1959 license plate wanted

[Penni]

I have a late 1958 TR3 A. Sold in 1959 so it's first registration is 1959.
I would like to buy a 1959 license plate for the car as I understand I can't have a '58 plate on it.
I have looked on eBay, but nothing. Any ideas?
This needs to be a California plate.
Many thanks, Penni

 

[TR3driver]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1959-California-Nice-Original-RJP-946-License-Plate-/181022360850?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a25c60512

https://www.davesclp.com/platesforsale.htm

Of course, if you want to actually register the plate, you'll need two of them. Pairs of original plates are much rarer, and hence more valuable.

Another option is to wait a few months, and see what the DMV offers. I understand that the new law will allow the DMV to reproduce old plates, but they plan to do so only after they get 75,000 orders. Whether that will happen, and how good the resproductions will be, is anybody's guess.

 

[Penni]

I thought the plate needed to say 1959 in the upper right side, not 1956. I guess as long as it has the 1959 sticker it's okay... but then of course I'd have to put on the 2013 sticker over the 1959 sticker.
I didn't know the DMV will offer the reproductions. That is teriffic. Now, if I can just get 75,000 of my friends to buy one.

 

[TR3driver]

As I understand it, there were no plates with "59" actually embossed into the plate. They had to be 1956 plates with 1959 stickers (though the stickers are more commonly put over the original year).

Also, again as I understand it, the DMV is supposed to supply you with a separate metal tag where you can put the 2013 sticker, so the old sticker is still visible.

Note that, even after you jump through all the hoops, there is an extra charge every year. No big deal, I just wasn't expecting it to apply to my situation (I have the black plates that were assigned to the car back in the 60's rather than "Year of Manufacture" plates).

Be sure to watch out for fakes. There are companies out there that make reproductions good enough to fool the casual observer. Might even fool the DMV clerk (they didn't seem to pay much attention at all to my black plates), but it's a felony if you get caught.

 

[Geo Hahn]

Penni --

I always buy my old plates from ALPCA members who deal in these. They understand what you need, usually have several to choose from, have plates with the year sticker or perhaps a loose sticker and know how to grade the condition of the plates. Most of all they have always dealt fairly and the plates I got from them were excellent.

It isn't cheap -- for a real nice (grade 9 or 10) set of correct plates with stickers I would expect you'll pay more than $100. It's a get what you pay for thing.

I have purchased from:

Norman D'Amico 413-663-6886 (Connecticut)

'Weechie' 520-904-3542 (Tucson AZ)

There are surely California sellers too, but it is often the out-of-state collectors who have the nicest plates because they have plates that came off a car that moved to another state after the CA plate had only been in use a year or two.

 

[mrv8q]

My black plates are embossed with 1963 in the upper right corner. You will need 2 plates!

 

[tinman58]

I am still dealing with DMV here in CA. The TR250 that we bought has the black plates but with no title or proof that those plates are from that car. It makes it harder to use them. The DMV clerk said that if I can prove that there is a 68 sticker underneath all tha other ones, We could use them. I cleaned off all but the last one and it was a 1970 sticker. Now it is phone calls to DMV to see if I can use the black plates. Be careful about buying just any black plates.

 

[TR3driver]

Be careful about buying just any black plates.

Right. The plate has to either have the sticker for the model year of the car (which would not allow black plates on a 59 TR3A as the black plates didn't come out until 1963); or you have to have some evidence that the plate was previously assigned to the car by the DMV. Without one or the other, you are out of luck.

There is some debate over whether the law allows reproduction stickers; but I have never heard of anyone getting in trouble with them.

 

[Billm]

The '56 plates are yellow with black (or dark blue?) letters, the '63 plates are black with yellow letters.
BillM