antique license plate

therupperts

therupperts

Member
I have a good original 1929 Illinois truck license plate but would like to have one made to complete the set for my pickup. Who do you recommend to emboss and duplicate my original? Thanks for any help.
 

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Yes it is against the law. You may also want to check and see if the other plate is registered on another car
 
The Illinois DMV does not keep track of antique plates although it is perfectly legal to display the year of manufacture. My suggestion is that it would be easier and less expensive to buy a set of originals. They are a bit rare but I have seen them at swap meets in Illinois. There are a number of dealers in the Chicago area, try Google to locate the dealers. Gar Williams
 
A few days ago someone posted, in their state, with the yom plates you didn't need two only one for the rear. In Maryland, when I registered mine, I needed two (we are a two tag state) don't know if they would register one. Check with the dmv you may get lucky...
 
Illinois does not register YOM plates, so you could have a different number front/rear. I don't think many would notice. Buying one plate is way cheaper than a matched pair. You are only required to carry your correct Illinois antique plate & sticker in the vehicle to show if requested. An interesting loophole in the Illinois law: it does not specify Illinois year of manufacture plates. I run a Colorado plate on the front (makes good conversation) and a YOM Illinois on the back.

If the plate has sentimental value and you absolutely must have a duplicate, it can be done two ways: 1) A cast is made of the BACK side in hard urethane, then a sheet of thin stamping stock, a 1/2" thick fiber ply rubber sheet, and heavy steel plate are put on top and hydraulically pressed. 2) If a urethane cast is made of the front side, it can be used as a mold to lay up a fiberglass copy. Less trouble to find another plate or pair unless you need that specific number.
 
Here is my way of making matched plates. I fuse the joints with a TIG welder and paint the correct colors. Gar Williams
 

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I made a wooden box that just fit around the plate about 1 in. high and waxed the plate real well with floor wax , tacked some visqueen to the bottom of the box, set the plate in it with good side up and poured in about a 1/2 in of plaster of paris. when it dried I turned it over took the visqueen off and the plate out. then I spray painted the mold with enamal and when it dried I sprayed it with Pam cooking oil and layed in epoxy and a layer of 6 oz fiber glass cloth and more epoxy ( I use the west system of boat building epoxy.) when it hardened I used a dremal to cut the mounting slots and painted it the correct colors. You have to handal it to tell it from the metal one. Ed.
 
Michigan only requieres 1 plate as well but in 1929, two plates were issued. Here, you might find that nice plate to run on your car only to find out that someone else in the state has the matching plate to yours and already registered it and you are sh*t outta luck.
 
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