I offhandedly mentioned to the owner of the '62 I've been posting about that he could get vintage '62 license plates for his car (it's not yet registered in CA, having just come from MT), and now he's excited about the prospect. Has anyone done this and identified any sources? The only site I've come across is http://www.davesclp.com/platesforsale.htm, which may be fine, any experiences with this vendor? . My bias is there's more pressing things to spend this kind of money on, but different strokes......
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Re: Finding 1962 YOM California license plates
You can also try
"Al" Barcelow
840 East Foothill Blvd., #15
Azusa, CA 91702
Tel. 626-969-3754
Outside CA: 800-793-0781
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Re: Finding 1962 YOM California license plates
Rob-----
I think that 1962 Corvettes originally registered NEW in California would have had black-on yellow plates. In 1963, all cars in California were issued new plates with a yellow-on-black paint scheme. At the time of plate re-issuance, a 1962 model Corvette originally registered in California with black-on-yellow plates (or, any other car, for that matter) would have been issued plates with a first character of "A" through ABOUT "E". Later first alpha character-series plates would NOT have been issued at that time to a 1962 vehicle. They could have been installed on the vehicle as replacement plates or when the vehicle was re-registered in California after being brought in from another state at some later time between 1964 and September, 1969. The last yellow-on-black plate, of license number "ZZZ 999", was issued at that time.
In California, it would be legal now to use the black-on-yellow or the yellow-on-black plates for a 1962 Corvette (assuming that the plates were DMV "clean" and the car was registered with DMV with the new plates). The series of characters makes no difference as far as DMV is concerned, but, as I mentioned, it does make a difference if one is concerned about having plates on the car which could have ORIGINALLY been on the car.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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Re: Finding 1962 YOM California license plates
I don't know if you are talking actually registering plates, or just putting them on for appearance, but now in California, you can't register plates, regardless of whether they match the year of the vehicle, unless they were actually registered to the vehicle at one time. I have a friend that went through this about 2 years ago. Even though his California plates were at one time on his vehicle, he had to talk to Sacremento DMV to get approval. If they were not previously registered to the vehicle they won't allow them to be used. Also, the actual beginning letter of the plate determines whether it could have been original to the car. For example, a '66 with a build date of May would most likely have a plate starting with the letter "T.Comment
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P.S.
California plates are often times sold at swap meets for a pretty good price, but they won't volunteer this info to you, but rather will tell you that if the plates aren't currently registered to a vehicle, you can register them to your car...not so.Comment
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Re: Finding 1962 YOM California license plates
Joe,
My friend had to jump through hoops with the DMV to put the California plates back on his '66, even though they had been previously on his car. In fact, they asked to actually see the plates, which had about an inch thick stack of the stick on tags in the upper right hand corner from all the years it was registered in CA. They have really tightened down on using these plates whether they are DMV "clean" or not.Comment
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(Message Deleted by Poster)
Message Deleted by PosterComment
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Re: Finding 1962 YOM California license plates
Rob-----
What you have posted is exactly what I was going to respond with---as far as I know the law still allows for this. DMV may be throwing "administrative hurdles" at applicants but the fact of the matter is that the law allows for it and is on the car owner's side. If I wished to do such a thing and the LAW ALLOWED FOR IT, I wouldn't be bullied by DMV into abandoning the idea. My next step would be getting in touch with my state assemblyman or senator.
I think that there is also a section of the code which allows for "restoration plates" on cars newer than 1962.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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Re: P.S.
Rob-----
1) Many of the first class restorers and vendors of old plates will GUARANTEE that the plates can be used for vehicle registration;
2) DMV has no records of what plates were originally assigned to the vehicle if the vehicle has been "out of their system" for more than about 7 years. So, I don't see how they could make the requirement that the plates had to have originally been assigned to a particular vehicle. In most cases, and especially for a 1962 vehicle, they would have no way of confirming one way or the other if the plates were originally assigned to that vehicle;
3) While the first alpha character coding is as I described previously and as you mentioned in your post, that has never been a requirement for DMV registrations using older plates. I've seen plenty of cars that have been registered with these old plates that were of a series that they could never have originally been assigned;
4) The last time I was out at the Good Guys car show and swap meet at the Pleasanton, CA fairgrounds there were PLENTY of hot rods out there with these restoration plates. These were cars that were DRIVEN to the show (most are since HOT Rod guys and gals like to drive them) and had current registration tags. Many of the cars there are recently completed cars, too. In any event, another show comes up a week from this week-end and I'll likely be out there. So, I'll look into this a little more.In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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Re: P.S.
Joe-
Your grasp of the inner workings of California license plate tech is impressive! There's a set of 1956 series plates with a 1962 sticker starting with "F" (FFG-068) on Ebay that ends in about 30 minutes which looks to be in good shape. I called the Sacramento DMV office this afternoon and the guy I tallked to said they were 'clear'. Unless there's a last minute sniping war, I'm going to put in a bid on them and see what happens. If I don't win the auction, then I've got more time to look into other candidates. Thanks again for your input!
-Rob.Comment
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Re: Finding 1962 YOM California license plates
Rob
My 64 is registeted with a 1964 NY Worlds Fair plate. (64 & 65 were the only years New York only had one plate) In NY you are required to have historical insurance and a picture of the plate before it can be registered.
What I did was find a nice plate on EBAY for $20 and check the NYS plate database to ensure the number was available. I then requested the forms from the DMV and sent them along with a picture of the plate and insurance form for processing. There was only a $3 DMV charge. Check with the CA DMV. I'm sure they must have a similiar process.
Good LuckComment
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Re: Finding 1962 YOM California license plates
Yes original plates on a CA car look the best. I drive around with my Pomona Swap meet plates, and keep my real plates and reg. close by.
I did get pulled over in my home town of Burbank leaving Bob's Big Boy one Friday night, even a 327 PG car sounds like it's going fast, so he followed me, and ran my plates. The policeman was cool, I asked him what did I do? he said your plates have no record, I said oh those are my show plates, I then produced my reg. and plates. We did talk about his fathers Corvettes, and as always I was polite and respectful to him, and he let me go.
The bummer is that the plates were CLEAN! no record, so I went to the DMV web site and tried to make up my VID 504 plates on every combination available but each time they came back not available. There was one other trick I tried, I bought art plates, on the Web Site it's sample shows SAM123, you could order just sequential plates so I was just going to get a set of those then have repops made and go with that. Well they came in 123 SAM numbers 1st!
So now I'm waiting to hear from them about swapping for Alpha first and numbers second or just get my money back. I going with the defense that the web site was misleading and unclear.
Kevin
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Re: P.S.
Rob-----
I may have created some confusion here with my previous posts. When I was saying that the first alpha-character of the plates assigned to 1962 Corvettes would have been "A" through ABOUT "F", I was referring to the plates that would have been issued to the car in 1963. These are the 1963-series, yellow-on-black plates. Most people would consider these plates to be "original" for a 1962 Corvette even though they were not actually the ones assigned to the car when it was new. Here's the deal:
In the "old days" California used to re-issue plates to cars every several years. 1963 was the last year that this was done. Prior to that, cars had the black-on-yellow 1956-series plates. What used to happen was this:
Beginning with each plate re-issuance, existing registered cars were assigned new plates with a different license plate number than the plates that were replaced. At the time of re-issuing a new series of plates DMV assigned new license numbers to all existing cars beginning with "AAA 000" and continuing in that progressive series until all existing cars at the time of re-issunace were assigned new plates. So, in 1956 all existing cars were assigned a new license number. The series started at, as I mentioned, "AAA 000" and continued to whatever. Let's say that it was "FAB 176". Thereafter, new cars were assigned numbers beginning with "FAB 127". This continued until they got to the end of the series (theoretically that would be "ZZZ 999", if they actually got to the very end, which I doubt). By late 1962, most of the series was all used up. So, they re-issued plates to EXISTING REGISTERED cars once again beginning with "AAA 000". Since many of the cars with the 1956 series plates had been scrapped, gone out of state, or otherwise out of the DMV system, the 1963 plates ASSIGNED IN 1963 only got to ABOUT a first character of "F" in the series. This was the basic purpose of the plate re-issuance system---to eliminate all of the license plate numbers belonging to cars out of the registration system and "start all over again" with "AAA 000" for existing cars. Then, new cars could be assigned progressively higher license numbers now available after all existing cars were issued new numbers.
In the old days, the intent of DMV was to maintain the California license plate system of THREE ALPHA CHARACTERS FOLLOWED BY THREE DIGITS. They did this by re-issuing plates periodically, issuing new numbers to existing cars at the time of plate re-issuance beginning with the first combination (i.e. "AAA 000"), and then having whatever numbers were left after all existing cars had been assigned new numbers available for assignement to cars which came into the system thereafter. These were assigned SEQUENTIALLY.
So, I would expect that 1962 Corvettes (or, any vehicles initially registered in California in 1962) would have had the 1956-series plates (black-on-yellow) and these plates would have had a prefix beginning with an alpha character near the END of the alphabet like, maybe, "U" through "Z". Remember, now, the 1956 series had to be getting near the END of the available combinations since the new series was issued in 1963.
A 1962 Corvette originally delivered in California in, say, September, 1962 at the end of the model year would, then, have had a black-on-yellow, 1956-series plate with a first alpha-character very close to the end of the alphabet. However, it would not have had that plate for very long. Effective the first month of the year 1963, it would have been issued a NEW 1963-series, yellow-on-black plate (in those days, the vehicle registrations in California were handled on a calendar year basis and all vehicles were re-registered effective January 1; later, California DMV went to a "staggered" process with registration renewal dates occurring throughout the year).
Since after 1963 plates were never again mass-re-issued in California, the 1962 Corvette that stayed within the California registration process right through the present and never needed to have plates replaced due to damage or loss would still have its 1963-series, yellow-on-black plates on it. However, NO 1962 Corvette sold new in California was ever ORIGINALLY assigned a yellow-on-black plate (except one that went unsold until after January 1, 1963).
1962 Corvettes originally sold new in California and assigned 1956-series plates received new plates of the 1963-series effective January 1, 1963. Since, as I say, the new plates were assigned with new numbers beginning with "AAA 000", the license plates for any 1962 OR OLDER Corvette which was in the California registration system as of January 1, 1963 would have a first alpha character of "A" through ABOUT "F".
Sometime after 1963 California DMV decided that it was not wise to go through this plate re-issuance process to free up license numbers for new vehicles. As a result, they had to abandon the "THREE ALPHA CHARACTER FOLLOWED BY THREE DIGIT" format for all cars. Consequently, in September, 1969, when the 1963 series plate combinations "ran out", they issued a new license plate series to all cars initially registered in California from that time onward. This series was identified by 3 digits followed by three alpha characters and the plates of this series are yellow-on-BLUE. When this series ran out, they went to a 7 character series of "1" followed by three alpha characters and three digits. Since 1963, license numbers have never been "re-used" except for "restoration" plates as we've discussed in this thread. Otherwise, when a plate number "dies" for whatever reason, it "dies" for good.
So, what it boils down to is this with respect to 1962 Corvettes originally registered in California: the ORIGINAL California license plates assigned to the car were the 1956-series, black-on-yellow plates. The first alpha character of the series for these cars would have been ABOUT "U" through "Z".
1962 Corvettes existing in the California registration system as of January 1, 1962 would have been assigned new, 1963-series, yellow-on-black plates with a first character of "A" through ABOUT "F".In Appreciation of John HinckleyComment
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Re: Finding 1962 YOM California license plates
Bill Figge in Thousand Oaks, CA is a plate dealer. He usually has a good inventory of CA plates and appropriate stickers. He will "clear" them with DMV before the sale. He has been in business for over 25 years and I never hesitate to recommend him. Bill know all of the regulations. He will not sell you 1963 (black with yellow letters) plates for YOM as the last year the law applies to is 1962. He advertises in Hemmings and his telephone number should also be available thru switchboard, etc.Comment
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