ConcoursMustang Forums
Restoring - General discussions that span across many different groups of years and models => Misc Items => Topic started by: Angela on January 03, 2016, 04:25:59 PM
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Has anyone gone down the path of restoring a 60's vintage California license plate? Attached is a picture of what I have been told is a period-correct plate (mid to late 60's) for california. It appears to me that the letters/numbers might have originally been yellow, yet someone later painted them white?
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Yes, originally yellow. Brian
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Technically, the color is "School Bus Yellow". For reference, Cal plates starting with "V" would be appropriate (close enough) for 1967. There is no exact way to make a determination. The plates Brian has in his post starting with "RDM", are from what I see in the picture, possibly issued for a 1965 GT Fastback in (or near) San Diego. My (October 65) 66 GT Fastback has original plates starting with "RXC" issued in Mountain View, CA. My (May 65) 65 GT Fastback has original plates starting with "NIS" issued in San Mateo, CA. As long as the state got it fees, they didn't care.
Jim
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Yes its a school bus yellow over a black background.
Not sure where your car was sold (can effect the license plant number sequence) - looking at my files I see similar ones used during spring of 67 in many parts of California though in some small DMV station (normally not many Mustangs sold in those farming areas) it could have been issued possibly a bit later in 67 from the original license plate data I've collected on Calif.
There should be dozens of Hot to Restore a Calif plate out there on the web. Plus I believe there are service for such
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The original plates on my Oct 64 fastback start with PCC. Car was bought in Downey, CA
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Not to open a new thread.
Is there any possibility (in the US) to officially (legally) re-print the number plate of my car (was unfortunately shipped overseas without the plates)?
CA, Blue Plate, yellow.
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Not to open a new thread.
Is there any possibility (in the US) to officially (legally) re-print the number plate of my car (was unfortunately shipped overseas without the plates)?
CA, Blue Plate, yellow.
Legally?? Not for use on a car in the US if I understand the law correctly. There are (never used them but have been told) a few places that make "reproductions" of the black and gold plates. They might be able to make a blue and yellow plate for the late 69-up cars. But sorry don't have a web site or business name handy. Maybe someone else does.
I'm guessing you have an older registration with the original plate number on it in your records
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The car was sold in Sept. 14. I got the title. With that title I registered the car in Germany. Believed that the CA plate number can not be used anymore in the US.
I heard that car owners with a current registered car do have the possibility to restamp former and in the time being "unused" plates. May be I'm wrong.
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Legally?? Not for use on a car in the US if I understand the law correctly. There are (never used them but have been told) a few places that make "reproductions" of the black and gold plates. They might be able to make a blue and yellow plate for the late 69-up cars. But sorry don't have a web site or business name handy. Maybe someone else does.
I'm guessing you have an older registration with the original plate number on it in your records
The way i understand it the repo companies that do a fine job of making the plates have to do them in aluminum. It is against the law to make them in steel and if caught the maker will get fines and may get first hand experience on making real ones if in one of the states that still uses inmate labor . ;)
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But sorry don't have a web site or business name handy. Maybe someone else does.
That would be great, if smb. knows smb who could do this......If so, also pn would be appreciated.
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This is the only one I have in my favorites http://www.mojoartworks.com/ I've not tried them and cannot make a recommendation, but it's a start.
Jim
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Many thanks....
As I could read on their page " and we do not duplicate plates"
They are only restoring number plates which I don't have. I'm looking to find a store who stamp me the former plate, (of the car I bought) which is not in use anymore.
I assume that once the car has been sold, in this case overseas, that the corresponding number plate became invalid and not been used anymore (forever).
May be I'm wrong here. I thought to know that an US car owner who sold his car but still has another one in current use is allowed to re-stamp/re-print the number plate of his car sold.
May be I'm wrong here as well.
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Has anyone gone down the path of restoring a 60's vintage California license plate?
I had Rod Pearman (aka the Tag Dr - www.tagdr.com ) restore mine, which were pretty banged up, he did a great job of straightening out and repainting.
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I assume that once the car has been sold, in this case overseas, that the corresponding number plate became invalid and not been used anymore (forever).
Depends on the state - there is a process where the state of California can reuse sequences after a period of time if the requirements are met.
May be I'm wrong here. I thought to know that an US car owner who sold his car but still has another one in current use is allowed to re-stamp/re-print the number plate of his car sold.
Unlike many countries the plates and number sequences are owned by the government. They are suppose to be given back to the state if the car is shipped over seas or another pair are issued. Doesn't happen all the time. In other countries I see that the plates are owned by the individual and are often sold and traded on an open market and reused on other cars.
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Here's a guy in Tenessee that does them too: http://m.finishyourplates.com/Prices---About-the-Business.html
or you can check out "Finish Your Plate" on Facebook
He sells on eBay too, I cannot vouch for him but maybe others can.
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Since I was originally from CA. The black and yellow plates are as follows. 1965 could start with either P, Q or R then 1966 started with R, S or T then 1967 started with T, U or V and 1968 started with V, W or X then lastly 1969 st a rated with X, Y or Z. Then in a 1970 California went to the blue with yellow letters and started with numb e rd instead of letters.
Since I have owned and sold nearly 300 Mustangs through the years and kept most of the o
Original plates I learned a lot about them. I still have my original ones on my 1967 GT Fastback I bought back in 1981. Since I now live in NC, I got personal plates here with the same numbers and have the CA Black and Yellow on the front and the NC one on the rear.
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Monroe since Calif is pretty large - what part of the state were you located. As mentioned it depended on the region office and how many registrations they went through in a period so specific first letters can vary a bit. Some of your letters do not include some that we have documented as originals (things like matching the original sales or owners manual for example).
Did you happen to write the cars VIN on the license plates as a way to tie them to a specific time or maybe when and were they were first sold? Without that its sort of a guess to match them up. For example a 67 left on the lot into 68 production would get a later license plate than an early 68 that came in and was sold quickly. Discussions earlier on other sites included DMV workers from the 60-70's which were helpful in explaining the whole allocation of plates to high volume and those other remove areas like behind the "redwood curtain" or the north east
Examples - have even F and K's used on early 65 cars and have a number of N's and M's in later 65
Just saying have allot of documented ones that don't fit the pattern. The DMV people (ex employees) were allot of help explaining things :)
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Since Ralph is trying to get the original plates for his car, and this looks close to impossible to get, even that he has the title, maybe the best choice is to go to a repro shop http://www.american-number-plate.com/california-license-plate and get one with his preferences. Or go to eBay and try to find an original one the most accurate possible to the date of issue for his car. Assume, like me, that he just wants it for exhibition purposes, so any repro or original/close-to-date would fit.
(BTW, Fuel cap (65) has been removed and now has the correct one for 1966)
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Assume, like me, that he just wants it for exhibition purposes, so any repro or original/close-to-date would fit.
Exactly.
Here is mine I'm looking for to get an exact repro:
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Ralph, check the website I posted before, they do repros. Thought these blue plates were introduced in the 70s.
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Ralph, check the website I posted before, they do repros. Thought these blue plates were introduced in the 70s.
Yes, right.
I did check it, but could not find the blues.
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look for the:
California BLUE 1970-82 Metal from the list
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Can configure the text there
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Ahhhh....great, thx, might be that I need some glases ;-)
What about the year. I think I not gonna choose it. But will the plate than be flat in that area left and right, or is it "stamped/pressed" like the originals to put on the stickers there.
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This is the one I ordered. Numbers are my today's legal plate, not the plate itself.
You can put a sticker on the right top corner, supplied by them as well.
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The black and yellow plates are as follows. 1965 could start with either P, Q or R then 1966 started with R, S or T then 1967 started with T, U or V and 1968 started with V, W or X then lastly 1969 st a rated with X, Y or Z.
My 65 GT Fastback has plates that start with "NIS". It was sold by a Ford dealer in Redwood City on 8-7-65 (I have the original dealer bill of sale) and the plates were issued on 8-27-65 (I have a copy of the original "pink slip") by the California DMV to the buyer. The "pink slip" includes a notation of the plates starting with "NIS".
There have been numerous write ups about what license plate number starting when and it is more complicated than your statement. In general, you are close but there is so much overlap in plates issued that no definitive statement will cover the variables.
Jim
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This is the one I ordered. Numbers are my today's legal plate, not the plate itself.
You can put a sticker on the right top corner, supplied by them as well.
Your selection may very well suite your purposes I imagine, however in the actual usage of characters by the California DMV while using the black & gold plates on passenger cars (such as your 67 Mustang), there would typically only have been three letters followed by three numbers. (example ABC123), a total of ONLY 6 characters used.
Later, when personalized plates became available (maybe somebody knows what time these plates became available, I do not), you could only use up to 7 characters and one half space. When I ordered a set of official (legal) personalized California license plates in 1984 for my 67 GTA, I was explained then the limits set up by the state. The list of choices or ideas I had come to the office with as options (I had 4 of them I recall, I wanted the year of my car, GT or GTA in some order or another, so people might quit asking me "What year is your Mustang?), all of the ideas I had were already taken at the time by somebody else. I found this out by looking through the "unavailable" catalog before filling out my application. I finally found one that wasn't taken and I purchased a set of the, then available "Sunset" plates with 67GT4ME. I still have those plates and they are in good to very good condition. Very much like your idea though, I ordered a set of reproduction plates in Black & Gold with the same characters previously used on my "street legal" personalized plates. Since these reproductions are for show purposes only, I do not intend to drive on them.
Keep in mind, license plates of any kind are not exactly "concours" in the state of California. New car owners left the dealership with a little piece of paper in the right front corner of the windshield, indicating to any police officer that the paperwork had been submitted (by the dealership) to the state. The plates arrived later.
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Found a shop. Asked them if they stamp in my original number. Waiting for answer. Cost $180 + $35 shipping + 25% tax and fees :o
Ralf
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Washington state also has the same sort of overlap/before and after type of plate usage. King County --being the most populated,used the most plates,where some of the outlying smaller counties did not use as many. Counties also had prefixes assigned to them,check this out for a start https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Washington_(state)
Note the "wash 63" plates were used into 65 and some 66 depending on county.
We also now have the option of using YOM(year of manufacture) plates--since plates got replaced through the yrs (state used to mandate every 7 yrs) we can now find old plates and run them for a one time fee and NO annual fees. http://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/sprestored.html
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I used this place out of florida with excellent results,(they are made out of aluminum) https://www.licenseplates.tv/antiquecollector.php
I dug up an old document regarding license plates in california, just a partial listing but it may help.
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I used this place out of florida with excellent results,(they are made out of aluminum) https://www.licenseplates.tv/antiquecollector.php
I dug up an old document regarding license plates in california, just a partial listing but it may help.
Not sure of the source or the time frame for that list (have seen it before)
Looking at my records I would guess it might apply to when the change over to change from the yellow plates to the black plates took place - since have examples of 65's that don't match up (use later sequences) with what is shown on the sheet
Info would be great for the 63 and maybe the 64 crowd of vintage car owners IMHO
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I used this place out of florida with excellent results,(they are made out of aluminum) https://www.licenseplates.tv/antiquecollector.php
I dug up an old document regarding license plates in california, just a partial listing but it may help.
The link conveniently omits California, and the attachment is the initial allocation of California plates. As DMV offices ran out, they got another batch.
Looking at my records I would guess it might apply to when the change over to the yellow plates took place -
Do you mean change to a black plate with yellow printing?
Jim
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........Do you mean change to a black plate with yellow printing?
Fix it - change from yellow to black plates
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The link conveniently omits California, and the attachment is the initial allocation of California plates. As DMV offices ran out, they got another batch. Do you mean change to a black plate with yellow printing?
Jim
I never checked to see if they still did california plates, they used to, i had a pair made from there, must have had a legal issue and dropped them. Here is another that does very good work= Ray Ray out of san diego, click this link and see post #3 http://forums.vintage-mustang.com/vintage-mustang-forum/474175-who-refurbishes-license-plates.html he is very strict though, won't make a plate unless you have a registration slip showing the number you want, and proof its yours.
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I never checked to see if they still did california plates, they used to, i had a pair made from there, must have had a legal issue and dropped them.....
I believe that statement is TRUE. I had a pair made there probably 5-6 years ago...no issues and they looked GREAT (except the backs were YELLOW, they used the same plate for pre-62 cars and simply flipped them over depending on color/vintage requested)
I painted the backs of mine SGB to match the fronts and they now look 100% authentic....So far all I have done with my plates is to show them to people off the car. Car isn't ready yet anyways ;)
I bought mine ABOUT THE TIME Calif began re-issuing YOM Plates too... so I believe people were ordering and using the reproduction plates AGAINST THE SUGGESTION of the plate stamping company (They claimed them for off road, or show purposes ONLY and I imagine a few idiots ruined it for those who were actually following the rules.)
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Found a shop. Asked them if they stamp in my original number. Waiting for answer. Cost $180 + $35 shipping + 25% tax and fees :o
Ralf
Here we go.....
1st picture
Orig. number plate (which didn't come with) on the car when sold in 2014:
2nd picture
Repro plate, incl. orig tags (NOV, 2014)
Looking for the frame now...
Does anyone has a plate frame like shown in 1st picture?
1967|Ford|Mustang?
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Here we go.....
1st picture
Orig. number plate (which didn't come with) on the car when sold in 2014:
2nd picture
Repro plate, incl. orig tags (NOV, 2014)
Yep that's the later plate (after the original period - black plates and before the white plates)
Looking for the frame now...
Does anyone has a plate frame like shown in 1st picture?
1967|Ford|Mustang?
They don't still make those (available through the usual Mustang parts houses)? Always see them at swap meets new and used so thought they were still being made/sold.
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1st picture
Orig. number plate (which didn't come with) on the car when sold in 2014:
Looking for the frame now...
Does anyone has a plate frame like shown in 1st picture?
1967|Ford|Mustang?
They don't still make those (available through the usual Mustang parts houses)? Always see them at swap meets new and used so thought they were still being made/sold.
National Parts Depot, $9.95 each, 64 1/2 thru 70.
Jim
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Yep that's the later plate (after the original period - black plates and before the white plates)
They don't still make those (available through the usual Mustang parts houses)? Always see them at swap meets new and used so thought they were still being made/sold.
An overview:
Information on 1963- present plates:
1963 was the last year a complete new plate issuance to all vehicles occured (the plates had a black background and chrome yellow characters).
1970 is the year the basic plate was changed to a blue background with yellow characters. It was also the last year any black/yellow plates were issued.
1976, year round registration started which requires a month expiration sticker afixed to the upper left hand corner of the plate.
1982 is the year when the standard plate was changed to a white background with blue characters with a sun graphic and CALIFORNIA in red block letters.
It was also the last year any blue/yellow plates were issued.
1987, reflectorized plates with CALIFORNIA in red block letters were issued. The sun graphic was discontinued.
1991, only reflectorized basic plates were issued.
1993, the word CALIFORNIA was changed to red script.
1997, stickers were made with background colors that change every year and characters printed in black.
Basic plates issued from 1998 through 2000 contain the words SESQUICENTENNIAL - 150 YEARS in red block letters at the bottom of the plates.
2001, the basic plate is white with blue characters and CALIFORNIA in red script. There is no writing at the bottom of the plate.
And thx Jim.
But Scott Drake and NPD have only the "bended" frames, I'm looking for the "flat" version. Like shown on my car.
May be smb has this frame and does not need it anymore?
Ralf
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Monroe since Calif is pretty large - what part of the state were you located. As mentioned it depended on the region office and how many registrations they went through in a period so specific first letters can vary a bit. Some of your letters do not include some that we have documented as originals (things like matching the original sales or owners manual for example).
Did you happen to write the cars VIN on the license plates as a way to tie them to a specific time or maybe when and were they were first sold? Without that its sort of a guess to match them up. For example a 67 left on the lot into 68 production would get a later license plate than an early 68 that came in and was sold quickly. Discussions earlier on other sites included DMV workers from the 60-70's which were helpful in explaining the whole allocation of plates to high volume and those other remove areas like behind the "redwood curtain" or the north east
Examples - have even F and K's used on early 65 cars and have a number of N's and M's in later 65
Just saying have allot of documented ones that don't fit the pattern. The DMV people (ex employees) were allot of help explaining things :)
Here's another data point for your records Jeff...
My car (7R03S110xxx) was built eight days ahead of schedule (per the Marti Report) on Sept. 22, 1966. It was shipped to Harrold Ford in Sacramento, where it sat on the lot until it was finally sold (to a woman who lived in Sacramento) on April 20, 1967. The California black/yellow plate that was issued to the car at that particular time and location was UMN 089.
Hope this helps!
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Here's another data point for your records Jeff...
My car (7R03S110xxx) was built eight days ahead of schedule (per the Marti Report) on Sept. 22, 1966. It was shipped to Harrold Ford in Sacramento, where it sat on the lot until it was finally sold (to a woman who lived in Sacramento) on April 20, 1967. The California black/yellow plate that was issued to the car at that particular time and location was UMN 089.
Got it - thanks :)