Yep, the plate is still required, however, the tab's are no longer suplied or need on the front plate. On a side note, I had a 90 SHO before I got my Contour, and I got into a little fender-bender, (it just knocked off the front plate) and I never did replace it for almost 1.5-2 years. It truly dose matter what town you live in and if the cops woke up on the right side of the bed.