Art & Inspiration Scored a nice set of old California license plates

I came back a few days ago from visiting my mom for a couple of weeks. I was looking through some of my dad's stuff he had collected. He passed away over two years ago.
He had a recreation building in the back of the property that he would keep all kinds of his own personal old stuff that he kept there. On one of his shelves I saw a stack of license plates. My to my surprise they were one of each year from 1924 to 1934 plus a reg tag for 1942. The 1930 plate with the "Hollywood" tag attached intrigued me. I've never seen one like that before.
I told my mom, "they're going home with me" and she had no qualms about it. I never knew he had them nor where he got them from. My mom knows nothing about them. I have a feeling they came from a collection that had them mounted on a wall sometime. Unfortunately they have extra holes drilled in the corners. They need some careful cleaning before I hang them up in my garage.
I looked for any other automobilia but didn't find anything which doesn't really surprise me. He didn't really care about old cars. I only remember him being somewhat sentimental about a couple of cars he owned, a little about a 49 Oldsmobile but mostly his 56 Studebaker Skyhawk. To him they were just cars that he used to get from point A to point B.
None of these plates are for sale.

 

Nice collection there. I read somewhere that the small tags like yours ( 1942 ) were used in the war years to save steel for the war effort. The tag just went over the old year on the same plates.

 

Cool!.....

 

Nice find! My dad passed away Feb & he has an extensive automotive collection. Among it, I found some old tags also. Hope you don’t think this morbid, but we put one on his casket. If you knew my dad, it would make more sense. At his service, we asked friends to drive their hot rods in his honor.


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It makes sense about the 42 tag. I know CA used smaller date tags in later years up to 1955.
This is by far now my largest old license plate set. I have a few old Oregon and Washington plates, a couple of old Connecticut dealer plates, plus the original 1963 type CA black plate sets I kept from two cars I sold before moving to Washington state. I've got a lot of newer plates from the 70's and up but they're not HAMB friendly.

 

Not morbid in the least TJMAC. Your dad got a very nice send off. My mom just had my dad cremated and she keeps his ashes at home. That's morbid to me but at least he's easy to visit.
That's not the way I want to go. I already told my wife there's no cremating me.

 

Check with a local guy who's familiar with '20's thru '30's California plates. The holes in the corners may be the way California issued them. I have a license plate reference book and it shows holes like the ones on your plates on every plate from 1920 thru 1939. I've also seen N.Y.S. plates from that era with the same holes.

 

Interesting, I thought someone added those holes. I haven't looked at other plates online too closely. I had a 1918 CA plate and it didn't have any extra holes but that's before the 1920 type you mention.
I found a website that gives more detail about license plates.
http://allaboutlicenseplates.com/athome.asp?State=California

 

Important part is they were your Dad's

 

Good news, Bleach … the Jim Fox license plate book shows those 8 holes "factory" punched in California plates until '37 or '38. The Hollywood (or insert your city name) topper was an item popular in the '30s & '40s when plates were out in the open. Dealer frames & bigger, enclosed bumper mounting take their place.
Be very gentle cleaning them - great score !

 

Those are fantastic and will look great on your wall. Being that they're a straight run, I'm wondering if they were a yearly accumulation removed annually from one family's car(s)? Possibly handed off to your Dad by an older acquaintance or co worker?
At any rate, in honor of Dad, I'd be tempted to keep on collecting with him and fill in the holes between your 1918 and Dad's 1924 as well as Dad's 1934 and your 1963.

 

That's part of the reason they're not for sale. There are other things he had but aren't as cool as these plates.

That's good to know. Those holes looked a little too uniform. There's some interesting info about those older plates. Yes, I'll need to figure out how to carefully clean them, at least preserve them.

 

My mom didn't know where he got them. He often found interesting things working as an engineer examining old abandoned buildings to see if they were fit to be put back into use. I don't think he intentionally collected the plates.
As far as collecting more plates to fill in the gaps, my wife is against it. She always worries about what she'll do will my collection when I'm gone. My daughter shows little interest in my collection beyond my Fairlane. Hopefully one of them will post something here on the HAMB in the event of my passing so nothing will end up just getting given away to the Goodwill or Salvation Army or worse.

 

That's a whole other thread, but the fact that your Wife is against you collecting more plates because she won't know what to do with them when you die, shouldn't keep you from enjoying your hobby/interests while you're alive. They take up little room. Liquidating a collection of 2 dozen plates vs. 10 dozen plates is the same amount of work if you're selling it as one lot. It's not like you're filling the yard with project cars. Besides, who's to say you won't out live her?

A lot of car guys can relate, my Wife and kids have expressed the same thoughts as they really don't show much interest in my cars/hobby. I told them to get (hire) one of my Brother in laws or friends to help the family price and list anything they don't want to keep (locally, ebay, etc). The cash will then be theirs to do what they want with it. It's what estate sales are about.

 

It seems I'm the only car nut in the family and that goes the same for my friends that are still living. There are days I feel I might drop dead so I doubt very much I'll outlive my wife plus she's a few years younger than I am.
I've actually sold off a lot of the extra car stuff but none of the owners manuals, shop manuals and miscellaneous car books I've accumulated in the last 40 years.
There is one friend that could help out a little. I'll have to catalog everything to make it somewhat easier.
I've suggested to my Mom that she start downsizing but I think I will end up dealing with everything when she passes, should I outlive her.