At the purchase, the plate-holder installed in the back of the car was not as the original holder provided on the 7As. Such holder was fitted with its own chromed frame.

An original plate-holder was found at a person addressed by the friend Guy Loos; the holder was in good conditions and after sandblasting and surface finishing, it was painted in mat-white colour inside and black outside. 

The original chromed frame was not provided together the holder and a search was required.
Since it was almost impossible to find an original frame, manufacturers were contacted and, without good answers, it was decided to try a refabrication, since the meeting for “70 years at Versailles” was very close.

Waiting to find the right manufacturer in position to refabricate the frame as in the origin, the refabrication was made starting from a profile in brass material.
The refabrication was very complicate, the method takes very long time and the result not so good. 

First, a sample of the profile of the holder was made cutting a steel plate thk 1 mm. 

Bending of the brass profile: It is possible to bend the profile only by executing some small longitudinal cuts on the profile in correspondence of the part to be bended.
After executed the cuts, the holder sample was employed, the profile placed on the sample and bended.

Finishing of the profile: The profile shall be finished by closing the longitudinal cuts. By the tinning, the corners of the frame are covered, then, by file, the surface is finished.
The tinning assure a certain flexibility to the frame, necessary at the moment to install the frame on the plate holder. 

Angle bars: in order to fasten the frame to the plate-holder, 2 small angle bars shall be done and fixed on the frame by tinning. 

Chrome: before proceeding with the installation of the frame on the plate-holder, the frame was chromed; unfortunately the chrome on the tinning is possible but the result is not perfect. The chromed frame has not the desired quality in its corners and looks a bit old...but this is acceptable, waiting a refabrication by a manufacturer.

Installation of the frame on the plate-holder: the most difficult operation! The flexibility of the frame is very little, the original plate-holder is not straight but bended, the thin traffic plate with its numbers increased the difficulty of the operation.....

Exemple of preparation:

The profile employed.

The bended profile.

Finishing of the corners by tinning, before chrome