any california guys here know how to repair/paint a set of the old-time black and gold plates. one is pretty dented up... I want to make them look good so the DMV will let me keep them on the car

thanks, mark

Are they current on the car now?

DjD, the rear one is... the car is off the system at the dmv. the guy's son has been driving it anyways. the front one was off the car and is the one in pretty bad shape. I think I saw some guys at the Pamona car show/swap meet that repaired them... thank you.

If the car plates are out of the system you may have problems using them even if they are restored... Next July the law changes and it will be easier to use the old black plates.

There are restoration places that do plates but i think CA law prohibits it so you'll have to go out of state to get them done. The Pomona guy sells plates and may be the middle man in getting them restored...

Try Antones........626-512-7502 you will be happy with his work. In your neck of the woods I believe also.:thumbsup:

thanks Vince, I've jotted down his number.. Dennis, I did speak with DMV a few months back... they said if the plates came with the car, even out of the system, they would be ok as long as they were in good shape. they simply treat them like "Personalized plates". DMV told me the plates had to have come with the car, not from another... (although the girl working that day was wrong on a couple other things) it seems if the old plates were from a car out of system, what difference would it make which plates, at that point. thanks to all!

VINCE: That number is disconected, what city is he in? is that the name of his shop? thanks again.

Mark - the girl is partially mistaken... The current law doesn't allow reuse of black plates unless the plates can be validated as having been on the car or the car is a '63 or older vehicle. If the plates were used on the car and their records show that they won't balk at it but if your car got any other plates licensed to to they will not allow the black plates to be put back on. Keep in mind that the state actually owns the plates so if you show up at a DMV plates in hand they could confiscate them if they so desire.

The black plate law is changing and mid year 2009 the black plates will be allowed to be used. Over the past 3-4 years there have been 3 attempts to change the law and it's been shot down each time. Do a search on "black plates" and include "DjD" under user name to read all about it.

Mark,

sorry I'll pitch that business card:mad:. My bud had some done and they looked great, only last year so who knows? Try this one in
Pleasanton

1-925-462-1506, he is in hemmings.

Here is a couple of places that restore license plates.

http://tagdr.com/Prices.htm


http://www.darrylsplates.com/prices.html

since it's been out of the system this long, another 3 months won't hurt! thanks. Dennis, nice camaro site!

http://www.darrylsplates.com/prices.html

i used these guys..........be prepared as they will take 4-8 months!!!!!!!!!!!!

if your plates are original to the car,were the last plate to be on the car and the car has simply fallen out of the system(after 10 years i think)you may be ok....just bring your old registration to the dmv proving the plate is reg'd to your car.
you call the dmv office in Sacramento to find out the status of your plates ie:cleared,not cleared etc....then you may be good to go....

If they give you trouble,then as DjD suggested you may wait until the new law starts allowing you to put YOM(year of manufacturer)plates back on your car.1963-1969 vehicles.and dont bring the plates into the dmv office!!!!!! just tell them they are on the car....

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c74/1963wagonman/100_4871.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c74/1963wagonman/Copyof100_4844.jpg

Darryls does great work but a lot of people have had problems waiting a year and poor customer service . You can do a search on him and there are a few threads that discuss this .

well guys... thanks for all the info and I hope others got some use from the thread but a situation as arised.. I was looking at the front tag (that wasn't on the car) that was in a box with other stuff... it doesn't have any dmv stickers (date/yr) but the tag was made in '63. so, these aren't the original tags that came with the car! I don't know how things worked in '69. but my guess is they didn't recycle '63 tags and put them on '69 cars (or did they?)... so, I'm going to the DMV today and just get regular tags. I don't want to present these tags to them and have to explain why they were on a '69 car. I'm now the owner and will bare the consequences of what the previous owner has done! (o.k., at this point, any advice that will keep me out of jail is welcomed!) Thanks again for all the posts.

okie, do not take the plates to DMV. Unless you can get them registered they can take the plates from you.

Mark - the black plates can have 63 stamped in them. it's the year they were introduced, they didn't change the dies with each year. I believe there are 2 dies for these plates and one was stamped 63 and the other was blank. If you have many hrs to spend reading here's a lot of threads on this subject...

http://www.camaros.net/forums/search.php?searchid=2358391

Mark - the black plates can have 63 stamped in them. it's the year they were introduced, they didn't change the dies with each year. I believe there are 2 dies for these plates and one was stamped 63 and the other was blank. If you have many hrs to spend reading here's a lot of threads on this subject...

http://www.camaros.net/forums/search.php?searchid=2358391

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!

Dennis, you really seem to know what your talking about!!!!!!

you sure are a fart smeller !!!!!!

Dennis: correct. I have learned that in research. heck, today alone I spoke to a former L.A. detective and professional skip-tracer to get answers, but I got them. So, good news is I get to keep my cool tags if I can get them in shape... which i can thanks to you guys. Trust me, this site is a life-saver for novices like myself. GARY: THEY'LL HAVE TO PRY MY COLD DEAD FINGERS OFF MY COOL BLACK-GOLD CALIF PLATES! HA!

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!

Dennis, you really seem to know what your talking about!!!!!!

you sure are a fart smeller !!!!!!
Takes one to smell one... ;)