California YOM License Plate Update

[Donald B.]

Just received the following information from a license plate collector. Thought it might be of interest for those of you California people with mid-years.

Thank you for your inquiry and YOU are in luck as if you look up AB1915 you
may find that a Bill is now pending to do exactly what you want and 69 is
the requested year to extend it to ect.
I have been gathering Petitions and actually just mailed over 70 of them to
the assemblymens office this week as the next hearing is scheduled for
April the 3rd.
You could help your cause by sending a hand written note on WHY you want
it to happen to :
MICHAEL N. VILLINES (ASSEMBLYMAN)
6245 N.FRESNO ST.
SUITE 106
FRESNO, CA. 93710

You may want to write a short note - Mine is now in the mail.

[Duke W.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

It's never been clear to me why YOM plates ended at 1962, or why the proposal to extend to '69 rather than '76 or even '81, which is now 25 years past.

The other alternative is historical vehicle plates, which you can install on a car 25 years or older for a one-time fee of $25.

The plates are white with red lettering and say "historical vehicle" on the left with a three digit-one letter number on the right.

Duke

[Donald B.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

I personally like the YOMs because it makes the car appear "Period Correct". It would be nice for my 1965 HIPO Mustang Convertible and my friends 1969 Z28.

[Kevin M.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

Duke,

Those historics are UGLY!

Don,

I'm writing in support right now, wish I'd known about this petition could have gotten tons of signatures at the last Pomona.

Kevin

[Patrick H.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

"It's never been clear to me why YOM plates ended at 1962, or why the proposal to extend to '69 rather than '76 or even '81, which is now 25 years past."

You expected logic or clear thinking when legislators are involved?

Patrick

[Duke W.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

I just read the bill and noticed that they are sticking on a bunch of annunal fees. Oh, those wonderful California solons... anything to squeeze out another buck!

I put in a comment asking why the '69/'72 (for commercial vehicles) cutoff... why not just make it 25 years old like HV plates?

I have the original CA plates from my Cosworth Vega (it was registered in Oregon for awhile) and wanted to put them back on, but the '62 YOM nixed that, so I went with HV plates.

Duke

[Duke W.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

IMO the HVs look very distinctive and classy. They definitely stand out!

Duke

[Duke W.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

Well I'll be interested to hear the response to my query referenced in my prior post.

Duke

[Duke W.]

PS

The colors look great on a red, white, or black car. I just convinced a buddy with a beautiful, white '70 911S to apply for HV plates.

His trip to the DMV in Culver City... well that's become a good war story as they didn't understand the difference between YOM and HV plates.

He had to go to DMV because AAA can't do HV plates.

Duke

[Larry S.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

For those of us not in the know what is a YOM plate please

[Donald B.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

YOM stands for "Year Of Manufacture". It allowed me to purchase a 1956 series plates (used for the years 1956 - 1962) and put it on my 1962 Corvette. The rear plate has the 1962 registration sticker. You then have two small metal "extensions" mounted below the rear plate to have the current Month and Year registration stickers.

[Don Izzo]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

In New York my unmolested 1960 plates rest on my 60 as they did back in 1960, while the current registration "sticker" containing the expiration date is stuck on the lower left side of the windshield next to the NYS inspection sticker. Gotta admit they look real cool on the car! As far as making any scence at all from any information gotten from any municipal employee I just remember the words from the last IRS auditor I had to deal with . "I'm from the IRS and I'm here to help". Yeah,...right

Don

[Joe L.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

Duke-----

The yellow-on-black plates were first issued in 1963 and are sometimes known as the 1963-series plates. That was the last time that California routinely replaced license plates for vehicles. Until that time, license plates were periodically replaced and all vehicles issued a new number and plates.

After the re-issue to all existing registered cars at the time, the 1963-series plates were issued to newly registered cars, either new cars, those coming in from out-of-state, etc. The last of the 1963 series plates were issued in late summer or early fall of 1969 with the issuance of plate "ZZZ 999". When I was expecting the new plates for my 1969 which I took delivery of on September 30, 1969, I didn't know if I was going to be getting the last of the "black" plates or the first of the new yellow-on-blue plates. As it turned out, I got the first of the new series. Since there was no routine re-issuance of plates after the 1963 series, the "yellow-on-blue" plates were not called by a year-related series.

I expect that the reason that the year 1969 was chosen for the new law is that's the last year model car that could have been issued the 1963-series plates. So, there was no need to go beyond that for these plates.

I think that the reason that it's taken so long to change the law is because the 1963-series plates are still an "active" series. In other words, these plates are still on many 1969 and older model year cars. So, folks being able to "re-use" these plates might cause "confusion" for the DMV's system. Plus, I don't know how any of these plates could be "clean"---they're either on a currently registered vehicle or they were supposed to have been turned in when the vehicle was junked or registered in another state. Even vehicles that had "lapsed" registrations (i.e without going into official "no-op" status which keeps the car "in the system") are usually issued new plates if the car is re-registered. So, I don't see where the "pool" of "clean" 1963-series plates is going to come from.

The older series plates (i.e. the black-on-yellow which I think was 1958 or 1959-series) are not on any currently registered vehicles after 1963 except through the "YOM" program. So, it was easy to establish this program when they did. Plus, there were many "clean" plates. In the old days, when you replaced your plates with the periodically newly issued ones, you just kept your old plates. They were useless for registration purposes since that series of plate was obsolete as far as DMV or registration goes. These plates are considered "clean". I think that this is where the "pool" of "clean" plates comes from today---folks that saved their old plates or junk cars still "laying around" with these old plates still on them.

At some point, they may expand the "YOM" program to include cars originally issued the "yellow-on-blue" plates. I think that it will be a long time, though. There are MANY of these plates still out there on currently registered vehicles and this series plate went on for a long time due to the addition of the "seventh character" which vastly expanded the combinations.

[Donald B.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

Joe,

When I went to register my '62 Corvette with YOM Yellow plates the DMV's records still showed some sort of record of the plate being issued/assigned. To resolve this I had a notorized release from the "registered" owner releasing the plate. Don't know how this would work with the Black plates but I'm hoping the law is passed. Those 1960's muscle cars would sure look a lot better with "period correct" Black plates that the current White plates.

[Patrick H.]

Re: California YOM License Plate Update

You mean the extra fees? in California? you're surprised???
I thought you'd lived there long enough to understand how CA works (or should I say doesn't).

There are times I don't mind living in Michigan. Download a form off the DMV website, send in form, photocopy of YOM license plate, $35 and receive your registration in 2-3 weeks.

I have plates on the 71, 72 and the 70 Cutlass. Much cheaper too than $35/year for registration on each one.

Patrick