California Black License Plates Coming Back ... Order Now!!

[Tony Carrera]

The CA DMV is taking applications for reissues of the yellow, black and blue license plates. Once they get 7500 orders they'll start production. Spread the word!!

CA Legacy Plates

[Allen_70S]

While the DMV site doesn't say it, the new vintage plates are (by law) reflectorized, unlike the originals. And yes, I'm on the waiting list

Al

[Quicksilver]

Originally Posted by Allen_70S

While the DMV site doesn't say it, the new vintage plates are (by law) reflectorized, unlike the originals. And yes, I'm on the waiting list

Al

Reminds me of an old Car and Driver (?) story where someone reported seeing a poster at a California DMV office advertising their new high visibility license plates...
Someone had added the caption, "It's 2 AM and you just knocked over a 7-Eleven. Which plate do you want?"

[Tony Carrera]

Bump

[Koizumi]

You'd think people would jump on this. I'm in, too, but I am totally surprised it has not reached the minimum 7500 orders State-wide yet.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by Koizumi

You'd think people would jump on this. I'm in, too, but I am totally surprised it has not reached the minimum 7500 orders State-wide yet.

I think it's because of this:

Q13: Are the Legacy Plates going to look exactly like the license plates issued in the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's?

A: No. Current law requires license plates to be reflectorized and modern manufacturing processes may not allow for an exact replication of the original plates. The images shown on the website and REG 17L are for illustrative purposes only. The final design of the plate will differ; however, as many characteristics of the original plates as possible will be applied.


Q21: What would deem a personalized plate number as unacceptable?
A: The configuration can be construed to be offensive to good taste, or it is similar to configurations of other license plate types. For example, plate configurations issued in the 50’s and 60’s (ABC123), or 70’s (1ABC123), are not acceptable as personalized plate numbers.

So, in other words, the plates aren't really going to look like genuine black/yellow or blue/yellow, and they can't have configurations that would have been authentic for the 50s/60's/70s.

[kyle242gt]

I think another barrier to entry is requiring a two-year prepayment to the state... who knows if you'll ever get your money back.

One upside to this is the availability of blue plates - would love some for my '80.

[Tremelune]

The old plates are interesting because they mean the car has stayed in California its whole life, which (accurately or not) implies a lower amount of corrosion than cars that have lived in other parts of the country. It's also neat to have vintage tags, like anything else.

As a simple color scheme, they're kinda ugly. I prefer the white plates.

[cali4sun]

I'm fortunate to have my blue plates, otherwise I'd place an order.

[4flyboy]

Careful boys Governor Moonbeam is desperate for cash......

[aigel]

This is some half-cooked effort. The plates are reproductions that don't look like the original. It is like buying a reproduction part that is very obviously badly done. Think of a poorly reproduced Fuchs that's apparently fake, easily visible from 15 feet.

And what is this "we'll do it if people pre-order 7500?". Commit selling them or don't. 7500 - that's a large number. There aren't that many guys dying to get bad repro plates on their cars.

JMHO!

G

[Allen_70S]

One minor clarification. A car that has gold on blue plates does not mean it is an original CA car. It can mean that the car came into CA from out of state sometime between 1970 and 1983. In 1984 CA switched to the blue on white plates. I bought my '70S from Texas in 1978 (for $6,100 !!! ), and have the “correct” gold on blue plates from this 1978 registration. I’m on the list to get the “correct” black on gold plates for my ’61 T-bird convertible, to replace its current blue on white plates.

Al

[ShakinJoe]

Keep those inmates busy.

[BE911SC]

Originally Posted by Allen_70S

I’m on the list to get the “correct” black on gold plates for my ’61 T-bird convertible, to replace its current blue on white plates.

Your '61 came originally with yellow ("gold") '56-'62 plates with black characters. The black plate with yellow characters came out in '63. I love the look of the '56-'62 plates combined with an original dealership frame.

Can you still buy originals from a collector or on eBay and use the YOM deal to apply them to a specific vintage car?

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by McLovin

and they can't have configurations that would have been authentic for the 50s/60's/70s.

I wonder why that's the case? If a number is vacated, it's vacated. What difference does it make if I want "PORSCHE" because that Dunkel 356 that's running it is willing to give it up/sell it to me, or if I want to replicate the original "1XXX###" license plate that came with my 26 year-old car when it was first registered? I've lived in other states where it's OK to assume expired license plate configurations.

Originally Posted by kyle242gt

I think another barrier to entry is requiring a two-year prepayment to the state... who knows if you'll ever get your money back.

One upside to this is the availability of blue plates - would love some for my '80.

Supposedly, IIRC, if they don't meet the minimum 7500 orders within their specified time period, they will cancel the offer and refund all money.

You can always order repro license plates for your car in old colors. They aren't reflectorized. They look authentic. They're not from the DMV, so they're technically not legal (they're sold for "novelty" reasons). But that's another not-entire-legal way to go for aesthetic reasons. The couple people I know who have them haven't run into problems with LEO yet--even at LAX, which seems to have the most stickler cops for license plates. It's about $100 per plate, IIRC.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by BE911SC

Can you still buy originals from a collector or on eBay and use the YOM deal to apply them to a specific vintage car?

No. You can only use vintage plates if they've been on your car the whole time.

[Steve_R]

Bump

[Eharrison]

Originally Posted by Noah930

No. You can only use vintage plates if they've been on your car the whole time.

Incorrect. They only have to be plates that are not registered on another car. You have to call the DMV to verify that they are "clear".

http://http://1967beetle.com/registering-black-plates/

http://https://apps.dmv.ca.gov/forms/reg/reg352.pdf

[bugstrider]

If anyone is interested on the Y.O.M. Program in California, I wrote up an extensive "How To" on another forum. I can post it here if you guys want. I have re-registered two 1968 Porsche 912's and a 1927 Modle-T through this process with period correct vintage license plates.

The wright-up might assist someone putting on vintage plates back on their car or cars.

Cheers Trevor

Update: here is the link to the 912Registry just incase anyone wants to give it a read.

http://www.912bbs.org/vb/showthread.php?t=39420