License plate restoration

[1941coupe]

Does anyone know of someone in the Socal area that does vintage license plate restoration?

 

[Don Coatney]

Several years ago a forum member who is no longer active did my Tennessee tags. You may find someone outside of the old car folks such as a sign painter who could do yours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RNR1957NYer]

If the intention is to register the restored plates, check with your state's RMV regulations.  For some reason Massachusetts only allows Year of Manufacture plates in good, original condition - no restored plates.  When I took my YOM plates to the Registry for my P12, the 

clerk handed them to the Trooper behind the counter to see if they were "ok"...they passed muster.

[DrDoctor]

   In Kansas, you can have license plates for the model year of the car, provided the car qualifies as an antique. The tag can be restored, but must be in the same color combination as original. I’ve known a couple of incidences where the car owner painted the “background” color to match the color of the car. They got away with it for awhile, but when an astute LEO took notice, then checked with the book to verify the color combination for that year’s tag, and the colors were an obvious mis-match, the tag was confiscated right there and then, and the owner ran the risk of having the privilege of running a year-matching tag on the car revoked, thus leaving the standard antique tag as the only option for driving the car.

   The process for doing tags isn’t rocket science. Get the 2 colors, and a flat surface to work on. For raised numbers/letters, paint them first, and let it dry completely. Then, the background color, and let it dry thoroughly, as well. Then put the plate face down on the flat surface with 400 wet/dry sandpaper, and gently slide the tag across the sandpaper. Use plenty of water during this process, and check your progress frequently. You’ll eventually get there, and it’ll look original, since the original process is to paint the tag’s background color, and then the tag goes under a paint roller that paints the characters on the tag, much like a modern printing press at newspapers.

[TodFitch]

43 minutes ago, RNR1957NYer said:

If the intention is to register the restored plates, check with your state's RMV regulations.  For some reason Massachusetts only allows Year of Manufacture plates in good, original condition - no restored plates.  When I took my YOM plates to the Registry for my P12, the 

clerk handed them to the Trooper behind the counter to see if they were "ok"...they passed muster.

 

In California the motor vehicle code is silent on whether they can be restored or not. The wording is ". . . if the model-year date license plate is legible and serviceable, as determined by the department. . ." I haven't seen anything about what the DMV has internally on how they interpret that clause in the law.

 

I took the safe way and got the YOM paperwork done with unrestored plates. I guess that would only work if your unrestored plates are in reasonably good condition.

 

FWIW, the California YOM is different from, I think, from all other states in that it is basically a vanity plate for which you pay the full regular registration and a "special plate fee" every year. So it costs you more to have YOM plates on your car than regular series plates. Since you are paying "full fare", the state places no driving restrictions on the car. Your insurance company may have driving limits, but the state doesn't.

[Redmond49]

Bjorn Larsen in Western Washington does a nice job and while he used to only do Washington plates, he's doing other states now. He does a nice job. You can contact him through http://oldlicensefarm.com/

Edited November 6, 2018 by Redmond49

[1941coupe]

3 hours ago, DrDoctor said:

   In Kansas, you can have license plates for the model year of the car, provided the car qualifies as an antique. The tag can be restored, but must be in the same color combination as original. I’ve known a couple of incidences where the car owner painted the “background” color to match the color of the car. They got away with it for awhile, but when an astute LEO took notice, then checked with the book to verify the color combination for that year’s tag, and the colors were an obvious mis-match, the tag was confiscated right there and then, and the owner ran the risk of having the privilege of running a year-matching tag on the car revoked, thus leaving the standard antique tag as the only option for driving the car.

   The process for doing tags isn’t rocket science. Get the 2 colors, and a flat surface to work on. For raised numbers/letters, paint them first, and let it dry completely. Then, the background color, and let it dry thoroughly, as well. Then put the plate face down on the flat surface with 400 wet/dry sandpaper, and gently slide the tag across the sandpaper. Use plenty of water during this process, and check your progress frequently. You’ll eventually get there, and it’ll look original, since the original process is to paint the tag’s background color, and then the tag goes under a paint roller that paints the characters on the tag, much like a modern printing press at newspapers.

Great tip...my plates are unfortunately not very straight, this is a good method with plates in good condition. Thanks

[1941coupe]

5 hours ago, Don Coatney said:

Several years ago a forum member who is no longer active did my Tennessee tags. You may find someone outside of the old car folks such as a sign painter who could do yours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those look great, thanks Don

 

[1941coupe]

Lots of interesting info here, thanks to all for taking the time.

[Don Coatney]

I now live in Indiana and a forum member found these unrestored plates for me.

 

 

 

 

[1941coupe]

Wow, those are in pretty good shape. How do you deal with the registration stickers? Did they supply you with an official extension plate?

[Redmond49]

Here's the one I got from the gentleman I recommended. (Washington state had no new plates in 1946. It should have a '47 plate but I learned the details after I got it. But I did get the repro 1946 reg sticker!). An improvement over the silly horseless carriage plate the car came with.

 

Edited November 6, 2018 by Redmond49

[Don Coatney]

52 minutes ago, 1941coupe said:

Wow, those are in pretty good shape. How do you deal with the registration stickers? Did they supply you with an official extension plate?

In Indiana and Tennessee you must buy an antique auto tag and carry it in the trunk in order to use YOM tags. The state issues a letter that must be carried with the registration paperwork indicating YOM tags in use.

[SpecialK]

I know here a guy who is doing license plates restorations for folks from California. Just contact him, his name is Greg.

ecurse@gmx.de

[Don Coatney]

46 minutes ago, GermanP15 said:

I know here a guy who is doing license plates restorations for folks from California. Just contact him, his name is Greg.

ecurse@gmx.d

 

 

 

 

 

That 340 tag looks like the tag I had on my 340 Duster back in 1971

 

 

[TodFitch]

14 hours ago, 1941coupe said:

Wow, those are in pretty good shape. How do you deal with the registration stickers? Did they supply you with an official extension plate?

 

In California, yes: I got a bolt on tab to place the modern registration stickers. OTOH, you can do YOM on plates newer than 1963 now and those '63 and up plates have a place to put stickers so I don't know if they issue tabs when you do the YOM paperwork.

 

[1941coupe]

On 11/5/2018 at 1:54 PM, Don Coatney said:

Several years ago a forum member who is no longer active did my Tennessee tags. You may find someone outside of the old car folks such as a sign painter who could do yours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20 hours ago, Redmond49 said:

Bjorn Larson in Western Washington does a nice job and while he used to only do Washington plates, he's doing other states now. He does a nice job. You can contact him through http://oldlicensefarm.com/

 

4 hours ago, TodFitch said:

 

In California, yes: I got a bolt on tab to place the modern registration stickers. OTOH, you can do YOM on plates newer than 1963 now and those '63 and up plates have a place to put stickers so I don't know if they issue tabs when you do the YOM paperwork.

 

 

18 hours ago, Redmond49 said:

Here's the one I got from the gentleman I recommended. (Washington state had no new plates in 1946. It should have a '47 plate but I learned the details after I got it. But I did get the repro 1946 reg sticker!). An improvement over the silly horseless carriage plate the car came with.

 

Yes, I can see the improvement alright.

[fmfarrisjr]

I used this guy for my plate restoration:

Larry D. Hoeft

1802 154th

Garland, NE  68360-9311

ldhoeft@aol.com

 

Unfortunately I could not find a before restoration photo but as you can see he does an excellent job.

[DrDoctor]

1941coupe,

   The procedure I described works just fine for license plates that are flat. It also works for those with a “twist/warp”, which most, if not all, Kansas license plates seem to possess. You just have to exert abit more pressure on the license plate when doing this. Now, if the plate has a dent, that should be worked out as much as possible. I’ve seen dents from the back side worked out, and the remainder of the offending dent knocked towards the back, and the resultant indentation on the front side filled with body filler. Once dressed out, the “coloring process’ for the plate’s performed without issue. I did a 1956 Kansas tag that I got for the front of my ’56 Chevy convertible, and it had issues. I repaired it, and then did the “coloring process” using the floor of the garage as my flat surface. I then finessed the tag by hand, and it looked pretty good, if I do say so myself . . . .  Warmest regards . . .

[1941coupe]

Thanks, I will keep that in mind.

[1941coupe]

On 11/8/2018 at 4:24 AM, fmfarrisjr said:

I used this guy for my plate restoration:

Larry D. Hoeft

1802 154th

Garland, NE  68360-9311

ldhoeft@aol.com

 

Unfortunately I could not find a before restoration photo but as you can see he does an excellent job.

Great job indeed and look very original. Thanks for posting.

[1941coupe]

On 11/5/2018 at 3:48 PM, TodFitch said:

 

In California the motor vehicle code is silent on whether they can be restored or not. The wording is ". . . if the model-year date license plate is legible and serviceable, as determined by the department. . ." I haven't seen anything about what the DMV has internally on how they interpret that clause in the law.

 

I took the safe way and got the YOM paperwork done with unrestored plates. I guess that would only work if your unrestored plates are in reasonably good condition.

 

FWIW, the California YOM is different from, I think, from all other states in that it is basically a vanity plate for which you pay the full regular registration and a "special plate fee" every year. So it costs you more to have YOM plates on your car than regular series plates. Since you are paying "full fare", the state places no driving restrictions on the car. Your insurance company may have driving limits, but the state doesn't.

Thanks for all the info, I've checked the latest pdf. on yom plates and restoration is allowed, just duplication is not. I will try to get mine passed in the original state as they are first, as I might run into problems with uneducated dmv personnel trying to present restored plates.

[Kahunah]

Restore them yourself! I did mine and it was an enjoyable experience.

[TodFitch]

26 minutes ago, Kahunah said:

Restore them yourself! I did mine and it was an enjoyable experience.

 

Nice work!

[dodgeguy]

While not local to you, Jack Brewer in St. Louis. He does lots of mail order work. www.vintageplaterestoration.com 817-7279185