate can also be mounted higher up on the edge of the Corvette's nose, but we imagine that this would stand out like a sore thumb. It would also make your C8 that much less instagrammable for those evenings when you have the backdrop of a perfect sunset.
For the rest of us, Corvette's solution is at least better than what came before, but don't be surprised if you still spot the odd C8 driver taking a chance and driving around with the license plate sliding around in the trunk.