License plate restoration

[Riv67]

I read a post by someone on this forum who planned to restore a license plate. I cannot find the thread and am wondering if any readers have ideas on the process for restoring auto license plates. Any help will be greatly appreciated, specially ideas on how to repaint the numbers and letters to make them look original. Thanks. Riv67

 

[Gary S]

Check your state laws first. Restoring or making any change to a license plate is illegal in some places.

If they need "restoration", you need to be replacing instead. That is how the "law" wants it.

 

[PCO6]

I think this may be the thread you are looking for.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51390

 

[rsanter]

I think that its illegal everywhere to 'restore' a liscence plate
the flip side is if you only use the plate for shows (not registered) then there should not be any big and the other thing is that with all the people that I have seen restore plates, I have yet to see anyone get questioned or anything on it.
I know several people that took the old blue plates on their car and repainted them to be the older black plates to better match the look for their 60s car.

sandblast it, paint it and then the lettering was originally painter with a hard roller coated in paint rilled over the lettering (high spots)
most people paint the plate then take it to a sign person for lettering or do it themselves

bob

 

[Bill K]

In NC after 35 years you can run a year of manafucture tag. You still have to purchase a regular tag and keep it in the car.

 

[Gary S]

In ND, we can put "year of manufacture" plates on after 40 years. At 40 years, vehicles are considered antiques so you don't pay any more registration fees if you register it as an antique. We have the choice of running "year of manufacture" plates, a state issued Antique plate, or a vanity Antique plate.
The vanity plate costs a $100 one time fee.
Once the vehicle is registered as an antique, it can be driven permanently on whatever plates you chose with no future fees.
I just registered my 1970 Camaro yesterday as an antique. I put on a mint pair of 1970 plates I picked up at a swap meet.
No "restored" plates are legal.

 

[tcianci]

I did a pair of 1940 MA plates, sanded, primed, sprayed and then I did the numbers by outlining them with thin plastic masking tape and a brush. They looked good. As posted, it is usually illegal to restore a plate for registration purposes. I inquired about this because I had seen so many restored plates on road-driven cars. I was told that the standard tactic here was to take the plates to the RMV for approval, get your paperwork and registration, then after the law has accepted your plates, you restore them!

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I didn't restore a plate but I found a way to get a PERFECT "vintage" plate; apologies for the length of this explanation:

On my '76 Porsche 911S I went to the California DMV website & picked out a personal number (1976 S). Then I bought a reproduction 1976 personalized blue/gold plate from licenseplates.tv (PERFECT copies in all ways but expensive at $75 EA). 1976 just happened to be the first year for personalized plates in California.

When the DMV notified me the modern "1976 S" plates were in, I turned in my crappy plates, got the new ones and the registration sticker. Then I went outside and put the registration sticker on the repro plate and mounted it. The modern plates got stuck in a drawer. There is NO WAY to tell the blue plate is not an original plate except that it's in too-perfect condition to be 30+ years old.

Of course this is illegal but there is no way to tell even by a police officer. If I were stopped my plate number matches my registration and my stickers are up to date, plus personalized plates were legal in '76...if the cop would even know to question that. I have since sold this car to a dealer in The Netherlands so I'm not worried about posting this.

I replaced this car with a 1946 Chevy pickup and I am thinking of doing the same with 1946 plates (black/white) but of course there were no personalized plates so I'll just use a number sequence that is correct for that era...as long as I can get that number from the DMV website. Only thing is I like the '47 yellow/black plates better! Not sure what I'll do.

Incidentally, for my front plate on the Porsche I didn't want to spend another $75 so I made a high quality color copy of my plate on cardbord stock and put it behind one of those clear plastic plate covers. Also illegal, but a cop would give me a fix-it ticket, then I'd put my modern 1976 S plates to get the ticket bought off!

 

[e-tek]

Up here, "they" only issue a plate for the rear (cost savings). We can put ANY plate on the front we desire and ADD anything to the rear. I always put a year of manufacture plate on the front of most of my rides, but bolted it to the rear of my 46 Merc, above the issued plate.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Since I pulled this stunt with the repro plate, California has added a Year of Manufacture plate to the rules. I don't know how it works but I can guarantee it is NOT a one time fee deal. Not in California. We have had a "Horseless Carriage" plate but I don't know how old your ride has to be to qualify for it. I'm guessing at least the brass era cars(?)

 

[Stuart in MN]

Unless you have a set of plates with sentimental value or something, I'd just go out and find some others. Around here at least, there are always a couple vendors at the swap meets selling old plates in mint condition, and they even sometimes have NOS plates still in the wrapper for many years.

 

[Falcon67]

For an antique vehicle in Texas, you can use YOM plates - the plates have to be in good readable condition and the correct scheme and the same year as the vehicle. You show them to the county tax office when you pay for the antique sticker. As long as they meet the criteria, you are good.

Around here at least, there are always a couple vendors at the swap meets selling old plates in mint condition, and they even sometimes have NOS plates still in the wrapper for many years.

Price those sometime - good 68 TX Hemisfair plates are $100~250 a set. I priced a good set of 67 TX plates last year - $90. I finally found a sightly scuffed up item for cheaper, but it took two years of looking. Good NOS plates bring big bucks. Some run in the 4 digits. I know a collector - big money, especially for early plates.

 

[Gary S]

Price those sometime - good 68 TX Hemisfair plates are $100~250 a set. I priced a good set of 67 TX plates last year - $90. I finally found a sightly scuffed up item for cheaper, but it took two years of looking. Good NOS plates bring big bucks. Some run in the 4 digits. I know a collector - big money, especially for early plates.

Around here we seem to have more old plates than we have collectors. I bought my 70 set last summer at a swap meet. Two plate collectors were selling off some of their excess plates. I bought a mint set for my 70 and a mint set for my Son's 80. Each set cost $10-12.
The 80 set looked like it had never been out in the sun because they were still the original color, not the slightly faded color that all the other plates that age are today from being out in the sun.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Price those sometime - good 68 TX Hemisfair plates are $100~250 a set. I priced a good set of 67 TX plates last year - $90. I finally found a sightly scuffed up item for cheaper, but it took two years of looking. Good NOS plates bring big bucks. Some run in the 4 digits. I know a collector - big money, especially for early plates.

They must be in higher demand in different parts of the country - the ones I see in Minnesota are usually pretty reasonable. I bought a set of 1966 plates for my truck (although I never got around to using them) for less than $25 if I remember correctly. They're not mint, but they're pretty nice.

We have had the ability to run YOM plates for a many years now, so maybe the demand has died down.

 

[evintho]

About 15 years ago I had my original blk/yel Califorinia plates for my '69 Dodge restored by someone in Pennsylvania who offered the plate restoration service. It was $35 + postage. The plates were pretty tore up when I sent them out but they came back perfect!





Not too worried about posting the plate, the car is long gone.
Check out some of the street rod magazines or search the internet for license plate restoration. There are guys out there that do it.

 

[musgofasta]

Has anyone restored Plate FRAMES? I've got the 2 original Dealer frames on my 1967 Mustang. They *were* chrome...

 

[38Chevy454]

You would be surprised how a little polishing compound and then wax will bring out an old oxidized plate. Straighten any bends or creases, even some small touch up paint and good enough to pass the inspection at your DMV for a YOM. If they are too rough, the DMV will reject them. Obvious over-restored plates also get rejected, but cleaned up plates look surprising good.

 

[alamerang]

Again check with your state laws. Some states require the paint used on the plates to have a certain amount of reflective properties so it really highlights the numbers and letters at night.

 

[redtail]

I've been able to find good Oregon plates for pretty cheap on Ebay. all 4 of my vintage cars have YOM plates and they all actually have the registration sticker from the year they were made.

 

[deathbound]

My 38 Plymouth & 62 Harley are both registered as YOM. I was lucky to find fairly good original condition plates for both. It took about 2-3 months from beginning to end for the registration process at the DMV. Only problem is AAA won't renew YOM registrations. The problem with early Calif auto plates is they have the same number/letter/number configuration as current motorcycle plates,,,,ie; 1 or 2 numbers, then 1 letter, then 4 numbers. The plate on my motorcycle is the 56 stamped plate w/a 62 sticker...the last year of the yellow w/black plates. "IT'S ONLY ILLEGAL IF YOU GET CAUGHT"

 

[Gary S]

Again check with your state laws. Some states require the paint used on the plates to have a certain amount of reflective properties so it really highlights the numbers and letters at night.

That has been the situation with North Dakota plates since around 1960. Our plates aren't painted. They are made of an aluminum plate with a reflective "decal" covering the aluminum. Then they stamped the numbers to raist them and used a paint color that contrasted with the reflective decal background to paint the raised areas for the numbers.
Once the decal gets gouged or scratched, the plate can't be restored because the damaged decal cannot be removed, and it can't be painted over.