Vanity plates

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Where I live you use to have to have a plate on the front and back. Not sure when
it changed but now you have to have a registered plate on the back, and you can do what ever you want on the front. Most modern irons leave it with no plate at all. I have the historical plate on the back
 
Bruce ran a vanity plate for the 37 years he owned the '34 before me. Over the years they sent him replacements as the styles changed but always the same "34Ford". Kathy gave me one for the garage door where I display plates (she is hanging onto the rest of the stack she has for now). I am running a YOM. In Georgia you are not supposed to repaint them but nearly everyone does after you get them cleared at the DMV. We have to keep a new plate with a sticker in the car along with a signed form from the tag office saying its been inspected as authentic and its legally attached to the car. Mine is very not legible due to age and rust. Its so crusty the girl at the DMV didn't want to touch it, she picked it up with a pinching motion with two fingers at one corner to inspect it. They tried to insinuate that I had repainted it, I was like "really.... what little paint there is, is original along with all the rust" and a few dollars later it was registered to the car. I intend to paint it as it really drags the overall look of the car down as its a bit scabby. I do have a friend that got pulled over in a rusty 60's patina truck with a rusty YOM patina plate for it being illegible. Cop let him go without a ticket but told him to fix it or he'd have more issues. He used a paint marker to highlight just the digits so they can be read easier and not get pulled over again.
 

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I have two close friends that are both retired officers. The one story they have told me they heard more often than any other was "why don't you go catch a "real" criminal".
Funny as heck to me and hilarious to them.
Um, you don't get to pick and choose the laws you want to obey.
And ah, Huey, if you do a tiny amount of research, those mattress / pillow labels CAN be removed by the consumer.

"Do your fg job!" O boy. two things you never say to a cop.
 
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My father used to preach to me “Ignorance of the law is no excuse”……then he would add
“ If you get pulled over and claim you didn’t know what the law was, you just proved to the cop that you’re ignorant.”……..Mark

P. S. “And you probably deserve a ticket for something anyway.”
 
My father used to preach to me “Ignorance of the law is no excuse”……then he would add
“ If you get pulled over and claim you didn’t know what the law was, you just proved to the cop that you’re ignorant.”……..Mark

P. S. “And you probably deserve a ticket for something anyway.”

On that same note... if the officer asks you how fast you were going and you say you don't know, then you can get another ticket for inattentive driving.
 
On that same note... if the officer asks you how fast you were going and you say you don't know, then you can get another ticket for inattentive driving.

Officer: "Do you know why I stopped you?"

Driver: "Because you couldn't catch the guy in front of me?"
 
IMO they're fine for rods and customs, but not appropriate for a restoration; I'd much rather see YOM plates.
2026-07-02-3e0e0b24-d950-4345-9998-6488dbf68992.jpg
 
IMO they're fine for rods and customs, but not appropriate for a restoration; I'd much rather see YOM plates.
 
1942 plates.jpg
Photo of the YOM plates I have on the 42 my wife bought for me. In regard to using a "reproduction" plate in Pennsylvania that would be classified as a fictious plate which is a heavy fine. I know there are some states that will not accept a restored plate. We have to send a photo of the plate to PennDOT.
Most of my years as a small town Ford dealer I did my own title and registration work. Little known fact was Ford could take your franchise if your dealer's license was suspended for one day. Needless to say, I did my stuff 100% legit.
 
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Photo of the YOM plates I have on the 42 my wife bought for me. In regard to using a "reproduction" plate in Pennsylvania that would be classified as a fictious plate which is a heavy fine. I know there are some states that will not accept a restored plate. We have to send a photo of the plate to PennDOT.
Most of my years as a small town Ford dealer I did my own title and registration work. Little known fact was Ford could take your franchise if your dealer's license was suspended for one day. Needless to say, I did my stuff 100% legit.
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IMO, they're fine on rods and customs, but inappropriate on stock originals or restorations. I'd much rather see YOM plates.
 
Here's a twist. I am now working to resurrect my old Hot Rod (a "T" bucket). Since I built it in 1965-66 and first registered it as a "1966 Homebuilt" in 1966, the State of Minnesota has allowed me to use 1966 YOM plates (Actually, they are '65 plates with 1966 stickers on them). I have YOM plates on my '67 Corvette as well. Back on those days, the plates were used for 3 years with the stickers the 2nd and 3rd year. If you think it's hard to find nice YOM plates, try finding them with the right stickers, properly applied, some time.
 
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Minnesota........don't you love it?
Just purchased a new to me collector car from out of state. Yesterday I went to register it and brought a couple YOM plates along with. I also brought an original Collector Plate set that I had from when first introduced that I had registered for a 1936. Number 79 of the series. That means that I was the 79th in line to get the new plates. I had replaced number 79 plates with YOM 1936 Minnesota Plates, so I was told that I could keep the number 79 plates. I asked if I could re-use the 79 plates and was told that they would not accept them as the number has been retired. The nice lady behind the counter looked at me and shrugged.
I have the plates, they were originally registered in my name, but according to the state, they no longer exist.
The YOM plates that I brought along have numbers that I can use, but I have to apply to use them with the state of Minnesota. So, I opted for new Collector Plates in the meantime.
 
I was told by a fella at a swap meet that they didn't make plates for 1952. Is this true??

due to metal shortages and supply chain issues created by the Korean war, many states did not offer new license plates in 1952 and instead began the now common use of the "tag" on an existing license plate.

there were between thirty and forty states that DID issue brand new license plates, and the rest decided to NOT issue new plates and only issued a small metal "tag" or possibly a window sticker indicating that the car had been registered with the state for 1952.

Ohio was one of the states, it appears, that did NOT issue a new 1952 plate. and contrary to rumor it, was not in honor of my March birth in Dover. haha
 
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Montana chose to issue a decal that was applied to the lower corner of the windshield, which my car still has. Sorry I don't do pictures.
 
I suggest you go back to the DMV and talk to a supervisor and see if the number can be resurrected, assuming there is not a # 79 out standing


Minnesota........don't you love it?
Just purchased a new to me collector car from out of state. Yesterday I went to register it and brought a couple YOM plates along with. I also brought an original Collector Plate set that I had from when first introduced that I had registered for a 1936. Number 79 of the series. That means that I was the 79th in line to get the new plates. I had replaced number 79 plates with YOM 1936 Minnesota Plates, so I was told that I could keep the number 79 plates. I asked if I could re-use the 79 plates and was told that they would not accept them as the number has been retired. The nice lady behind the counter looked at me and shrugged.
I have the plates, they were originally registered in my name, but according to the state, they no longer exist.
The YOM plates that I brought along have numbers that I can use, but I have to apply to use them with the state of Minnesota. So, I opted for new Collector Plates in the meantime.
 
I live in California and purchased off of eBay a beautiful set of 1936 plates for my 36. The seller said they were clear (not assigned to a different vehicle). I went to the DMV website and checked. Yep they were clear. I paid for them and went to the DMV, and the Clerk check and said yep they are clear. But she had a problem registering my car with the plates, so she went to the back room to research them. It turned out the original owner of the plates never signed a release form for the plates, he just sold them and they eventually wound up with the guy I purchased them from. I asked the clerk if the DMV had the contact information for the person that needed to sign the release form. The clerk said yes, but I could have it because it is against DMV rules to do so. The guy I bought the plates from was apologetic and refunded my money and told me to keep the plates. A good guy. The lesson though is even though YOM or vanity plates are clear doesn’t mean you can use them to register your car, at least in California.
 
Here's our set.
 

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