Ohio License Plate Laws (suck!)

Well I dont know about your shows and so one but the after dark thing I have to disagree with, exp late in the season after the time change. I have not been to many shows that ended before dark. Do they expect you to pull over at dark call a tow truck or sleep in the car until day light? The mopar nationals dont even start popping until dark!

 

Here is one good reason why. I have an 85 Z-28 that is all original. When I bought this car I had intended to put historical plates on it from the start. The people at the DMV are trained to try to talk you out of buying historical plates because they are a one time fee of $30 "in ohio" for registration for 50 years. They want the yearly income for you registering you are. Put your historical plates on and use the car as it is intended. Go to shows, show the car to interested people, take it to cruise ins and obey the traffic laws. If you drive it to work once a money to keep fresh gas in it.. That is called Maintenance my fellow people. My insurance lady is the one that told me about the DMV trying to talk people out of the historical plates. She has 70 Firebird and drives it to work at least once a week when the weather is nice. She has been stopped and she just says that she drives it once a week to keep the gas fresh and the car ran. She has never been ticketed. Dont let some rookie cop give ya any crap. Just print the law and keep it with your HISTORICAL registration. Since I am due for renewal I will be sporting my new historical plates for the next 50 years with a smile on my face.

 

its all about revenue..and we are an easy target
they figure ,, hey nice car...he's got money

 

Bumper law in ohio too have got busted on it lately but did back in the day quite often.Tags front and back I have slid on that one for a while also

 

I think you only need a rear Historical or YOM plate in Ohio now......

 

They appear to be pulling more people over with historical plates now. I got it with my truck yesterday and he had given out two tickets before me. I wish they had better things to do. I guess I'm back to regular tags................

 

I guess it really depends where you live and what you're doing. When I lived in Ohio I drove a 59 every once in a while during summer. The only time I was pulled over, the cop tried to hassle me about my tags, but I was carrying lumber for my father also. He let me off with a warning but only after he checked out the truck. I think most of the issues are when you're doing what I was doing, not using the vehicle for what the plates are for, and if you're in an area that had a lot more people abusing the use of vehicles with historical plates. It may not be you.

 

Indiana has the YOM plate and the Historical plate, I do not run either one on our rods, drive ours way to much to mess with the plate rules, plus the cops leave you alone unless you are being stupid driving.

 

I always ran regular tags on everything, until I found a 1953 Ohio farm plate and decided to run it on my '53 Dodge truck. First you buy Historical Vehicle tags, then they will register YOM plate (one only in '53), and you must carry the original historical plates. These are NOT for GENERAL TRANSPORTATION (I guess a judge decides what that means). I've used YOM tags on 3 vehicles now since about 2004, always front and rear, and drive them whenever I please. I have never been hassled by local, county or state police, but I'm an old guy with grey hair. Historical plates in Ohio are like $10.00 and you never have to renew. If you don't abuse the privilege I don't think they will bother you.

 

It seems to me that States are missing out on a source of revenue. Why not offer new year of manufacture plates at a higher annual price than the annual plates like any other specialty plate. Then people who drive their vehicle daily can have YOM plates.

 

I live in Sidney, Ohio and I have been pulled over three times in 63 biscayne wagon. This last time I was picking it up from the shop and bringing it home. The time before I was just cruising around (which was my fault), the first time I had gotten pulled over it was on my way back from a cruise-in in piqua. The officer said when he pulled me over today that you have 3 warnings in the system now for these plates. Then he said that if he sees this car on the road again without regular plates he was going to have the car towed. He obviously doesn't know the law. This is what it says on the Ohio BMV website "They are solely collector's items and are used for participation in club activities, exhibitions, tours, parades, and similar uses. A historical motor vehicle shall not be used for general transportation, but may be operated on the public roads and highways to and from a location where maintenance is performed on the vehicle." There are cruise-in's every day of the week that I plan on going to. He obviously won't know when or where I go to cruise-ins unless he follows the old car stuff but he doesn't. Just had to vent and or see if anyone else has this problem.

 

Police in my area have to make a number of contacts per day. "This is not a quota " I was told. I guess it is a lot safer for the police to pull over a old car than a hooptey full of meth heads. . To quote Dr J.. " Power is a dangerous drug"