Refinished my antique tags and tax payer dollars at work

I decided to try to refinish tags for my 39 plymouth truck. I researched for the proper colors and spent a lot of time chasing info. I finally found a Texas History of license plates FTP site. It is a very comprehensive site. It gives colors for each type of plate and dimensions for each type of plate. It even gives the number of plates issued for each type of plate. My plate according to Pg 215 should be green with black letters. ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/vtr/plate_history.pdf

Now here is the rub. I took the plates to the Northwest courthouse in Lake Worth Tx. They said I could not run CM plates only p***enger plates. They said if I took them to the DMV office off Airport Freeway and if they OKed them I could run them. I thought..almost home free. The joke was on me. Seems that DMV didn't give a rats *** what DOT said and my plates should be green with "dark purple" letters. I told them the Dot said green with black and they said they didn't care what DOT said that their books said DARK PURPLE not black. They said if I redid them I could run them. My taxpayer dollars at work. A good example of what is wrong with government today. Here is a picture of my first attempt at finishing a plate.

 

yeah sorry to hear that. got to get it the way "they" want it here in Texas

 

To their credit, page 131 says "dark purple/light green"

But I believe your color combo is correct - the photo on page 24 shows a light background and dark letters. Best bet is to call the regional DMV or the main DMV office in Austin - ask to speak with a supervisor or department head, explain the conflicting info, take copious notes and the name/number of the person you speak with and have the local DMV call them for clarification.

 

One good thing came from this,we learned DMV can green light stuff DOT won't. I have given up and just deal straight with the people off 121, other offices and courthouse have become nothing more than surly cashiers


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Here's a pic of some original '39 C/M plates off the evil auction site;

 

AZ isnt any better. I gave a buddy of mine some '39 plates and showed him what colors to paint them. He got those things looking like new. Went to DMV, gal at the desk said "nope" they need to be these colrs", so, he ***** at me a little, repainted them and headed back in. The guy at the counter pulled up their color page for years,,,,, low and behold, they needed to be the colors I originally said 3rd times a charm and hes now finally running them.

 

Amen to that.

nice job on the plate. looks good.

 

I would have told them it is dark purple, it just doesn't show up in this light.

 

I had the same thing happen in Ohio.
Plates were supposed to be dark blue w/white numbers.
I painted them correctly and the clerk said they looked black.

I argued they were only darker due to inside lighting but were the correct dark blue. She called her supervisor over and he deemed them black background also.
I took the plate and held it up to the other people behind me in line and took a vote. Everyone saw dark blue so I won my case and was allowed to proceed to register them.

Gotta be persistant sometimes if you know you`re right.

 

In Kansas you are not allowed to restore the tag. It has to be in original condition. I found this out the hard way.

 

How in the %$#&* do these govt bureaucrats logically come up with stuff like that? Just plain stupid.

 

"How in the %$#&* do these govt bureaucrats logically come up with stuff like that?"

The problem here is that logic and bureaucrats don't work in the same sentence.
When I bought my 47 it had a nice YOM plate on it that the P/O had gone to the trouble of registering to the car.
I was told that if I wanted to keep that plate, I would have to go through the steps of re-registering that plate to the car all over again in my name, not a ten minute task.
I gave the plate back to the O/P as a souvenir. To me, the state wants the licence plate on the car, not me. They should be responsible for putting one on there. I just run antique plates.

 

thanks for sharing mike. thats good to know as i have been looking for some plates.

 

Never had a problem in Oregon with restored plates. EVery DMV office has a chart with colors on it for certain years. I simply call them and confirm the correct colors, and they inspect the plates before ***igning them to my cars. I've got 3 cars with original year plates now, and never had any trouble.
But don't even ask about their paperwork errors and foulups! My last ***le took 3 months to finally get here correct, and the one before took 18 months and 4 tries to get here in correct form!

 

I feel your pain. My sister got me an original '31 plate for my coupe for Christmas. When I went to register it and do everything they said, "you have to have both plates to use them." BUT when you get your antique tag, Its as you know, just one tag. I just run the 31 tag anyway and if i get pulled over be like "ohhh I forgot to take my show plate off." Then show them the antique tag with my insurance

 

Same in M***. So you show them the original plate, then you restore it later....
Also in M***. if two plates were issued but you have only one, you can run just the one plate. (And if you have both, "disappear" one of them...)

 

I really wish there was some sort of clear and concise guide to this here in Texas. When I started looking into plates for my '54 I read on multiple sites that YOM plates were no longer being allowed here in Texas, only those who were already using them would be allowed to have them. Reading this thread it sounds like that's not true.

Oh well, I'll just continue being happy with my "BEL AIR" plates.

 

dot does not have authority to make decisions on the actual plate , that is the domain of bmv. so if bmv likes it, then you can run it up the dot's backside.

sometimes the system work for you or against.

 

Here in California the DMV calls it 'altering the license plate'. But in the end it depends on the DMV personnel's opinion, which is another problem.

 

Thank goodness for acrylic craft paint with a light coating of silicon-preservative spray,then cleared!
All the "heads" approve the tags,you wash them well(oops the craft paint washed off ?) and you're down the road driving.
Kindly Mr Police Officer can read the tag just fine,so he doesn't mind....

 

When I did my aluminum YOM waffle plate with green lettering on my 49, the dmv clerk asked me if the colors were correct. In my most confident voice, I said, "Absolutely!" No problem!

 

In MA. you can not repaint the plate, it must be original.

Someone I know, repainted two plates maroon and white for his friend and went so far to scratch the bolt holes and applied rust to them.
They were accepted by the registry.


THEN...



He repainted them silver and black to match his car!!!
4 hours of work down the drain.

 

Great job on the plates and great link too!

 

For NY, plates must be original but I have seen tons of restored plates. So restore them after. However, you also just send pictures of the plates in rather than bring them in person. Between those two things, it leaves enough leeway to get it done the way you want.

 

tell em your color blind. to you it looks purple
you really got to wonder about things today.just some under paid person trying to do the best job they can. trying to give em the benefit of doubt here,lol

 

In Florida the tag normally stays with the owner when the car is sold. One exception is antique tags. Kinda makes sence because once a tag is registered to a particular car it can never be used on another car of the same year. I recently sold my 31 Model A with the Desoto hemi pictured on my avatar. I will deliver the car to Pensacola this comming weekend. The antique Florida tag I use to run on it will go with the car. If I keep it all it would be good for is is to hang on the wall. When I bought it at the Daytona Turkey run swapmeet it was an NOS tag. Absolutely perfect condition. You can't restore antique tags for Florida. As far as I'm concerned It needs to be on a car not hanging on a wall. IT is an Escambia tag where I use to live..good numbers 9W-99 1931 Florida tag.

 

Maybe I need to get some purple tinted pearl or clear and brush it over the black.

 

jbtine, whenever I go to the Dot off 121 I always get the counter persons name and number so I can always go back to that person. To many times I have gone back and spoken to another person and been told something different.
Same thing at the courthouse downtown. There is one lady and one lady only that I deal with when it comes to ***les and such. Everyone else is just to subjective.
Sorry for your woes with them.

 

I guess it all depends on who's behind the counter. I had my plates only primered and they asked if they were authentic, I said yes, and they said 'ok', put them in the computer and that was that. Granted I didn't try to use commercial plates...

Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone

 

In Mississippi, an applicant for YOM plates makes application through the county tax collector on forms prescribed by the State Tax Commission. The applicant's license plate is sent by the county tax collector for authentication to the State Tax Commission. The State Tax Commission determines its authenticity, its condition and its original year of issue. If the license plate is in satisfactory original condition or has been refurbished to a satisfactory condition, then it is approved.

The '33 MS plate is the picture is an unissued plate pulled from its original envelope. It has minor rust on the left side of the plate as the courthouse ceiling leaked. The State Tax Commission refused to authorize the YOM plate as it was not deemed to be in a satifactory condition. The commission wanted the plate refurbished. I refused to alter the authenticity. It is now wall art. Unfortunately employees who are not qualified to flip burgers make decisions on YOM plates.