License Plate Restore

[LONGHAIR]

This has to be the shortest thread aver to get resurrected after 7 years....Wow

[Tx Firefighter]

This thread is timely. I got a few minutes yesterday and pulled my old 72 Texas Farm Truck license plates off my beater. I'm in the middle of powdercoating them this weekend. Green letters, white background, and a coat of clear powder on top of all of it. Should be durable.

[ChevLoRay]

That's a good idea. I have a buncha old AR plates, and a few of them are truck plates. In Arkansas, truck plates ran from July 1 of the issue year, until June 30 of the following year. In '68, Arkansas started producing "permanent" plates that had three letters/three numbers and no specific year. So, my '69 truck can't get a specific year Arkansas plate....hence the Arizona plate that I had in AZ in '69-71.

[tim21391]

anybody done this themselves..what were the steps they used

[jfaithbass]

I did aplate myself for my '30 AA ford recently.... found anold can of spray paint in the local mom and pop hardware store that was right on the background color and picked up some enamel for the letters....
bead blasted the plate and hammered out the dents.. then primed, painted the yellow.... and grabbed a brush for the letters and took my time.. the red enamel flowed nice and the brush strokes laid right down... total cost about $8 and a couple hours of time....

[SacramentoJoe]

Originally Posted by jfaithbass

I did aplate myself for my '30 AA ford recently.... found anold can of spray paint in the local mom and pop hardware store that was right on the background color and picked up some enamel for the letters....
bead blasted the plate and hammered out the dents.. then primed, painted the yellow.... and grabbed a brush for the letters and took my time.. the red enamel flowed nice and the brush strokes laid right down... total cost about $8 and a couple hours of time

That is exactly how i did mine, except I hand sanded instead of bead blasting. They go well with the rattle-canned bumpers and grill. I wasn't even a member seven years ago!

GMC

[ChevLoRay]

Spending 8 bucks is a lot cheaper than the 70-100 bucks that the ALPCA restorers want to charge. Plus, you got braggin' rights!

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by ChevLoRay

Spending 8 bucks is a lot cheaper than the 70-100 bucks that the ALPCA restorers want to charge. Plus, you got braggin' rights!

x 2. After seeing the results, I am going to do this myself

[BT Classics]

I have restored a few plates. Make sure your colors are as close as possible to original. Many autobody supply stores can color match (more money for auto paint) but if you have someone good at a hardware store paint counter, they can make some custom tinted pints. (They might not be able to shake them - but you can by hand and then check for color)

Depending on your DMV and the person you get, they can give you a hard time for 'restored' plates - especially if the colors are not original. Some states have laws and regulations regarding license plates. If you do a nice job, you could pass them off as NOS if questioned. Obvious repaints in non-original colors will be a red flag, especially metallics, more than 2 colors, pinstriping, extra decals or graphics, naked lady 'Statue of Liberty', etc.

In NY, to use old plates on a classic car, the plate number cant be in use on any motor vehicle, must be the correct issued year for that car (with correct year in stamped, tag or sticker - as original), in the correct number for that year (1 plate or pair - as original issued), and in original legible condition. Some states the plate stays with the car when transfered ; some plates stay with the person and transfer car to car ; some you can use any year plate.

[romarti0825]

How do I get me some black plates?

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by romarti0825

How do I get me some black plates?

You can find them on E-bay and Pomona swap meet. Be careful though...you need to make sure the plates are cleared from the DMV. The dude at pomona did not know if his were, and had a bad attitude to boot, so I did not buy any from him. You need to make sure the sequence of letters/numbers is correct for your truck (they are different for 1/2, 3/4 and 1 ton) You also will not be allowed to use them on anything 72 and newer. I think it is not worth the hassle and $$

[Rattle Can Joe]

Originally Posted by C/10 King

Funny you should mention it, she just painted some the other day. And some frames too. "it's nice to have a wife that does nails for a living"

Here are the license plates that the C/!0 King's wife painted for me.

[pritch]

I had to make a new plate one time. Years ago, there was this UHP trooper around here that just hated me. I never knew why, but he would pull me over every single time he saw me. I had an old '67 Trazer. This once, he pulled me over and when he came up to the window first thing out of his pie-hole was "Where's your front licence plate?"

"It's right there on my front bumper."

He walked back to the front of my truck and I could just see the red rising up his face. "Where the hell is your front bumper?" He was really hollering by then.

"How would I know-it fell off years ago"

Sure enough, I got a ticket for no plate and no front bumper. So I read the law and got the barest minimum of a chunk of metal for a bumper, then I took my rear plate and made a little form and put the plate in it and poured some concrete on it. After it cured for a couple days, I took an old plate and pounded it out flat then carefully hammered it into the mold. Utah's plates at the time were just a basic white with black digits so it was easy to get close. Then off to see the Judge. We still had a Justice of the Peace back then, and his day job was owning the local laundermat. Laundermat Court was quite a tradition in our town. He was the kinda Judge that if you got to BSing with him and took him cash money, most times tickets wouldn't really show up on our records. Well, since all I had was basicly a fix-it ticket, and the windows of the laundermat were kind of fogged up, 'ol Reed just gave my truck a quick look out the window, saw my bumper and plate and said "Ten bucks". Good enough.

[Puropedo]

Hey Leddzepp, do you remember how much the guy at pomona was asking for a black/yellow Cali set of plates?

[longhorn70gmc]

My 70 Longhorn and c/10 both have black and yellow numbered plates. I have a blue set in a box too. Old thread but it came back strong. Pomona is a darn good place to start to look for plate reproducers. They show up all over the Cali shows.

[leddzepp]

Puropedo- I think he wanted $200 for a set of decent black/gold plates. They were not repros, they were originals. Some were pretty beat up, others were in good shape, but all needed restoring to look new. He also had blue/gold plates, but to my knowledge, the DMV is NOT allowing you to use those on the '72 newer vehicles (unless it happens to be original to that vehicle!) I have a few sets of old blue/golds, and I am too scared to take them in and see, for fear of them confiscating them from me! I was going to research this further via phone and internet, but have been too busy lately.

There is a dude a few blocks over with a '65 'stang that has black/gold plates...and they have got to be repros, they just do not look original. The numbers are squared off, not round. I did run across a website where a guy was selling black/gold plates that were new repros (with squared off numbers), and he claimed you could use them on a pre-72 vehicles due to a change in the DMV laws. I knew you could do it with original, cleared plates...but I was not aware that you could put aftermarket ones on?? I do not remember the website addy (came up on google I think) but he was located in Calif, and said the DMV accepted his repros. I was still skeptical, but after seeing this dude's stang, it might be true. But again, they just don't look quite right in my opinion.

[Puropedo]

Im pretty sure repro plates are illegal here in Cali. Usually u can get away with it though. I have 4 sets of black/yellow plates that I have collected over time, didnt have an idea they were going for so much. Thanks for the info Leddzepp.

[chrislehr]

Man, I might have to pick up a few effed up ones next swap meet and see where my skills are at on this. Seems like a decent way to make money and kill time having some fun in the garage.

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by Puropedo

Im pretty sure repro plates are illegal here in Cali. Usually u can get away with it though. I have 4 sets of black/yellow plates that I have collected over time, didnt have an idea they were going for so much. Thanks for the info Leddzepp.

No problem...don't get too excited though. He was asking $200....I didn't see anyone buying them

[So.Cal.Super]

Hey guys this might help for CA

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d03/vc5004_1.htm

if I am reading that right we can use year correct plates up to 72, but then again I don't speak law.

I want to redo my plates and am thinking of giving it a try I am just having a hard time finding the correct blue since I don't want to color match faded blue.

[42corsair]

Originally Posted by So.Cal.Super

Hey guys this might help for CA

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d03/vc5004_1.htm

if I am reading that right we can use year correct plates up to 72, but then again I don't speak law.

I want to redo my plates and am thinking of giving it a try I am just having a hard time finding the correct blue since I don't want to color match faded blue.

So.. has anyone here put a set of BLACK plates on 72 and gone through the DMV to do it without hassle? I'd love to put black plates on my truck!

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by 42corsair

So.. has anyone here put a set of BLACK plates on 72 and gone through the DMV to do it without hassle? I'd love to put black plates on my truck!

I have never seen a 72 with black plates. 71 was the last year that they were used, and the DMV will not allow you to use them on anything newer than 71.

[So.Cal.Super]

Originally Posted by leddzepp

I have never seen a 72 with black plates. 71 was the last year that they were used, and the DMV will not allow you to use them on anything newer than 71.

Right, I don't think they were meaning it that way, I think they are saying you can use year correct up to 1972 for trucks. which would make them (1972) blue.

again I don't speak law and I don't know about everyone else but I always get a different answer from the DMV
I just found this link yesterday maybe someone can use it to find out.

[42corsair]

Originally Posted by So.Cal.Super

Right, I don't think they were meaning it that way, I think they are saying you can use year correct up to 1972 for trucks. which would make them (1972) blue.

again I don't speak law and I don't know about everyone else but I always get a different answer from the DMV
I just found this link yesterday maybe someone can use it to find out.

This line:

"The department may consult with an organization of old car hobbyists in determining whether the date of year of the license plate corresponds to the model-year date when the vehicle was manufactured."

made me think that if you convinced someone that black was the corresponding plate for your vehicle, you might get away with it. But who knows - maybe they have a tickler on their screen that tells them the year info.

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by 42corsair

This line:

"The department may consult with an organization of old car hobbyists in determining whether the date of year of the license plate corresponds to the model-year date when the vehicle was manufactured."

made me think that if you convinced someone that black was the corresponding plate for your vehicle, you might get away with it. But who knows - maybe they have a tickler on their screen that tells them the year info.

You can always try, you never know. As has been pointed out by another member, go to 3 different DMV's, and you will get 3 different answers. I lucked out when registering my 3/4 ton truck. The gal putting in info did not put it in as a commercial vehicle, so my registration is actually less than I pay for my 1/2 ton