Yep, they are actually shaped like that. (not rectangular) I "shadowed" this one a little when I painted it too, so It makes it even more confusing to look at.
I love this thread... I travel to a lot of shows and see a lot of different clubs, and one of the first things I look for on a car is a drag plate. I have an entire album full of dragplates from different clubs. Here is one of them.
Hey Dennis, I know you must have a ton of plaques on file and you said you could make a guy one of those old plates. Can anyone call you and order any plate you have on file? I am pretty sure most "active" clubs would be upset if somebody ordered their plates. I was just wondering if you checked with folks that called you up and asked for certain plaques etc. No biggie, just curious. Thanks, J
Ah ...... Oxnard. The lima bean capital of the world. I was wondering why your club's name is spelled the way it is. Did you just have your plaques re-cast using one that was mis-spelled as a pattern on purpose? This same type plaque was spelled both ways .....
In the forty's the name was "FAROAHS" later in the fifty's it was changed to "PHAROAHS". This club is based out of modesto, CA.
First off, if the person is asking for one copy of one of the 3,000+ patterns that we've made 100,000+ plaques from, our answer to him in "No!" I have no records from the 12,000 patterns I got from Speed Gems and Chicago Metal Craft and they were all made at least 40 years ago. If anyone calls to get copies made I will only do it as long as I know that it is not an active club. Just yesterday I had a guy buy one each of twelve Marin (County Ca) plaques. But I wouldn't do a thirteenth one for him because I know that it's an active club. If I've done the club's plaques in the last 31 years we've been in business I'll know if it's an active club or at least that it's been active. I used to be able to make sure that the same guy did the reorder but even that's not fail safe because he may have left the club or, and I get this more and more these days, he has passed away. Now having said that, if a guy asks for a plaque from the old 12,000 patterns for a club in East Jockstrap Montana I don't know every club in that area and I might not know if it's an active club. The only thing I can do is ask him and depend on his honesty. We do our best but I'm sure one or two have gotten away with something out of the 6700+ orders we've done over the years. And boy could we tell you some stories - but then you know what it's like dealing with a bunch of guys who always get along real well Dennis
Heres a link to Dennis' open house this year...I got a few pics of plaques past all the other car pics.. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=475745
I joined this club in 1963ish. This plaque must be from the 50s because I never saw one until a friend had this one given to him about 10 years ago. A mutual friend said Tommy used to belong to that club and I ended up with it. I was a member until the club garage burned down effectively killing the club in the early 70s. It was sponsored by a couple of police officers and we got use of an old air plane hanger as a garage for 1 dollar a year rent to the county government. The red shape behind the car is the outline of Prince George County MD. a Wash. DC. suburb. It is a prized possession of mine and is in as found condition.
Okay, after lots of uploading, downloading, and everything in between(my internet is running very slow tonight), here are a few more drag plates for your enjoyment. If you want to see more, I'll keep posting them. I don't want to go overkill on the pictures unless you guys demand to see more. hahaha On a friend of mine's ride(it's not longer his, don't get excited [and I have several Voodoo Kings members cars in my albums, they have some of the raddest builds right now]): Sorry this one's blurry, I couldn't find the one I wanted to post, it's probably on my other computer. This is the Drifters CC and they are from Pittsburgh: This is the Ballbusters CC and they are out of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area of Pennsylvania, another rowdy bunch of guys. I fit right in with them:
East coast thing? That's crazy!! Coincidentally, I've never heard of it called a plaque until this thread. lol
They were called plaques in the ads in the 50's. Another name that I first heard from the KKOA guys is bumper draggers. Dennis
That's mostly true but this ad in the September 1956 issue of Hot Rod Magazine called them "Plates" ..... We always called them plaques in Southern California but this shop in Los Angeles didn't. Maybe they were transplants from someplace where the drag plate term was used more often than plaque.
Do you know what the numbers mean? The Pittsburgh plaque has 1-59 and the Columbus plaque has 2-59 .....
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