'Reconditioned' license plate in Oregon

[oregonroses]

I came across some reconditioned 1948 oregon state license plates that I wanted to use on my '48 Land cruiser. Wandered into the local DMV and was told in no uncertian terms that if I used those plates I could "only drive your car in parades"! Well, I'm a daily driver type and felt this was too restrictive. Also ran into same issue with my newly purchased '29 Dictator that had oregon state 'Historic' plates...same answer about having to run "new" plates if wanting to drive other than in parades.

Any one else run into this?

1952 Champion
1948 Land Cruiser
1929 GE Dictator

[silverhawk]

Well, in Washington its the same thing. Got collector plates on your car, can't drive it. Me and my dad got them on our studes, and probley going to have them on his '64 barracuda. What do we do? Drive them anyways,LOL! Never had a problem, even when they are pressed into daily service. I suppose if you got pulled over for bad driving, or whatever, they can and probley will ding you for it. But, thats our experiance, don't know what it is like down there. Good luck!

Dylan Wills

'61 lark deluxe 4 door wagon

[StudeRich]

You can drive them to Club events, car shows, Parades, to a Repair Shop, or for a tune & test run.

Be creative, have an estimate for an exhaust system in the car, and be going to the Muffler shop for repair.

StudeRich

[S2DSteve]

I've been running antique plates in Oregon on Studebakers for years without a problem. The actual restriction is the car be used PRIMARILY in "hobby" activities and not "normally" for regular transportation. I suppose if you parked in the company lot on a regular basis, someone might complain, but law enforcement has better things to do than follow antique cars around to see if they stop at a grocery store. If you attracted their attention in some other way (i.e. having an accident), they might ask, but I wouldn't worry about it.




Steve Hudson
The Dalles, Oregon
1949 "GMOBaker" 1-T Dually (workhorse)
1953 Commander Convertible (show & go)
1953 Champion Starliner (custom/rod project)
1954 Champion Coupe (daily driver)
1960 Hawk (future project?)

[Mark57]

Your "Collector" plate status sounds like our "Antique" plate situation here in BC... very restrictive (parades, club meetings, repairs). But, we also have a "Collector" plate which allows the use of the vehicle on a daily basis for "pleasure" use - which includes any purpose except driving to work, school or for use in a business.

Means the only limiting factor to daily usage is the weather! [:0][B)]

<h5>Mark
'57 Transtar Deluxe
Vancouver Island Chapter
http://visdc.shawwebspace.ca/ </h5>

[Invalid User Name]

This begs the question - what do they care? If the state has your money and your car is readily identifiable by the plate, why would they put up a fuss? Another law without reason or common sense.


Doug
Venice, Florida
1950 Champion
9G F1

[492R5]

In Michigan you can run "Year of Manufacture" plates and pay a $35 registration fee once and it never expires as long as you own the vehicle & I believe there really isn't a mileage restriction. Or at least they never check!!! They really don't say that the car has to be used in parades. The only restriction is that they do not want them on daily drivers, but like I said, they never check so who would know.

[barnlark]

Mine has similar restrictions; club events, parades, etc. I print out a year long car show event list that I carry in my car just in case. I'm sure such a list exists on the internet for your area. It is the law as a license restriction, so don't forget that. There's always a chance an officer will go by the book, but I haven't been pulled over yet. For peace of mind, get a regular plate.

[jclary]

Within the last couple of years, South Carolina has passed a vintage plate law with most of the customary restrictions you folks have already mentioned. However, one additional quirk to our law is that the plate must be kept in original condition. This means you can not "recondition" the plate in any way. You are not allowed to re-paint the tag. It must be in good usable condition, legible, with no touch up except for cleaning. Since our state only requires one plate on the back of the car, I have used other plates on the front bumper with no problem. On my '48 and '51 cars, I have Indiana plates of those years that I have displayed from time to time. Otherwise, I just run regular plates. I try to avoid those "Barney Fife" encounters as much as I can.

John Clary
Greer, SC

Life... is what happens as you are making plans.
SDC member since 1975

[mdelapp]

In Illinois you can get Antique car plates after a car is 25 years old. this is a reduced fee plate good for five years but restricts use to car events, repairs, test runs, etc like so many other states. They additionally allow you to display vintage plates so long as you keep the antique plate and its registration in the car.

One of the few Illinois regulations that seems to make senss, therefor I expect it to change soon.

[Guido]

Here in Virginia there has been abuse of the antique vehicle laws with many drivers using it as a means to avoid safety inspections and attempt to get a reduced rate on insurance. Many times I have seen '70's vintage pickups loaded to the gills with stuff or hauling a landscaping trailer full of mowers and weedeaters. There is actually a process in Virginia where you can report abuse to the State Police and they will investigate.

Violations include:
1. Vehicles registered as antiques used in a business or for business purposes
2. Vehicles (especially trucks) registered as antiques carrying cargo
3. Vehicles registered as antiques with oblivious safety violations.
(Violations do not include cosmetic defects such as primer spots, surface rust and poor quality paint).

The main thing to be concerned about is how your vehicle is insured. If it is strictly for show purposes and you are using it as a daily driver you will be SOL in the event of an accident and your insurer discovers this.




Guido Salvage - "Where rust is beautiful" and real Studebaker horsepower lives

See pictures here: http://community.webshots.com/user/GuidoSalvage

Hiding and preserving Studebakers in Richmond, Goochland & Louisa, Va.

[Swifster]

I have yet to see a YOM law that was meant for a daily driver. That is why the plates are cheaper. The car isn't supposed to be on the road as a daily driver. It is for collector car related activities as most have mentioned. And being from Michigan, the wording is similar.

The reason? Taxes/registration fees. States let us put these plates on the cars at a discount. As mentioned, most police agencies don't enforce the law. I know here in Florida though, some of the old biddies like to tattle on people driving with YOM or Antique plates is they see them during the week. There have been two articles in the paper about people 'cheating' on their registration.

I personally love the YOM plates and want to run them on the Daytona & Commander. But I try to keep an eye out for a 'company car', either Studebaker or another make. And if I get one, I'll probably register it with regular plates with the same number as a YOM plate. I'll keep the new plate in the trunk and the old plate on the bumper. I'm not saying this is legal, and I won't get a ticket, but I might take the chance. The registration would be paid in full and the plate with the car soooooo....

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom - Mulberry, FL

1964 Studebaker Daytona - 289 4V, 4-Speed (Cost To Date: $2161.27)

1964 Studebaker Commander 170-1V, 3-speed w/OD (Cost to Date: $623.67)

[55champion]

I have ran the YOM plates in North Carolina for years on my cars. However I do have a current plate under the seat of the car if I were to be stoped for any reason.I was told that was the way it was to be done in our state.

[Skip Lackie]

Agree with Swifster. There are really two issues here: (1) the restrictions on usage that come with historic/antique plates, and (2) any additional rules attached to the use of YOM plates in place of (or in addition to) historic plates.

I wrote the historic license plate law for DC back in the mid-1970s, and based it on language in the laws from 4 or 5 other states. At the time (pre-internet), I was able to get copies of the historic plate laws from about 25 states, and I can verify that they differed very little.

First, as Tom has noted, historic plates are usually much cheaper than regular plates, so states don't want them used for daily transportation. Second, many of these laws were originally drafted (or an older "antique" law amended) in the 1970s in order to exempt historic vehicles from the blizzard of Federal safety and emissions regulations and laws then becoming effective. There was an informal network of hobbyists / lobbyists from all over North America who banded to together to prevent the passage of laws that would require retrofitting modern emissions or safety equipment to our vehicles.

In the end, the EPA permitted states to exempt historic vehicles from all of these regulations IF THE STATE LAW ALSO GREATLY RESITRICTED THE USE OF SUCH VEHICLES to hobby purposes, so as to limit their contribution to air pollution. That was the deal the hobby made with the Feds 35 years ago -- we would promise to only use our old vehicles for fun if they would exempt us from onerous regulations. I think it was a fair deal. There may be times when the limits seem restrictive, but most of us have limited-use insurance policies on our historic vehicles anyway. And as noted, enforcement is pretty lax most places.

YOM laws are a lot more variable, and often depend in part on whether the number on a YOM plate could be duplicated by a current-year plate (case in point: California). In addition, most states prohibit the use of repainted or restored plates for YOM usage on the grounds that the colors may not be correct.

Skip Lackie
Washington DC

[Johnnywiffer]

My '54 license has a little tag (ya gotta stand on your head to see it) that is good for 5 years. As you can see, the "old" license plate is slightly different from the new one, so if I drove the LC to the movies, I think Officer Friendly would not have a hard time discerning one from 'tother.



Have not driven it anywhere in a while, so, fortunately, have not had to test the TX "antique" law.

John