[hgerhardt]

Originally Posted by hgerhardt

The real (original) black plates had wider font than the modern ones because back then there were only 6 digits. Today there are 7, so they had to make the letters/numbers narrower to cram them all in.

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

I disagree. Look at a real plate and a new plate side by side. The new plates have a lot more yellow on them due to the slightly wider font.

OK, we're talking past each other. What you mean is the thickness of the font, or the width of the yellow lines. I'm talking about the overall width of the whole character.

Original black plate characters are 1-1/2" wide and the new characters are 1-1/4" wide., which enables cramming 7 characters in, vs the original plates only had 6 characters.

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by hgerhardt

OK, we're talking past each other. What you mean is the thickness of the font, or the width of the yellow lines. I'm talking about the overall width of the whole character.

Original black plate characters are 1-1/2" wide and the new characters are 1-1/4" wide., which enables cramming 7 characters in, vs the original plates only had 6 characters.

Yes! You nailed it. Thank you. There is more yellow on the lines that are there on the new plate, making the font appear wider.

[Old Man Taylor]

Both of these plates are for '64 cars. I bought the OMT plates off of eBay as I thought they were pretty cool. However, I couldn't convince myself to replace my original '64 plates.

[60sstuff]

OMT,

I agree with you.
The plates off eBay are cool in that they are also OMT. Wall art.
Keeping the Original plates on your car is more important.
I love those frames!

Thanks for sharing.

Chris.

[Old Man Taylor]

The frames were hard to come by. My originals broke a long time ago. They are period correct, and it is where I bought my car.

[Jim Perez]

I had these original black plates for 30 years, bought at a garage sale for 5 bucks.
Finally got around to getting them restored and did all the foot work at DMV.
I think the original black looks great with my Antique Gold Judge!
Luckily the letters/numbers are correct for a 1969 car

Side note,
Coincidently while I was at the DMV counter, the guy next to me was doing the exact same thing. The lady asked him, are these plates clear? He said he got them from a dealer, so yes. She answered, no, they are in use.
He was not happy to say the least.

Last pic is the before black plate

Jim inCalifornia

[tom s]

Jim,car looks great,glad you still have it!Tom

[OG68]

Outstanding!

Had my original plates restored. Also have a '68' sticker to go with it.
After a few years of looking I finally came across the selling dealer's frame. Retired CHP officer saw my wanted ad on Craigslist and pulled it out of his shed.
His mother has the second one on her 69 GMC and won't let it go LOL.

I also have a dealer's temporary tag that was taped to the window when the car was new.

[MUSLCAH]

The original Black Plates just look Bad Ass !

[Cardo]

I rode out to San Diego last fall to buy a project car. These came with it issued to the car in 1972.

[MUSLCAH]

Originally Posted by Cardo

I rode out to San Diego last fall to buy a project car. These came with it issued to the car in 1972.

Score !!!

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by OG68

Outstanding!

Had my original plates restored. Also have a '68' sticker to go with it.
After a few years of looking I finally came across the selling dealer's frame. Retired CHP officer saw my wanted ad on Craigslist and pulled it out of his shed.
His mother has the second one on her 69 GMC and won't let it go LOL.

I also have a dealer's temporary tag that was taped to the window when the car was new.

I had to do a double take. Here's an original '67 plate I've had for years. Almost mint. Very similar to your restored plate!

[Jim Perez]

Originally Posted by tom s

Jim,car looks great,glad you still have it!Tom

Hi Tom!
Thank you! Enjoying every minute of it.

Still runs like a top. Had it on the road on a 105 degree day.....np problem!

I hope all is well!

Jim

[428ho4spd]

Here's a CA Black Plate usage chart if anyone is interested...

[71GP76TA]

Originally Posted by geeteeohguy

Yep. Our '64 Ford had the plate MXH 962.....I've had several cars of that era and they all had L, M, or N for the prefix. There ARE inconsistencies, though. Had a friend with a '67 LeMans With an 'ATL 000' plate.....but it was initially registered in Alturas or Modoc counties, with very small populations, slow DMV's, and overstock of '63 issue plates. The new black plates look great, but are easy to tell from the real ones. The real plates have smaller font on California, and have less yellow and thinner font for the letters and numbers.

I looked at a '65 2+2 several years ago. Car had an Alturas plate frame and black plates that started with an "A".

[428ho4spd]

My old '66 Chevelle was sold new in Roseville, CA at Caddell Chevrolet. It had an "A" series plate from new. My thought is that the original buyer transferred his plates from the trade-in to the new '66.

[65madgoat]

Originally Posted by 428ho4spd

My old '66 Chevelle was sold new in Roseville, CA at Caddell Chevrolet. It had an "A" series plate from new. My thought is that the original buyer transferred his plates from the trade-in to the new '66.

Wow didn't know that could be done back then. Do you have any proof of registration papers from the 1960s on this plate #?

[geeteeohguy]

Originally Posted by 428ho4spd

My old '66 Chevelle was sold new in Roseville, CA at Caddell Chevrolet. It had an "A" series plate from new. My thought is that the original buyer transferred his plates from the trade-in to the new '66.

That was not done in CA then. Unless you stole the car and plates. Plates stayed with the car, period. Had a friend in HS in the '70's who's '67 LeMans plate was 'ATL' for the first three letters. His car was sold and registered in the Alturas CA area, very sparse population. Many of the smaller communities had the 1963 issue plates until the end of the decade and still didn't use them all up. Roseville was podunk in 1966. The plates on your Chevelle were original to the car.

[428ho4spd]

Originally Posted by 65madgoat

Wow didn't know that could be done back then. Do you have any proof of registration papers from the 1960s on this plate #?

No, I never got any old paperwork with the car. The gentleman I bought it from was the second owner and the plates were on it when he bought it.

[65madgoat]

Being a super small town, perhaps the "A" letter set of plates still were in their inventory 3 years after their initial release. Highly doubtful being 3 years in inventory of the dealership but one never knows. Would only believe it 100% if it was documented.


Now possibly a photoshopped registration was provided to the DMV decades ago to get those "A" plates on that 1966 Chevy via this special code in the DMV book. This was the only way many people got to put black plates on a car until about a dozen years ago when the Year of Manufacture program started to include 1963 to 1969 black plates. Guys in the 1980s/1990s would photoshop a registration paper to show the black plate set they acquired from a swap meet were "original" to the car.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handbo...ctor-vehicles/


In all my years I have only seen an "A" letter set of black plates once on a car newer than 1964.

See, in 1963 =all= cars in CA had to put the new 1963 stamped black plates on their car. So a run on starting letters A through L took place. However, as noted, some small towns, dealerships etc still had inventory of plates from 1963 and they did not go through their allotment as fast. We know this original owner 1964 GTO club member who owned a goat that had "A" starting letter plates originally issued to it in 1964. For an "A" letter set to last until 1966 would be super duper rare and not truly common or hardly ever seen. But again, we all know anything is possible. Without documentation from 1966, one can't say they are original issue to the car. But being a small town I guess it is plausible, but man that would be something for an A letter set to remain in inventory for 3 years.