Classic License Plates?

I got a tickle while reading the November edition of Classic Motorsports. As I understand it, California is going to issue "Classic Plates" as a reminder of those good old days.

I lived in Southern California for several years in the '60s. While there I owned several autos & bikes with the "classic" black plates. While I loved my rides and the easy access to specialty shops all around. I was never really fond of leaving California with those license plates installed. As I recall residents of Washington & Oregon in particular had a common phrase you heard almost every time you stopped for gas or a meal. They would call the California tags the "Black Plague."

Then later in the '80s while living in Kentucky I heard the same phrase applied to license plates again. Ford, The Budd Company, & GM were all building or enlarging manufacturing plants in Kentucky. So many employes in several different roles moved to Kentucky from Michigan. Of course Michigan at that time had black license plates.
So Kentuckians often responded by calling their plates the "Black Plague" too. I understand the same thing happened in Tennessee at and near the Saturn plant.

I suppose if you own a car from the black plate era, that might seem an appropriate license plate to put on it. But I wonder how many people who actually owned those plates when new would be real excited to have them again.

I just jumped through a few (small) hoops to put a genuine 1975 Florida plate on the wagon. I think it looks more correct.

It's easy in ontario - and they just look right

Wagon update: It now sports a 1975 Florida license plate.

Here's how we did it: http://classicmotorsports.net/project-cars/1975-pontiac-catalina-safari/getting-authenticated/

In New York you can use period correct plates but they bang you the same fee as Vanity plates.

AutoXR, what happened to your back up lights?

Back up lights on a Corvair? They were probably a $7.50 option in 1965 with the aluminum disks standard.

You can do it in Texas as well. You can do the plates for the year that the car was made. You get out of inspections too as a bonus.

The only minus is you are suppose to only use it for special occasions. I'm debating between that and specialty plates that look kind of similar for the Barracuda.

bmw88rider wrote: You can do it in Texas as well. You can do the plates for the year that the car was made. You get out of inspections too as a bonus. The only minus is you are suppose to only use it for special occasions. I'm debating between that and specialty plates that look kind of similar for the Barracuda.

Yeah, that's how it is here in Washington State too. I almost bought classic plates for my Spitfire (a one time fee), but then the lady said that I could only go to car shows and a few other things. If I took it to the grocery store I would risk getting a ticket! Really? Do they really do that? I got regular plates with the annual tabs, but I'm still a little pissed about it.

-Hamid

I've had this classic plate on my MGA for several years now. PS, I'm in the US.

In reply to AutoXR:

I live in Ontario and didn't even realize they are available.

I'm told they're an option in Quebec, BUT, Quebec is a rear-plate only province now, but they didn't used to be. So, if you want to be able to use a vintage plate, you have to find both of them if the front plate was used at the time the plates were originally issued.

Caveat: I've never actually seen a car with vintage plates here, so my story may be incorrect, or, as the kids say these days, "I was given bad information."

In Kentucky they will issue vintage plates for almost any licensed ride that's 25 years old. Supposedly you can then only use the vehicle for non-DD purposes such as parades. However I see vintage plates on commuter rides all the time. Also all but the motorcycle plate come as a pair, one for the front one for the rear. Yet with Kentucky being primarily a one plate only state neither I nor most others ever puts the front one on. If anyone ever got busted for one only mounting one plate or commuting with a vintage plate, I've not heard of it.

The advantage to the vintage plate here, other than being period correct, is you don't have to renew the registration every year. Considering wait times at the registration office, that advantage is a biggie all by itself.