When it comes to putting cars together, I try to think of all the little details I can. To me, the small things can either add up to something really great, or they can be ignored and the end result leaves something to be desired. One thing I pay close attention to on my cars are the license plates. At the very least, I typically run a year of make plate. Often, I try to go one step further and find one that also has a cool number, or one that is somehow relevant to the car. Last year, I put together a '56 Nomad that I dragged out of a barn after chasing it for years. An all black car that had great patina, I left the exterior alone and redid everything under it to turn it into a reliable driver and stuffed a blown small block in it. You can read about that journey here if you want to: Hot Rods - Project Blowmad - A Build Thread (1956 Nomad) | The H.A.M.B. Anyway, the car came to me with special interest plates, nothing special about them... I left them for the time being, but started searching for a more relevant pair for the car, whatever that ended up being. I looked for a long time, and even found a few different options that ended up not working out (DMV wouldn't let me register them for various reasons) so I just kept hunting while I put the car together. Well, the car got done, but I was still looking for that just-right pair of plates that would look at home on it. I wanted a mean-looking car, and it turned out the thing ended up being pretty evil when it was all said and done, so I kept an eye out for plates that fit that theme. I was in Southern California on vacation and one night, I decided to browse eBay for license plates, something I was used to by this point. I scrolled through a few pages and came across a set that I knew immediately were IT. They had a "buy it now" option, and after a few ****on clicks, it was settled and the plates were waiting for me by the time we came back home. I took them into DMV, explained what I wanted to do, and once again they were very unhelpful. They told me the plates had been dead for too long, purged from the system and were unable to be brought back. I called BS on that and tried another DMV, they told me the same. At it's core, that argument didn't seem logical to me, so I kept pushing. Long story short, three DMV visits, half a dozen phone calls, a dozen people having to "talk to their boss" and countless scoffs and eye rolls later, I finally found someone willing to help and actually do the work to get my plates reinstated. This process took two months. I think they were hoping I would just give up, but the plates were just too perfect, they had to go onto this stupid car. They finally mailed me my tags a few days ago and I officially have THE 666 CAR: I haven't put them on yet, but this is where they're headed: Now that they're finally registered to me, I plan to piece together a pair of more era-correct blue and yellow plates with that number and put them on the car. I can't stand a modern license plate on an old car either, and those tree plates are still available, and are the most common ones you see running around. In the end, it will have the right number but will be "old" plates. Is anyone else as much of a weirdo about having license plates that fit the car just right, or am I the only mentally challenged person here? www.ironandsteele.com
I like it, both the car and the plates. When you get the old ones done with those numbers/letters you can put the tree(hugger) plates on your skidder.
When I was 16-17 I was handed a 666 plate. Handed it back. No way the kinfolk would let that in the driveway. But it would have been funny
I was working on an old Olds in body shop cl*** in high school back in the early 80’s. One day while primering the quarter panel I masked it off to read “Deathmobile” ala the Animal House movie, all in fun. The school administrator called me down to the office a couple days later and chewed my azz out, and informed me the Olds was banned from the school parking lot until I removed the “Deathmobile” from it. Being the stubborn anti authority teen I was, I left it, and parked it across the street from school everyday, till I eventually painted that car. Funny thing is, it was one of the few times my parents actually stood behind me.
I've told this story before, when I found out South Salem DMV office would have RED 001 - 500 plates, I called them and inquired about getting a special number(s). The manager asked to bring in my registration and they would pull the numbers I wanted. I got RED 029,032,033,048,057. Oregon had now cl***ic Pacific Wonderland plates in 1959-1964 and they allow YOM only for those years. I had a buddy that found consecutive numbered Pacific Wonderland plates that he wanted to register to his '63 and '66 Vettes. The '63 was no problem but the '66 was not allowed. He made some regular plates with the same number as the Wonderland plate. Welded the numbers together, bondo'd and painted. They sailed through registration, he hung them on the wall and ran the Pacific Wonderland plates.
Do I follow this correctly-you plan on piecing together an old plate with those numbers? Not sure how that will go with the DMV, sure won't fly with the California DMV YOM program. Why not just repaint the plates you have with the old colors? that also may not please the DMV. To answer your question; I find that a bit excessive, I run a couple YOM plates, but never sweat the alphanumerics.
My dealings with DMV are over. I want to replicate the already registered plate number on an older-style plate, yes. Details are important to me, excessive or not. www.ironandsteele.com
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