Hello Brian,
Welcome to AFM.
As far as I know, there was no such thing as a factory license plate. If there was, Ford didn't bother to put them into their master parts catalog. Every place they show license plate attaching hardware they show a generic flat rectangle marked only with the words 'license plate'. If it were a Ford supplied part they would have included a Ford part number. Why add a plate that half of their customers would have to throw away to install their state's front license plate? Individual dealers could have done whatever they wanted but I doubt the plate you mention was from the Ford factory. If they did supply them why aren't there now 2 million of them for sale on eBay?
I don't know that I have seen, at least I don't recall any such brown plate. Got a picture?
Welcome to AFM.
As far as I know, there was no such thing as a factory license plate. If there was, Ford didn't bother to put them into their master parts catalog. Every place they show license plate attaching hardware they show a generic flat rectangle marked only with the words 'license plate'. If it were a Ford supplied part they would have included a Ford part number. Why add a plate that half of their customers would have to throw away to install their state's front license plate? Individual dealers could have done whatever they wanted but I doubt the plate you mention was from the Ford factory. If they did supply them why aren't there now 2 million of them for sale on eBay?
I don't know that I have seen, at least I don't recall any such brown plate. Got a picture?