Bonnet Badge

I had the pleasure of seeing a drop dead gorgeous 1974 Jaguar Type E Series 3 over the weekend and could not help but notice it had a white, rectangular shaped strip with numbers on the bonnet. Could someone please advise me on what the purpose is of the wide white strip on the very front end of the bonnet? Thank you.

Richard,

Not sure if you are being serious here but just in case the strip of numbers with probably a few letters there as well is the ......number plate or license plate if you are in the States, this number at the front matches surpisingly the number at the back of the car.

Dave
'61 ots

I'm sure it was a fake British license plate, back then the UK market cars came with a stick on front license plate, mounted just above the grille opening.