Following comments apply to the state of California (AKA California Republic)
Personalized plates have been available for several years and I suspect
that most of the interesting ones are long since taken. In my area at
least, (Montrey & SF bays) personalized plates have become the most common
form of car customization. And I'm seeing more & more that obscurely say
anyting thats not previously taken. And you pay an expensive premium for
these plates.
I took an alternative approach with my two cars:
1. My 1960 Land Rover has Historical plates. They are white, with red
lettering. They say California Historical Vehical and have the number.
Mine is 7050. These special plates are suposed to be good only for using
the car in club or enthusiast related events or taking the car to & from
maintenence. Reality is that I have had the plates for about 10 years now
and I have never been stopped once and asked if I was going to or from an
event or going to have the car maintained.
This license plate is available to cars older than 25 years of age and
costs the same as a regular plate. People are always starting parking lot
conversations about the plates.
2, My 1961 TR3A has year of issue plates. If your car is 1962 or older you
can get year of issue plates. What this means is that YOU need to hunt up
a set of California plates that are correct for your car when it was new.
It also needs to have the correct year tag if that year had a tag. The
plates and tags have to be in good condition. For my 1961 TR3, I needed a
yellow Calif plate with black lettering and a red 1961 tag. As it was, I
found a set that looked like they had never been on a car. You take the
plates to DMV so thay can inspect the condition and varify that those are
the correct plates for your year car. You will be charged a one time fee
of 20 or 30 dollars then the renewal cost is the same as regular plates for
your car. The registration & tags are mailed directly from Scacramento and
not from your local DMV. You are mailed a little metal pate that you
attach to a rear plate mounting bolt that is just large enough to mount
motorcycle size year and month tags. The metal plate comes unpainted so
you can paint it the colour of your car or whatever to help it blend in.
The best way to find plates is to go to American classic & hot rod car swap
meets. Some people may have odd plates. There is one person in Dixon
California that specializes in plates. His business is "The license plate
mon"
I don't know about Southern California, but he goes to about all the shows
im my area and he has by far the best selection of plates. During 1961,
plates were issuesd starting with U, V & W. I have a large selection to
choose from. He has original and repainted plates.
There are alternatives to personalized plates
TeriAnn
twakeman@scruznet.com <- NOTE NEW ADDRESS
Celebrating my tenth year on Usenet/Internet
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