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Corridor Lakes > Province: Neuquén > San Martín de los Andes

License Plate and Motorbike Museum

Mónica Pons

Marcelo Sola

Hundreds of license plates made with various materials and shapes cover the museum walls; each of them has a history to tell in the words of their enthusiast owner.

In the center of town, inside a private housing unit, we found something curious: a museum displaying a fantastic collection of license plates gathered by the owner of the house. This singular venue may be visited after making a previous appointment with architect Daniel Rubinger, who is personally in charge of guiding visitors around and passing on his experiences with each element he has fixed to the basement walls. It was in this intimate space illuminated by skylights and inviting to engage in conversation that we discovered the history of each piece of his collection.

The walls boast hundreds of license plates in impeccable condition ordered by regions, provinces, cities and towns in Argentina. Daniel, who is passionate for the subject, illustrated the origin of each of them in a very interesting fashion.

“Have you noticed? I live very close to San Martín Square, in a corner that seems to be far away from the downtown and that gives me a feeling of privacy, of a cozy place away from the city lights and noise. It was all this which led me to start this art of collecting and showing that with a simple image on a plate we can learn about the history of twentieth-century peoples.”

We discovered that some of the towns no longer exist, others have been thrown to oblivion but Daniel’s account revived them and set them within context. The collection includes official, diplomatic and regular license plates for cars, motorbikes, horse-drawn carts and bikes.

A license plate showing an image of the Lanín Volcano, Lake Huechulafquen and the emblematic monkey-puzzle tree caught our eye. Daniel told us that it used to belong to the Province of Neuquén 100th official car and he referred to the illustration as a very special feature. Another one, dating back from the 1960s, presents the mountainous relief of Tilcara, in the Province of Jujuy.

Towns like San Martín de las Escobas or Susana have their “representative” somewhere in the colorful museum as a proof that communities that are not that famous do have a vehicle history as well.

Then we moved onto the museum section containing international license plates. We thought it was amazing to find enameled plates dating back from the period ranging between 1905 and 1950, part of a valuable collection from Belgium.

But not only does Daniel collect license plates and show them at his museum: motorbikes are also part of a labor he has done for years gathering ancient highly valuable pieces in perfect condition. One of them is a 1914 Swiss motorbike engine with a leather strap in the transmission made by Motoreve.

The bonus track was getting to admire a collection of old beer bottles from 1870 to 1900, along with some train, car and motorbike headlights that have been perfectly preserved.

The collection is spectacular. What is more, Daniel Rubinger’s look and thrill completely justify a visit to this precious compilation of the life of certain peoples.

mail: info@patentesargentinas.com.ar