While taking the license plate off a 1935 Ford truck I just got, I got to thinking about how often these old cars were last licensed in 1968. The second most common old plates I find are from 1973. Has anyone else gotten similar results?
I see a lot of 70's plates and I suspect it may be due to unleaded gas and the beginning of serious inspections. When unleaded came out the scare tactic from the envirofreaks was that old cars couldnt use it. Then the states got into emmissions testing as well as going over the suspension, brakes, no holes in floorboards, etc.
My '47 Chrysler had '72 plates on it, which I thought was pretty interesting because hardly anyone drives cars for that long any more. 99% of the vehicles I see on the road that are 25 years old or more are trucks and they're usually in pretty bad shape (like mine, heheh). It wasn't being used as a "collector car" either, totally stock except for some repairs that obviously marked it as a beater.
The T-pickup box on the Rocky 33 had a '42 Nebraska plate on it. My 55 ford pickup had a brand new 66 plate under the seat, still in the plastic cover. My 35 IHC pickup had '57 plates on it with a new pair of '59 plates under the seat that must not have been installed before they quit driving it. I kept them all.
I can fully understand running YOM plates on a restored classic but wouldn't it be logical to run year of modification plates on a hotrod? I mean, if a Model A or Deuce is duded up to look like a '40s hotrod, shouldn't it carry say a '48 plate. That's what a hotrod running around town in '48 would have had on it, not a '31, or '32 plate... I know, the DMVs will only let us use YOM plates on classics, but... you know what I mean?
My 31 Roadster had 39' plates on it and 56' (with an October metal tab) under the seat and I'd like to run the 56' plates because that's my "Borned on Date"!!! (month & year) Mark
[ QUOTE ] I got to thinking about how often these old cars were last licensed in 1968. [/ QUOTE ] Wow, what a trip- saw a Model A Sedan a friend is restoring (first time I'd seen his car), wouldn't ya know it, the last tags on it were '68! There's gotta be a reason behind this. Or, maybe not.
[ QUOTE ] I mean, if a Model A or Deuce is duded up to look like a '40s hotrod, shouldn't it carry say a '48 plate. That's what a hotrod running around town in '48 would have had on it, not a '31, or '32 plate... [/ QUOTE ] Amen brother.. I've allways thought that running 31 plates on a 31 ford hotrod was silly. No one bought a brand new ford in 31 and made a hotrod out of it! I snuck my registration past the DMV.. I run '48 plates on my model A.
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