Black plates used to be a big deal because that ment the car had been continually registered in California since new. Until recently you were not allowed to use black YOM plates on a car unless they were originally issued to that car and were never left to expire. It's not such a big thing anymore since you can now register something from out of state with black plates as long as they are cleared by the DMV.
Stand to correct you...1951 plates are Black with White letters and numbers and are the "Oversize" Plate. The 1956 "Yellow background with Black letters and numbers" is a Smaller size plate. Your 1952 vehicle would of had a 1951 plate issued to it and a 52 right corner plate "Tab" issued to it. The area beneath the bolt hole has a "Registration number" stamped into it. I actually witnessed the counter help last week in Bakersfield weighing a plate during the registration process. This has been brought on by all of the single plates being bought up and someone out there producing aluminum plates and then selling them as a matched pair. This would be a very 'Rude" awakening with 51 plates now selling in the range of $500, with the rare commercials selling in the $750-$1K . 56 plates for a nice set are around $150 and sometimes less. 1963 plates matched sets are still fairly common and can be found without much problem. Just my latest experiances with them, along with a few years of dealing with the DMV.
jcmarz, I thought you meant you had the later plate (1963), many of which were swapped out, for the original '51 plate. The original '51 plate is not what is commonly referred to as a "black plate" even though the colors are the same. Unfortunately, mine is an "original" black plate car, but should have black on yellow '56's. Fortunately, the car has been in the family for 50+ years.
Your right when someone mentions "California black plates" they mean the 63 plates. And when the 63 plates came out everyone had to remove the 56 plates and install the new 63s. Check out www.davesclp.com it covers the plates from 1914 first issue to the 56 plate.
I have been trying to find answers to this - i've got a 64 and have KLW 952 plates... that seems about the right sequence right?
The black plates just look better then the current cali plates imop. Going to look @ a 52' pickup this weekend, when I saw the black plate on the front thats a huge plus for me!
OK, that sounds right. I know when I was checking for one of my custom plates a few year ago, I got rejected a few times because the sequence I wanted was considered to be reserved for general use and not considered "personalized". Seems funny, but true.
I don't know if someone already posted on this,but that's not true. All you need to do is find a DMV clear 1963 black plate,and you fill out the necessary paperwork and can have it registered to your vehicle.
KLW would be in the '64 range. My Parents bought a new Mustang (64 1/2) in mid '64 and the plates on it were MJS 486.
Would FUB be in the '63 range then? Because if it is,that means my plates on my Galaxie are the originals from when it was first bought.
It's possible.... All the License plates that were on cars from '56-'62 had to be issued Black Plates along with the "New" cars getting plates. I'm not going to say they are,they just might be. It always helps if you have any of the old registrations/owner documentation to be positive.
My dad had a 1969 Chevy pickup when we moved to California in that same year. Because it had a pickup camper on it, it was legally tagged as a car instead of a pickup. It had the black/yellow tag ZOG-168 on it (I still have the rear plate). The blue/yellow NNN-AAA format came about in mid-year 1970. Truck plates changed a year later, as a previous poster commented. A black-tagged California car means a lot, especially if the car is still currently registered with the black plates. That indicates the car has had continuous registration in California from sometime between 1963 and 1970, to the present day.
What about a Vanity Plate This 63 has DGR. I know its orginal So I think you guys are talking personal Vanity plates?
No, issue plates. California began its vanity plate program in 1968, IIRC. There are black/yellow vanity plates, but very few. Lots of blue/yellow, though. Back when the max number of characters was six. Remember, ALL black/yellow plates have the "63" stamped in the year square, regardless of the year the plate was actually issued.
SWEET!!! Now I need to find me some DMV clear 63 plates. Would trade for 56 plates with 62 tags if interested.
as of july 1st 2009 you can run the black plates 1963-69 on the Y.O.M program....try another dmv. i don't think it adds to the value so much as it adds to the time capsule factor. it's great to see an old car with old plates especially if the plates aren't the year or the car. anyone can buy the year plates and run them (all my cars have them) but it's a REAL time find if you get a '32 coupe with '63 black plates still on it.
it's cheaper to get the '59 plates ('56 with a '59 sticker). yom is $10 a year and personalized is $25+ a year.
My '54 TR2 was a life long California car sold by Cal Sales... I have the '54 black plates on it. I was told that the letter prefixes determined where the car was originally registered...with "Z" being in the northernmost counties and "A" being in San Diego county...any truth to this? I think my plates begin with a "Q" prefix and the car was found in Santa Barbara...
Here's one better,a stash of never registered,mostly sequential,California '32 plates. The guy won't sell them,but I know where they are at:
the was a guy a few years ago at the pomona swap selling a box of sequential '32 plates that he said "fell off a train" and were recently found.
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