Hot Rods Finding your old hot rod with just a plate number

Hmm didn't realize my original thread would confuse people. I uploaded a few photos of my grandfather's car and some model years he mentioned. My ultimate goal was to see if I could find his car based on the shot of his license plate I had.

I ended up figuring this out myself and am replying here in case future people have a similar issue and don't get an answer from this forum.

Outside of California, Oregon, Hawaii and some other states you can perform vehicle reverse lookups with license plate numbers with surprising degrees of accuracy. One site that works at the time of this message for me is: https://www.intelhawkpi.com/ Check out this video for more info.

For better or for worse, in California, we have a DMV that complies with the Information Practices Act of 1977. See here for more info from the DMV. https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/dl/how_info_shared

I'm still hoping to find his hot rod with the California plate `1R7460` he had in the 50s. The (long shot) quest continues!

 

Not trying to bust your bubble but you might have a better chance of finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.

If you could find a old registration number you might have a better chance of tracking it down.

Good luck. HRP

 

Not trying to be a jerk, but the car you showed in your pictures is not a 1929 Ford truck. It's a 1930 or 31 Ford roadster. That might help a LOT in your search.

 

all California plates from the 50's were replaced with the new black background yellow letter plates in 1963, but that plate in the photo is from 1947 or earlier. '47 plates were used until 1956 when all plates across the country were made the same size, and they were 3 letters and 3 numbers for '56. with that letter-number combination that could be from 1938 - 1947.

you will not be able to trace the car by that plate as it has not been on the car for 70 years at least.

 

49 ratfink is right.Ca replaced all plates in 63.My dad wired the yellow plates on the handle bars of our bikes as kids.The later black plates are the first to remain with the car for life.You would be a head to use the photo as a guide to build a tribute car just like it.