Motion Pictures THX 138 plate from John Milner's coupe

I was just going through the latest issue of Hemmings Classic Car. They had a story about a survivor 1956 Corvette. The plate on the car is THX 138 which is the plate on Milner's coupe from American Graffiti. Wonder if it is the real THX 138 plate. Supposedly they had to make plates for the movie.

Thought this was a pretty neat find and surprised the magazine didn't catch it.

 

I've read that the plates from the movie were discovered inside the driver's door of the coupe when it was found.

Flatman

 

The "real" plates are still with the coupe as far as I understand. Yes, they were custom made for the movie.

 

Thats pretty cool, even if they arent the plates.

 

no, it's THX 138. THX 1138 was George Lucas' movie.

Director Trademark: [George Lucas] [THX 1138] License plate on John Milner's car is "THX-138". THX 1138 (1971) is a film also directed by George Lucas. This number plate is on display inside 'The Main House' of LucasFilm's Head Office at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County.

 

This is correct the plates were an ODE to George Lucas' first feature length film titles THX 1138. His sound company is now called THX surround sound ro something.

 

It would be pretty cool if the Vette plates were the real deal....at least DMV real.

 

I've got a THX 138 plate in my display cabinet along with the four American Graffiti car models. They were selling the plates by the hundreds at the GNRS a few years back.

Lee

 

Yeah, I've seen them at the Good Guys shows too.

Isn't it interesting that a Corvette that is supposedly all original has either fake plates....or the real plates? Thought the magazine would have noticed it at least.

 

The Vett plates are bogus as Calif. plates were black on yellow

 

Nothin' for nothin'...but isn't that pic of the 'vett' plate black on yellow??

 

And, in Episode IV, Skywalker says that Chewy is a "prisoner transfer from cell block 1138" when they go to get Princess Leah.

 

There's an endless supply of THX 138 trivia. It appears in many many movies.

 

California has used both black with yellow letters and yellow with black letters for their plates in years past. Could do some research but one was dated 195? and the other 1963?. Something like that. The black plate with yellow lettering was used twice. Once is the thirties, thirty eight I think or 36.

Bonneville Avanti Dan

 

'56 -'62 plates were Yellow with Black Letters/Numbers....

 

'32 plates were black on yellow. . .

 

The yellow plate with black letters was stamped 56 and with year stickers was used until 1962. From there they went with the stamped 63 plates.

I wasn't around but wonder what happened to all the yellow plates in 63? Did they make you trade them in for the new 63 black plates?

 

Yes.

 

did you have the option to keep the old plate or did you have to surrender the plate at the DMV to get the new plate? I would think they mailed the new plates so maybe owners had the original plates stashed away in the garage.

 

correct.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I've got a few 1959 cars and they all have the black plates with yellow letters. It doesn't seem that in 1970 you had to trade in for the new blue and yellow plates.

 

Your '59 cars with yellow on black are '63 plates. You did not have to send in the '56 plates, just take them off and replace with the '63's. And you are correct in '70 you kept your yellow on black '63 era plates when the '70 yellow on blue came out. They, yellow on blue, only were used on new cars or first time cars in CA.

 

I remember the same story in an article about the '32 that was in a magazine (can't remember which) maybe 10 years ago... Something about the owner of the coupe chasing down a wiring short, pulling off the door panel, and finding at least one of the plates, and maybe even the shifter knob....

I might still have that magazine around here somewhere... I don't throw that sort of stuff away, but I do misplace it and store it in unlikely locations....

 

Blow the picture of the Vett up (enlarge it) and you will see that the letters and numbers are RED

 

Must be your monitor K-88, I still see black on yellow. . .

 

That's the way I remember it. In fact, I found the old black-on-yellow plates from my '58 Corvette in an old footlocker. I gave them to my neighbor and after a conversation with DMV, he was able to have them certified for use on his restored '57 Ranchero.

 

You can get THX 138 fake plates on ebay all the time.

 

I thought Jeff Beck owned the "prop" plate from the movie and that there is an actual THX 138 plate/registration out there somewhere in California that he was trying to buy. Remembered that from the Jeff Beck episode on Gary McGuire's show "Car Crazy".

Geoffrey

 

Yeah, we know that. I'm wondering if the Vette has real DMV registered THX 138 plates. This is a survivor Corvette. Almost all original except the seat fabric.....so the thought was maybe the plates are original too. You know how some of those Corvette guys are....just wouldn't seem to fit the norm having repro plates. Do we have any LEO's that can run the plate and see what it comes up as registered to?

 

the real movie plates are in England....