Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

[Oliver B.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Good guess - it is!
As he turned 50 two and a half years before he bought the Corvette, what you state makes perfect sense, too!
I already wrote/asked his wife (unfortunately he was only able to enjoy what was "his pride and joy" for one year - in 1979 he got a heart attack) about this in my Christmas letter....... Maybe she recalls, what other car wore the plate before the Vette...

[Chuck G.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Good guess - it is!
As he turned 50 two and a half years before he bought the Corvette, what you state makes perfect sense, too!
I already wrote/asked his wife (unfortunately he was only able to enjoy what was "his pride and joy" for one year - in 1979 he got a heart attack) about this in my Christmas letter....... Maybe she recalls, what other car wore the plate before the Vette...

Lucky guess, Oliver, but by the format, I would have guessed it was a so called "vanity tag". In the USA, in probably every state, you can get special tags with your initials, etc. Some guys have "67 VETTE", etc. Some guys have amusing messages, like "2FAST4U", "COPBAIT", etc. Some guys have engine designations, like "FUELIE", FUELIN", etc.

In Maryland, you can get any combo of 7 letters/numbers, as long as it is not some obscene message.

I have "63 VETT" on my 63, and "TRIPOWR" on my 69. I have "CRUZN56" on my 56 Chevy hot rod. Costs a bit extra for the vanity tags.

I take it that the poor fellow died of the heart attack. That's very sad.

Chuck

[Oliver B.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Indeed - most interesting though, that his wife kept the car for another 13 years, before she sold it to me and I took it over here to Germany.
As we keep quite a good contact she can see, that I pamper the car just as much as her late husband did back then... I am convinced, he is happy if he sees this......

Yeah, I saw those vanity tags from time to time - it's a bit more "impractical" over here, as it's the law that German license plates need to show-off the county by the first digit(s).
I tried to reflect my car nevertheless: SE-O677H - SE standing for my Segeberg county, O 677 as my Vette was built in 06/77 - or take the the O for my name - and the H denotes the "historical" status of the car (like your "Antique")...

[Richard M.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Oliver, Check these out.......Rich

http://www.floridalicenseplates.com

He has much info and many photos of them.

Also check the online inquiry for Florida DMV for available plates:

https://www6.hsmv.state.fl.us/mvcheck/platecheck/main.jsp

I just checked and both are available for use(if they could be found). Or they could be acquired as "vanity plates", but you'd need real cars to register to get them.

In FL, authenticated plates can be used for antiques, etc, prior to 1977 but must be original non-repainted plates. Here are the guidelines, with colors, etc. Not that you'd use them there, but FYI.....

http://www3.hsmv.state.fl.us/Intranet/dmv/Manuals/DMVProcedures/BTR/RS/RS-25.pdf

[Oliver B.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Great links - thanks!
Veeery interesting that neither of "mine" are being used. So, I "only" need to verify their looks and can try to get them redone...

I am still not sure, whether the earlier plate just had FLORIDA below the AWK-50 (with or without "Sunshine State" at the top? According to the picture, I would "guess" without), or maybe FLORIDA at top and a "Pinellas"-sticker below......

[Oliver B.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

One idea of a totally different approach: when on vacation the next time in the USA, where could I go to have just a plate done (without reproduction or restoration issues)...? Where do YOU people go to get your plates anew?

Such a shop should be able to "print" me whatever I want on a reflective plate, shouldn't they?
Would such a shop be able to print me a plate with green letters over the old "Florida"-shape (in orange) and a 77 in the upper left-hand corner? And maybe even with the county (Pinellas) at the bottom...?

[Richard M.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Great links - thanks!
Veeery interesting that neither of "mine" are being used. So, I "only" need to verify their looks and can try to get them redone...

I am still not sure, whether the earlier plate just had FLORIDA below the AWK-50 (with or without "Sunshine State" at the top? According to the picture, I would "guess" without), or maybe FLORIDA at top and a "Pinellas"-sticker below......

It appears that in '76 they changed the earlier county=prefix format from "4x-nnnnnn" to XXX-NNN, and supplied renewal stickers for the following years. The photos elude to that. The last plate with the year embossed in the metal upper left was "75". "4" was the code for Pinellas.

If you click on his left photo on the Pinellas page, it is enlarged. Or the actual link here. Just click the photo again when in your browser as it has zoom turned on:

http://www.floridalicenseplates.com/images/4a.jpg

It appears that 76+ had "Florida" above, and "Pinellas" below, as the county prefixes went away in the registration number.

As far as your follow up question, I don't know of any shops that would do that. I think a shop may have a issue trying to duplicate a plate like original. It may be a legal issue.

Since the actual plate #'s in your case are available, you may consider getting vanity(personalized) plates made when you come for a visit. You'll have to buy 2 cars first.

Rich
p.s. Trying sending a email to Jeff at the above website. He may be able to help you find a way.

[Oliver B.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Now, GUESS WHAT: the lady I bought the car from (btw: it was today, some 17 years ago - Fri Mar 20, 1992!!!) and who I kept contact with all over the years, offered us to come over for vacation and live in her beach condo then. Whe started to plan our vacation - which will be quite soon, now...

Now she wrote, that when cleaning up her condo on the beach, she found the Corvette's license plates!

Okay, I am totally blown away, but will try to keep it down till I really get to see them and verify........

I'll keep you informed...

[Oliver B.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Here come the pictures:

actually the lady had two license plates of the Corvette - one (AWK-50 red on yellowish reflective) was issued in 1975 and transferred to the Corvette in early 1978, the other (AWK50 green on white reflective with orange state graph) was issued in 1979 when she registered the Vette on her name after her husband had passed away and was used until 1988 (when she married again).

You see the plates in the stainless frames reunited with my 1977.

I was blown away that she still had them and gave them to me - WOW!

[Pat M.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Amazing find! When I first read this thread I thought you had no chance of finding the original plates. Congratulations!
And by the way, did you ever realize your car looks just like the one that starred in "Boogie Nights"?

[Oliver B.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Got me - that was reason enough for me to go see "Boogie Nights" in cinema TWICE. Now that I have the DVD (set), there is some more footage (in the specials) showing Mark smashing the car (an "extra" obviously , as it has at least several parts on it older than '77 - a vented hood for example) into a phone pole, explaining the damage seen later in the movie...
But that car seems to wear a more dark hue than my "Code 66 Corvette Orange" - looks a wee bit more like "light red" ("Code 72 Medium Red" maybe?) and it is a stick shift.
Btw. there is a scene, when "Dirk" runs out of fuel and the "low fuel" warning light goes blinking - instead of the permanently glowing light in reality.....

Anyhow: a '77 "starring" in a cinema movie - wow!

Coming back to the license plates:
yeah, I can only stress just HOW amazed I was, when I read that the lady found the plates.
I kept letter-contact with her all over the years and when we came to FL on vacation last year, we visited her (I promised to in my letters) and kept talking about the car that day. I even asked her what became of the old plates (hint hint), but she answered that govt. do not request them back but she didn't recall where they might have gone.
Then she was remodeling her condo on the beach over the winter and -presto- she found them (most interestingly the older ones 1978 till 1988 - the period of 1988 to 1992 remained lost)!
We planned to go there on vacation this year anyway, but going there to pick them up, was just that extra cause.....

There is a big US-car-show here in Hamburg this weekend (hosted by a German US-car-magazine that organizes these meets in 5 or 6 cities in Germany, the one in Hamburg being the largest of them - some 1.000 cars can be expected each year!) where I will show the car with the original plates then.......

[Pat M.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

And in the movie, the guy who later tries to rob the drug dealer, doesn't he at one point rattle off a bunch of incorrect basic specs for the car when he first sees it, like wrong cubic inches, horsepower, and reference to a "competition cam"?
Here's a pic of "Dirk Diggler's" car:

[Oliver B.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Well, L82 had a "sharper" cam in it - but overall: yes, right, he talks lots of stuff. But I haven't been able to verify all of the things he says (and the European DVD is sold with German subtitles on the English sound version unfortunately)...

[Pat M.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Here's what he said in the movie:

Todd Parker: "Start down low with a 350 cube, three and a quarter horsepower, 4-speed, 4:10 gears, ten coats of competition orange, hand-rubbed lacquer with a huplane manifold, full f__in' race cams. Whoo!"

Assuming he's talking about a factory car (which you'd think because it was brand new) the L82, the only optional engine in 1977, had 210 hp, not 325. The color was also Corvette Orange, not "competition" Orange, and I wouldn't have thought the factory would have applied 10 coats. And what the heck is a huplane manifold?

[Oliver B.]

Re: Looking for Florida license plates AWK-50 and DTH-33D

Oh, great to read that...

Just:
- the car was no L82 (at least not a factory one) because it lacks the badges on the hood
- I don't think "Dirk Diggler" bought the car new; if I recall right, the part when he get's successful plays more in 78 than 77
- and the car's color appears to be somewhat darker than "Corvette Orange".

Anyway, I always regarded "Todd Parker"'s car speech more like "bragging" instead of real backed tech-talking. So I never regarded him a "valid source"!

Oh, btw: I think the only factory choice of rears was 3:05 and 3:55's - no 4:10's!