Year-of-car license plates

[imported_BShaw]

Last year at a Studebaker meet I happened upon a license plate vendor in the swap area that had a like-new 1960 Minnesota license plate. Well, as I have a 1960 Hawk and I live in Minnesota, I figured it was a match made in heaven and I bought it for my office wall. Anyway, a couple of months ago I had business at the local license bureau and (on a tip from a fellow SDC member) I asked if it were possible to use my 1960 plates on my 1960 Hawk. I was amazed when they said that Minnesota will allow it if the plate number meets certain criteria. So, I filled out the form and paid a non-refundable $7 transfer fee. I learned today that my application has been approved and my 1960 plate is legal as can be! I can't wait to put it on. In fact, I'm gonna do it right n....

-Webmaster

[61bone]

South Dakota has done this for some time. I recently found a very nice pair of 27 plates for my Stude powered 27T. The only drawback here is you have to display a current plate also

where there's foo there's fire

[Roscomacaw]

California will let you run such plates if that number isn't active in the system already.

Miscreant at large.

[BeeJay]

Michigan has a great deal. You supply a year of manufacture plate that can be verified as not in use already ( Some years we had two plates ) and you can register it to your car for $35 and it NEVER has to be renewed. Good for as long as you own the car.
Bob

Own '53 Commander Starliner. Red w/beige top. 350 Chev/700R4. Tilt,cruise,A/C.

[Scott]

In addition to what you found out, Minnesota WILL allow a year of manufacture plate (I think it has to be at least 25 years old) to be registered as a regular use vehicle. It does NOT have to be registered as a collector plate. It is rare, but it is legal. Many DMV persons will deny it's true, but I have a letter from my state legislator who looked into it for me and sent me a letter on State of Minnesota stationary about his research with the DMV. Don't let your local DMV office tell you any different. I have a phone number for a fellow at the MN DMV that knows all about it if you have trouble. ALSO, a 1960 plate so registered does NOT have to show tabs and doesn't have to be replaced after 7 years like the usual issue plates. You must, however have the proper yearly registration papers in your vehicle to show the registration has been paid, etc. I passed this information on to the North Star Chapter Newsletter editor and should be appearing soon.

[62champ]

Sometimes the DMV is a pain in the neck.

A few years back I tried to put in for a lost title on a '62 Champ pickup. When I showed the person behind the counter the serial number they said there was no way that could be a serial number. They asked for a pencil rubbing on the serial number panel. Did that and they still said it couldn't be correct. Finally had to bring up my other truck and physically show them before they would believe it.

I am going to be moving with my 1960 Lark in June up to Pennsylvania. Am sure going to hate having to take off the beautiful 1960 Texas plates that are on the car.



Oh well, we will see how easy it is to find plates in Pennsylvania - if they do that kind of thing.

My 7E7 - Restored by my Uncle Denson in 1995

[raprice]

New York has been authorizing year of manufacture plates on antique cars for some time now. I have such plates on all my antique autos. There is now legislation in Albany providing for a one time only registration fee for cars older than 25 years.
Rog

[Peter in London]

In the UK cars get plates for life when they are first registered. In a rather obscure way they indicate where the car was first registered and in recent years, more clearly, the year of registration. When I imported my Speedster 9 years ago, instead of a current plate it was issued without me asking with an "antique" number plate (that was known to be from a destroyed car) corresponding to its age - i.e. 1955. A nice and thoughtful gesture by the licensing authorities.

I had parked near home here in Islington some time ago when I noticed that the Morris Minor parked in just front of me had the plate number TFO 574. Tippecanoe's plate is TFO 525, so 50 years later, registrations probably only days apart had met up! I still notice the Morris round here though I have never met the owner. That one of course was the registration plate originally issued for that car.

[JeffDeWitt]

According the the NCDMV Title Manual:

"A motor vehicle 35 or more years old may operate with a license plate of the year of manufacture provided a current license plate and registration card are in the vehicle."

A couple of weeks ago I came up on a Highway Patrol checkpoint. No seatbelt and a license plate that expired 44 years ago. The officer asked to see my drivers license, then said drive carefully and have a nice evening, he DIDN'T ask to see my current plate or registration.

A while back it occurred to me that if I went through one of these miserable red light cameras and there is no way they could trace me, and I'm going to do it, carefully, once, and in Cary, which has more red lights per capita than probably any city in the state (and I remember when it had ONE).

Jeff DeWitt

[Rekabeduts]

This might be of use to any Florida owners....

I have a 1964 Florida state tag on my 1964 GT Hawk. The prior owner bought the tag and registered it with the DMV. He hand-wrote an authoriozation of transfer to me when I bought the car in Jan 2002. I was able to transfer the tag to me when I went to take care of the title and pay sales tax, etc., but the following Jan 2003, I did not receive any renewal info, so the short story is the Florida DMV had "rejected" my tag, but never told me, so I technically drove an unlicensed car for a year. I had to go to the "MAIN" office, and get them on the phone with Tallahassee, where someone figured out how to transfer an "authentic tag permanently. In Jan 2004, and again this year, I received my renewal card with no problem, along with my X-brand cars.