I was messing with breaking loose the rear bumper on Sunday and was just kinda inspecting. mainly looking at the tail panel, noticed that there is plenty of body filler down the bottom edge and maybe a good portion of the lower area. While i was under there I was looking at the posture of the licence plate and the holder. I know it sit just slightly off of level ( i have another door waiting in the wings) but I was wondering, Does everyone's plate sit at an angle? the plate is not "plumb" meaning it sits further towards the front of the car at the bottom then it does at the top.
I'm trying to figure out if the bracket is wrong or bent , or if the tail panel is bent in some. it doesn't really look like it but it seems odd that they would not design it for the plate to be completely vertical.
Bill, not sure mine was ever completely plumb. Just kind of went with the body contour.
Interesting question. I had a repro tail panel installed. Then the License plate sat too low. So I made some brackets to put it where it looked right. Never checked to see if it was originally level. It is now.
I tell ya, when I actually looked at it, I dont see how it could possibly sit Plumb. unless something is bent that I don't recognize as bent.
bill v
Are you sure you have a '69 Firebird rear license plate bracket and not a '69 Camaro? If you're using a Camaro bracket, then the plate will not be plumb. The bottom of the plate will be more forward as the op described. The '69 Firebird rear license plate bracket is a one year only part and (to my knowledge) not reproduced ….and they are very hard to find. The next time you go to a car show and see a '69 Firebird with a plumb license plate, ask the owner if you can take a look at the bracket.
Thanks Ron, I'm a little late on seeing this.
Hello Mark, yes it is a FB door. in fact 1/2 of it is original to the car. Yea I know, What? yup, somehow we lost the door section over all the years the car was stored away in the garage. I ended up finding the door section only at a swap meet, yes the correct part number. I also have a good one waiting in the part pile, it took me almost a year to find it. A guy in Oregon sent to Pa for me when I found it on C-list.
Guess I was wondering if the tail panel might me a little pushed in or something, but it doesnt look like it.
Thanks Bill V
Bill, hey, I stand corrected (not the first time). I just looked at my rear plate this morning and it is slanted with the bottom portion being more forward. Guess I never noticed it before. I could probably get it to be more plumb by cutting the two rubber bumpers down a bit. I measured the height of the rubber bumpers and they are 19mm. But I'm going to leave it as is. Not a big deal for me.