Repaired License Plates

[8E45E]

For some reason, instead of "employee...a license plate craftsman had the title of "INMATE!"

I have seen a few 1950's Montana plates that have 'Prison Made' discreetly stamped on the left side.



Craig

[JRoberts]

We are lucky here in North Carolina we don't have to pay extra when displaying a YOM tag.
We are also lucky that we can purchase an antique or historic tag, for a bit more, that by law limits the taxable value the car to $500. This tax saving more than offsets the extra cost of the plate. (
I hope none of the powers in charge of things read this and get some crazy new idea!)

[53k]

We are lucky here in North Carolina we don't have to pay extra when displaying a YOM tag.
We are also lucky that we can purchase an antique or historic tag, for a bit more, that by law limits the taxable value the car to $500. This tax saving more than offsets the extra cost of the plate. (
I hope none of the powers in charge of things read this and get some crazy new idea!)

West Virginia doesn't charge (or didn't last time I checked) for use of YOM plates. They did require bringing in the actual plate. I had a nice '64 plate which I took in. The women checked and told me that I couldn't use it. That number was still in use on a handicapped tag.

[1oldtimer]

Good save as those '47 comm plates are super pricey. I've done several plates (even have a '39 plate for my house number) and gave yet to be stopped by the DMV. The process I use is letter color write from of the plate, thin coat of background color entire plate, color sand through letters/numbers then Clear coat whole plate.

[njonkman]

When I bought my 56 Champion it still had the original plate on the front from when the car was new. Beat up pretty bad and rusted. I derusted it first with Evapo-Rust then made a bunch of wooden punches to work out the number curves etc. Here are a before and after pictures
I spent two weeks straightening this plate. I only have one so I attach it with wing nuts on the front plate when attending a show.
I do mention on my display board that this is the first original plate this car got when new.
Nick

[52 Ragtop]

Just depends on "who" sees them. When I lived in LA, and was driving my 63 Avanti daily, I decided to "repaint" the blue and yellow plate, to black and yellow. The only difference was on the blue & yellow plates it was 123-ABC on the black plates it was ABC-123 NOBODY ever caught that, and I only did the rear plate. I never ran a front plate from 1979 when I bought it, until 1990 when we moved to Indiana. I "guess" I was just lucky!
OTOH, when I was working in Glendale, I was putting a car back together on the lot, it was hit in the rear and the plate was mangled. As I was hammering it back to (somewhat) flat again I had a Glendale Motorcycle Cop stop and tell me if I hit the plate one more time, he would arrest me for defacing a license plate. Go figure!

Jim

[Corvanti]

Corvanti - how did you paint the numbers so they came out looking so good?

a small paint brush, Q-tips and a toothpick.

[riversidevw]

Those plates probably look better than the day some one picked them up new from the DMV.

We have it easy here in NC. You can display a YOM plate without any additional paperwork or hassle. You just have to have your current registration and current tag somewhere in the car so it can be shown on request.

Sounds perfectly reasonable. Sort of thing that might send the California DMV and legislature into convulsions. Here, hassle and extortion are the name of the game.

For a time, my local town offered meter maids a bonus for ticketing missing front plates or other perceived technical plate violations as they made their parking enforcement rounds. Happily, said tickets were soon ruled invalid. Foiled again!

Gil

[riversidevw]

We are lucky here in North Carolina we don't have to pay extra when displaying a YOM tag.
We are also lucky that we can purchase an antique or historic tag, for a bit more, that by law limits the taxable value the car to $500. This tax saving more than offsets the extra cost of the plate. (
I hope none of the powers in charge of things read this and get some crazy new idea!)

NC is looking better by the moment. When historic vehicle and horseless carriage plates were introduced out here several decades ago, there was something similar, a much reduced annual registration fee. It reflected the very limited use of the cars specifically for hobby-related purposes. Now they charge full bore. Quoting from Dr. Zhivago, "it's much more fair" that way. We are just the idle rich, right?

[bison]

Guy's , Thanks for the compliments
The California DMV has changed it stance on YOM plates ,as you are now allowed to restore and repaint them ,which make it easier ( and more expensive ) But lets face it how many of these old plates are going to be in such good shape to pass any type of DMV inspection ?
I live in Hawthorne and have been to the local DMV , I didn't want to try my luck there , so I made an appointment at the Santa Monica DMV ,as I had a pretty good experience the last time I was there . The day of my appointment I walked in and the woman at the sign in / information desk knew about the YOM program ( which I figured was a good start ) she gave me my number and told me to be seated , the wait clock said I had about a 57 minute wait ( no problem ,as it was 1 PM and I didn't have to be at work until 3pm and work was only about 30 minutes away ) when my number was called I made my way to the counter and gave the woman all of my paper work , even though she was familiar with the YOM program , she was at first , how should I say this , not very cooperative , until one of her coworkers walked by and saw my plates , he commented that they looked great and we then struck up a conversation about vintage vehicles ( which he had one ) after that , her personality seemed to change from night to day and from then on it was smooth sailing , I paid the fees and was told my registration would come in the mail in 4 to 6 weeks I looked at the clock and to my disbelief was actually done with everything in 58 minutes ( I think that was the most amazing thing of the whole process )
And exactly as she had stated , 1 month later i received my registration in the mail.

[1954khardtop]

Nice job on the plates! In NY I was able to do everything on line. I sent a picture of the plate to DMV via email, filled out the form on line. After verifying the number was good and the plate was legible they sent me a new registration.

[8E45E]

she was at first , how should I say this , not very cooperative , until one of her coworkers walked by and saw my plates , he commented that they looked great and we then struck up a conversation about vintage vehicles ( which he had one ) after that , her personality seemed to change from night to day and from then on it was smooth sailing.

Maybe he was her supervisor??

Craig

[StudeNewby]

Another bonus in NC is that vehicles 35 years old and older require no annual safety inspection. I guess they figure collectors will inspect them better than the DMV. Another savings!

[Skip Lackie]

Another bonus in NC is that vehicles 35 years old and older require no annual safety inspection. I guess they figure collectors will inspect them better than the DMV. Another savings!

This is a pretty common practice with historic/antique plates, and is derived from federal rules that permit the states to exempt from federal safety and emissions regs those antique vehicles that are not expected to be driven regularly. It is a pretty broad exemption, and is probably abused in some states. Even so, the contribution to national air pollution by antique/historic vehicles is insignificant -- which was the idea for the exemption in the first place.