Hi Malc, that`s exactly what they`ve done.
I took the plate off today to centralise it, as it was doing my nut in, then found the 2 original mounting holes & 4 other holes that had been drilled over the years, so treated the rust & put it back where it was. lol
I then remembered that they had `oversized` rear plates when new, so decided to try & get one made for the private plate.
It`s got a little bit of rust below thew window on the passenger front door & above the drivers rear bumper,, the bumpers need respraying as the front is covered in potholes on the top & the rear has been clouted on summat.
But, it`s only got 73k genuine miles from new, (ticked over 73k yesterday).
Here`s a front end pic for ease of identifying which version it is, as I know `97 was the changeover year.