A few years ago when I bought my Lotus Esprit, I was perplexed about the positioning and placement of the mandatory front license plate, so since I was in the entertainment industry and whenever we shot scenes on the LA freeways we were required to have CHP and LAPD escorts. I had made friends with a few of the CHP's and asked them about the issue of front license plates and they assured me that unless the cops have a "Hard-on" for you, they won't bother you, but if they just want a reason to pull you over and use the no front license plate issue as an excuse, they will...

After being pulled over 3 times in my Lotus for that very issue, I devised this scheme and aquired the California DMV vehicle code pertaining to front plates. (see attached)

When I first took delivery of my X-Fire I did exactly the same thing as with the Lotus, cut it down to ONLY the letters of the plate and attached it to the front of the car. (see pictures in album...

Well, I was pulled over in my x-fire 3 weeks ago for having the plate "Shaved" and went to court to contest... The court decided in my favor, stating the law only requires the numbers on the front plate be visible based on the vehicle code attached...

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d03/vc5201.htm
Pictures are in my album