Calyfornua YOM black plates on a 1970 Automobile
06-24-2013, 04:59 PM
#1
Pro
Thread Starter
Calyfornua YOM black plates on a 1970 Automobile
I recently purchased a very nice 1970 Dodge Challenger 440 6 pack. Car is an old super stock drag race car from the early 1970's(Spartan Dodge in San Jose campaigned it) and only has 9,000 actual miles(car was stored away for 35 years) and has gone thru an extensive rotisserie restoration(never a single dent nor a spot of rust found when original hemi orange paint was stripped). Original engine has been treated to a 512 cu in stroker rebuild,,,otherwise car is as factory built,,,, except stock 4 speed box has a Passon gear set installed whereas 3rd gear is straight thru and 4th gear is a .8 overdrive. Car has now a 4:10 Dana rear axle,,,however I have the 4.88's that were in the car when it was raced.
Car currently has current Calyfornua blue letters on white background(modern plate). Car was never off MSO factory title until 2008. A really neat old car, with headers and 3 inch exhaust sounds like a "AA" fueler at idle or going down the road.
As with my our Corvette which I was able to put black on yellow plates under Caly YOM program, I wish to put the yellow on black plates(issued in Caly from 63 to 69) on the 1970 Challenger. Caly recently changed the law to allow YOM for black plates as they had previously permitted with black on yellow,,,,62 and earlier. Calfornua members are likely aware of all this.
This Challenger had a build date of 10 of 1969.
My question is this:
Has any Calyfornua forum member attempted to use a black plate on a 1970 Corvette or any other make of car. A few 1970 automobiles in Caly were issued black plates rather than the normal 1970 issue of blue plates. It depended somewhat on the county where the car was first sold and registered as some counties had not exhausted their supplies of black plates, and were not issuing blue plates until the blacks were all gone which could have been much latter than 69 for some of them.
I done quite a bit of online research and am unable to totally understand if I am out of luck or not. The Caly law says that the extension of the YOM program is for 63 to 69 models(except if commercial vehicle or pickup trucks which they say is 72 and earlier).
A couple of points in my favor.
1. Car has build date of 10-69,,,,but likely means little as title says 1970 Challenger.
2. Again as noted some 1970 Calyfornua cars were issued originally issued yellow on black plates,,,so might skate on this technicality. Of course all is in the hands of the DMV clerk that one likely has to deal with.
A friend of mine with a Plymouth Cuda had yellow/blue plates,,,,he merely re-painted them yellow/black and for all these years has never had a problem,,,,car originally came new with blue plates. Only real problem is that with the black plates, the ALPHA characters precede the numerals and with the blue plates the reverse is true. He has never had a problem as his registration does match the license plate,,,and there is nothing about plate color on the registration. I somewhat prefer not to go down the road for obvious reasons.
Not quite the place to post a Mopar related question, experience has taught me that however most Corvette owners have knowledge in a wide range of car issues.
I've also posted this thread on the C3 forum where some have Calyfornua registered 1970 Corvettes and may have some personal knowledge on this topic.
Here is a link to that posting, where I've posted photos of the Challenger for those who may be interested.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...post1584236229
Car currently has current Calyfornua blue letters on white background(modern plate). Car was never off MSO factory title until 2008. A really neat old car, with headers and 3 inch exhaust sounds like a "AA" fueler at idle or going down the road.
As with my our Corvette which I was able to put black on yellow plates under Caly YOM program, I wish to put the yellow on black plates(issued in Caly from 63 to 69) on the 1970 Challenger. Caly recently changed the law to allow YOM for black plates as they had previously permitted with black on yellow,,,,62 and earlier. Calfornua members are likely aware of all this.
This Challenger had a build date of 10 of 1969.
My question is this:
Has any Calyfornua forum member attempted to use a black plate on a 1970 Corvette or any other make of car. A few 1970 automobiles in Caly were issued black plates rather than the normal 1970 issue of blue plates. It depended somewhat on the county where the car was first sold and registered as some counties had not exhausted their supplies of black plates, and were not issuing blue plates until the blacks were all gone which could have been much latter than 69 for some of them.
I done quite a bit of online research and am unable to totally understand if I am out of luck or not. The Caly law says that the extension of the YOM program is for 63 to 69 models(except if commercial vehicle or pickup trucks which they say is 72 and earlier).
A couple of points in my favor.
1. Car has build date of 10-69,,,,but likely means little as title says 1970 Challenger.
2. Again as noted some 1970 Calyfornua cars were issued originally issued yellow on black plates,,,so might skate on this technicality. Of course all is in the hands of the DMV clerk that one likely has to deal with.
A friend of mine with a Plymouth Cuda had yellow/blue plates,,,,he merely re-painted them yellow/black and for all these years has never had a problem,,,,car originally came new with blue plates. Only real problem is that with the black plates, the ALPHA characters precede the numerals and with the blue plates the reverse is true. He has never had a problem as his registration does match the license plate,,,and there is nothing about plate color on the registration. I somewhat prefer not to go down the road for obvious reasons.
Not quite the place to post a Mopar related question, experience has taught me that however most Corvette owners have knowledge in a wide range of car issues.
I've also posted this thread on the C3 forum where some have Calyfornua registered 1970 Corvettes and may have some personal knowledge on this topic.
Here is a link to that posting, where I've posted photos of the Challenger for those who may be interested.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...post1584236229
06-24-2013, 06:29 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
Congrats on the Six Pack Challenger, I sent you a PM. Unfortunately, I can't help you with your question on license plate usage. I have seen Black/Yellow lettered plates that I know had to be originally Blue/Yellow due to the numbers preceding the letters but not sure anyone has been called on the carpet for that little infringement.
Mike T.
Mike T.
06-24-2013, 06:40 PM
#3
Le Mans Master
Member Since: Feb 2004
Location: Norcal CA
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What did CA DMV say about it? Have you asked them? It might be worth sitting in the long line to find out from the source. Then again it is a 5 day response time when I did mine even for the local office. I thought I would get a quick response by going in. The person behind the counter called Sacto and got the same response I received when I made some inquiries. "We will call you back within 5 days".
Mine was the first YOM done in the local office so there was some questions to get answered on procedures to submit the plates.
Mine was the first YOM done in the local office so there was some questions to get answered on procedures to submit the plates.
06-25-2013, 08:09 PM
#4
Safety Car
Based on your research, do you have any input on what alpha characters would have been used on a car sold early June 1967 in California? I'd appreciate any input or direction you might have.
06-25-2013, 08:12 PM
#5
Racer
06-26-2013, 02:57 PM
#6
Pro
Thread Starter
I once owned a 67 a/c coupe that had original black plates. As I remember, but without a bit of further research(old photos), the license plate alpha began with "U".
I was wondering if this idea could work.
Find and purchase used set of Caly black plates with the letter prefix you desire.
Make certain they are DMV clear.
Order a "Vanity" plate as per Caly DMV regulations,,,,such as ZYX 229.
When you receive them from DMV with registration certificate, hang the plates on your garage wall, and mount the previously acquired black plates on the car. I do not know of any law against this,,,,but being a resident of this state, would not be surprised if there is, or soon would be.
Review of various websites, some suggest that illegal to modify license plates in some states, not in others. This would apply to painting too. However in what is suggested above, the state issued "vanity" plate is not modified. Also likely that most cops have more fish to fry than worrying what color someone's license plate is as long as registration and plate match in content.
Of course one would have to pay the annual "vanity" plate surcharge at each renewal period.
Yes, I know it appears there are those out there who believe that we have gone a bit around the bend on this,,,to each his own. However in for me there is nothing that looks sillier and diminishes the creditability of a fine old classic automobile than to see it displayed with Calyfornua's insipid/vacuous current as issued plates. Somewhat as might white porta-walls and curb feelers on a 67 L-88.
I was wondering if this idea could work.
Find and purchase used set of Caly black plates with the letter prefix you desire.
Make certain they are DMV clear.
Order a "Vanity" plate as per Caly DMV regulations,,,,such as ZYX 229.
When you receive them from DMV with registration certificate, hang the plates on your garage wall, and mount the previously acquired black plates on the car. I do not know of any law against this,,,,but being a resident of this state, would not be surprised if there is, or soon would be.
Review of various websites, some suggest that illegal to modify license plates in some states, not in others. This would apply to painting too. However in what is suggested above, the state issued "vanity" plate is not modified. Also likely that most cops have more fish to fry than worrying what color someone's license plate is as long as registration and plate match in content.
Of course one would have to pay the annual "vanity" plate surcharge at each renewal period.
Yes, I know it appears there are those out there who believe that we have gone a bit around the bend on this,,,to each his own. However in for me there is nothing that looks sillier and diminishes the creditability of a fine old classic automobile than to see it displayed with Calyfornua's insipid/vacuous current as issued plates. Somewhat as might white porta-walls and curb feelers on a 67 L-88.
Last edited by Sxrxrnr; 06-26-2013 at 03:08 PM.