I have a '62 Corvair Rampside pickup with modern plates. I also have a matched pair of Calif black plates (not on any car or assigned to one.) I want to have the plates restored and then put them on the truck. AAA says no problem but I'm not sure. I don't want to pay to restore the plates and then find out there's a problem with using them. My specific fear is this: all pickups in Calif get registered with a commercial plate and I don't know what my black plates came off of. AAA ran the black plates and they're not in the system so they say there will be no problem in using them .... but what about the need for commercial plates? Can I get my black plates restored and then use them on a pickup?
My understanding is you will have to use the yellow and black 56-62 plates for a 62, the black ones have to be used on 63 -69 ...
As far as I know, as long as the character configuration is not one of the types that they will not allow for your vehicle and as long as they are out of the system and you have a 62 sticker for the plates then you just compolete the YOM (Year of manufacturing) plate paperwork and take the plates into the AAA can process YOM though. Sorry.
You don't have to register a pickup with commercial plates, but just don't haul anything around in the back of it or you could get a ticket+what al8apex said.
my memory all trucks had to have comersal plates i would take them in and have them applyed to your truck then restore them
I just YOM'ed my 1962 German Insect with 63 Black and Yellow plates (black with yellow letters) . I was told to find a clear 1962 sticker, which I did, and put it on the 63 plate and no problems. I used a registration service. A late selling 1962 could have been first registered in 63 so the DMV said ok. Worked for me. Now my 1929 Ford p/u, they said commercial YOM plates or don't ever carry anything in the bed.
the YOM program is deigned to take your money every year just like owning a vanity plate. It sucks that the DMV doesn't recognize that it would be on the car anyways if it had never been removed or lost.
If your title says commercial then they will probably want commercial. The DMV is unreliable and arrogant in their stupidity. I doubt they would allow black plates on a 1962 vechicle regardless if they started issuing the 1963 series in late 1962.
You don't have to use commercial plates on a truck. You will however have to pay the commercial fees, and your registration will still say commercial. My 55 1st series five window has a regular car plate. A 1951 issued black w/yellow numbers & letters with the 55 tab over the 51.
Get the Plates registered to the Rampside (or the Corvair registered to the Plates), then and only then get the plates restored! I'm lookin' for 1935 and 1953 California Truck Plates ~ any PAIRS out there available for sale / trade? Thanks!
if you have a truck with car plates it is a big fine for having ANYTHING in the bed my couisn got a ticket for just having a spare tire and small tool box in the bed. like said if there is only one letter then they are comerical
YOM = Year of Manufacture If you have a 1962 vehicle, you use 1962 plates. That means yellow plates with the 1962 sticker. Black plates were never issued with the '62 sticker. In fact, they are embossed with '63' where the yearly decal goes. Don't get those plates restored until you have the vehicle registered with them. I just wish I would have insisted on the black plates when I bought my '64 Stude in Tahoe. I've been looking for a reasonable set for my plate collection (don't have to be clear).
You can't doubt fact. As I said, I just did it. I have 63 plates on my 62 bug. The DMV had me get a clear 62 sticker, and put it on the 63 plate and registered no problem. This was not years ago. This was 2 months ago.
Read the plate law. If you got lucky, you are in the minority (1 of 1). Second, the state of California is one of those states that frowns on restored plates. You don't restore your plate until they are registered. Giving the guy a realistic expectation, not false hope. I have heard of one exception to this; having the same plate that came off of that exact same vehicle (and you can prove it). In otherwords, if I hauled my Studebaker back to CA and I had the original black plates for the car, CA would register them. Now on my end that is a black plate anyway. These are not the original plates. Personally, I'd rather have the yellow plates if my car was old enough.
I would suggest the proper year plate with proper tag and for a commercial application only - since it is a TRUCK. At the DMV counter its who is helping you (always)... You have a much better chance at getting what you want if "all your ducks are in a row".... otherwise your counterperson's bad hair day and inexperience turns into guess what? - your nightmare. my 2 cent's
In my original post, I said I wanted to switch to black plates -- but that's because (1) I already have a pair of unrestored black plates and (2) I thought black plates would have originally been on the truck. I'd be willing to go to yellow plates .... if they can be found at reasonable cost. What do you think the cost would be for a pair of unrestored yellow plates with the tabs and everything needed? Or should I look for a pair of already restored yellow plates? Or should I just stay with the black plate idea? By switching to either black or yellow plates, do I need to be worried about the "commercial" aspect? FYI, the registration says it's (a) for "commercial" use, (b) the year first sold was 1962 and (c) it expires 1/31/12. Thanks for your input.
I have a customer who just painted his blue plates black and yellow. Its all registered to the blue plates but are now black. Its on a 70 something bug. got pulled over and nothing said by anyone? What ever its worth...
There are several cars running around here with current plates painted black and yellow. And I several at show last weekend. From what I understand it is illegal. So far nobody has been on here whining about getting a ticket for painting their plates. Maybe just get current plates and paint them? And hope no one notices. But the point is to notice isn't it?
Now the replies are getting to the real issue: it doesn't matter what plates you manage to get through the DMV, what matters is the CHP officer who sees the wrong plates (car plates on a truck, wrong year plate, wrong color on them) and how knowledgeable the officer is and how he's feeling that day. A CHP officer explained it to me at a pre-plate inspection: you got the wrong plates, you get pulled over to see if it's stolen, or just so the officer can get a real close look at your fine ride, but then he writes a ticket to justify the pull-over time. 5004.1. (a) (1) An owner of a vehicle that is a 1969 or older model-year vehicle or the owner of a commercial vehicle or a pickup truck that is a 1972 or older model-year may, after the requirements for the registration of the vehicle are complied with and with the approval of the department, utilize license plates of this state with the date of year corresponding to the model-year date when the vehicle was manufactured, if the model-year date license plate is legible and serviceable, as determined by the department, in lieu of the license plates otherwise required by this code. §205.08. Eligibility. (a) YOM license plates must be supplied by the vehicle owner and authenticated by DMV personnel. (b) YOM applicant is responsible for proving that the year model of the vehicle described in the application is correct. (c) The license plates must appear to be original by displaying legible and unaltered characters, and be in a configuration authorized for the year entered on the application. Vehicle Code: http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/vc/vc.htm
Reread the above. It means yellow plates and they must be unrestored (to start with). It also means retirement from daily driver status.
Getting past the local DMV counterperson is only half the battle. They very often have totally wrong opinions on the actual law. You have to then get by the "experts" in the Special Processing Unit in Sacramento. That is another crapshoot. I've heard many horror stories of them being flat out WRONG, but you have nobody higher to appeal to. I don't doubt stories of people who have been able to get special things through, but I wouldn't want to spend big money on plates only to have it fail. I'd go with commercial plates so some a-hole cop doesn't cite your for carrying a bag of groceries in the back. That's a stupid law, but we are dealing with California government.
if you want to be period correct and legal with the corvair you will need a commercial plate. Keep in mind that the plates were issued in order so you might want to research what plate which would have been issued as far as sequence. It is very easy to spot plates that do not belong on cars if they began with the wrong letter, ie most 67 cars began with U and then in 68 they began with W. If you found a 65 car with a plate beginning is say BBW I would call that a clue that it was stolen or the plates switch to avoid fees. If you wish to use YOM then you could use the non commercial plate but pay the commercial fees but it would have to be the same year as the vehicle. You would then be legal to carry items. It is true you can be cited for carrying items in the cargo area with out the commercial plate but you would really have to "talk yourself" into that ticket As far as painting the blue plates, super easy to spot as the letters and numbers have switched sides compared to "original". Most cops just ignore them if they are on a decent ride but it is citable The plates belong to the state and they can be taken off the car on the spot. Best advice is to try to trade the black and yellow plates for a yellow and black commercial plate of the right sequence and do some homework on the YOM program before taking on DMV. Plenty of info on the web to help you through this
Wouldnt it be easier to just run the plates DMV gives you and send the money you dont want to me .... I need it , they will just waste it.
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