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but you cannot reassign different old plates to your car (by California rules)? For example, if I had found some era correct blue plates with yellow lettering, then will I be unable to register them to my car? is it an availability thing? like, if the number on the plate is not in use then I might be able to transfer them over? Or is it just a waste of my time to try it? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I know in FL you can move plates to a different car. I've seen my mother transfer her plates from her '92 vette, to a Merc SL500, and now to her '03 'vette.
 
In California,you CAN register only plates from 1962
or older.You must have a matching pair not registered to
another vehicle.
If the car has Black/Gold plates,& has been continues
registered,or has what they call a "Non-Op",you can keep the plates with the car.Otherwise, they want you to turn them in.
You can't put Blue/Gold plates on a car,unless it's still on the computer,or "Non-Op'ed".
I hope this isn't too confusing.
For clarification,look up the California DMV Website.

- Doug
 
Doug is correct. If the car has been continuously registered as a drivable car or as a "Non-Op" car, the plates stay on it as either way it has remained in the system as active and paid. Once the car is declared off the road or allowed to lapse in it's registration, the car is then removed from the DMV computers altogether and the only way to get it back in is with a brand new registration, which means brand new plates.

I think they do this as a way to keep track of a car's registration history. Once the history is broken, they start over rather than take some guy's word that all the numbers and license plates are correct. It sucks, but that's the way it goes. I can only guess that the reason they allow the old pre-63 plates to be assigned in the YOM program is that cars this old are considered collector and antique automobiles. It's fair to assume there will be less chance of fraud with these types of cars as there would be with newer cars which are typically used as daily transportation.
 
ah... ok then... eh.. the white plates look better on my B than the era correct ones would, I guess... Although, I still think it would be neat to have them... heh
 
true... I can't say that I've ever really *liked* the plates, but I still get this little nagging sensation that says it'd be cool to still have the era correct plates for my B... heh
 
This makes more sense now. I didn't know that plates typically went with the car in California. Here in Illinois you can keep your registration when you change cars-as I said I've had the same registration number for over a decade now, on two different cars (the CRX and now the Miata).

Until the plate design change a couple of years ago, you could tell how old a registration number was by the letter and number combos (when they changed designs you could opt to keep your current registration number. Everyone in my family did, but many people, particularly those without vanity plates, did not). Plates that had two letters then four numbers (ie "AA 1111") were issued in the late seventies or early eighties (when the state stopped issuing new plates every year). So, that "AA 1111" would've been a fairly early issue. Once they ran out they went to three and three ("AAA 111"), and now they're pretty much random, with a pattern that seems to be "A11 1111". Mom's plates are "BG 0000" (not the real numbers), so fairly early in the issuance, although nobody can remember exactly when we got that registration number- but we used to have two, one number apart ("BG 0000" and "BG 0001") because my parents applied for the plates for two cars at the same time. One of them was lost when my sister got the car it was attached to, then traded it on a new one. For some reason she had to get new plates with the new car instead of transferring (actually it may have had something to do with the title of the car she was given still being in my parents name, I forget now).

Of course, none of this applies to vanity plates! Or the famous one letter or one number plates, which in Illinois are highly sought after because you have to be given them, and they're usually reserved for politicians. F'rinstance, ISTR that the governor had "1" for his personal plates, and Mayor Daley had "D". A through Z, AA through ZZ, and 1-100 are all spoken for, and the only way to get one is if you happen to be given it (the guy who has "F" only does because he got it with the car he bought from his aunt or something).

-William

(which smiley is the dorky one?)
 
You can keep your plates from car to car in California, but you have to re-register the previous car with new plates nefore you can take the new ones and assign them to your new car.

I remember years back in Nebraska you got new plates every year and you had to turn the old ones in. What a pain!
 
In California,the Black plates started at the Northern
end of the state (example - AAA 000),then went to the other
end of the alphabet (example - ZZZ 999),at the Southern end
of the state.
So if you see a car with original Black plates,you can get an idea of were (aprox.)it came from in the state originally.
The Blue plates came out in 1970, starting with OOO AAA
then progressing from there,with no geographical ares involved.Later,the added a letter to plate.

- Doug
 
I never heard that about the black plate numbers. Where would a plate starting with "NOJ" have come from? Circa 1964-1965.
 
I would reckon around Bakersfield (& whatever is in the same aproximate Latitude in California).

- Doug
 
Neat trivia, thanks! My '65 B starts with NOJ and I have no idea who the first owner was or where the car was purchased. I have the rest of the history from mid '65 on.
 
Many simple ways around this problem. Personal plates will allow you to change the numbers/letters to vintage style...3 letters and 3 numbers. Then have the plate re-finished. I can order personal plates directly from the manufacture in Nevada.
Doug, Your DMV up there must be impossible to work with. They are all different.
Cheers, David.
 
When last I tried, CA DMV did not allow 3 letters and 3 numbers. I tried again just now and the web site is allowing it. I wonder if they changed the ruling or if the web site is allowing plates that will not be approved. Hmmm... Also note that the number zero is no longer allowed on a plate.
 
but that's only for personalized plates right? I reckon that'd be because confusion over 0 (zero) and O (o). With the tendancy of people picking up "leet" speak these days there'd be a lot of people making that substitution. If they eliminate the zeros then at least the law enforcement folks will know it's an o...
 
[ QUOTE ]
...Have yet to see any of the blue plate cars on the road with "like new" plates on them... heh

[/ QUOTE ]

A souvenir from my California years...


geostr3.JPG



Still looks good as it was seldom mounted. I was told (MVD) that the front California plate did not have to be ON the car, just WITH the car so I always carried this one in the boot.

Arizona, BTW, allows registration using a year-of-manufacture plate so the TR3A now has '59 AZ blue plates.
 
I had prsonalised plates on my '79 Ford Fiesta Showroom Stock car (1979).The "1" was actually an "I" when they just
used a straight line for it.I had people wondering how I got this plate.
I tried to get it later,but the I was actually an "I".
It didn't look the same!
I also got "11 10THS" - most people didn't catch it.
I always wanted to get "MILOTUS" for an Elan I used to
own.As my last name is Milota,it had a double meaning.

- Doug
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gifOne of my buddies painted his plate black. He just did the green part. That's been about 4 years ago... Pretty funny. He's even been stopped for suspicion of DUI, and was let off! $%^&* gear heads! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
... I always wanted to get "MILOTUS" for an Elan I used to own.As my last name is Milota,it had a double meaning.

- Doug

[/ QUOTE ]
I like it!

The DMV here are waay too PC for my first choice Elan tag: NOT NIP... sheesh.
 
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