jusplainwacky

The California license plate that came out in 1956 was issued from 1956 to 1962. The plates have slots on both sides of the "56" which the thought was to use metal tags that would fit into these slots fot the coming years; but to save money, the Dept of Motor Vehicles decided to go with stickers instead.

Because of this, many 56 plates are on cars that are not 56, and this confuses people. Yes, you could put a 58 sticker on the plate, but if you have restored plates like I do, the last thing I want to do is put an ugly 58 sticker on my plates.

When I'm at a car show, I get so many people thinking my 58 is a 56...or when they ask me what year the car is, and I tell them it's a 58, they want to know why I have 1956 license plates on it.

So to end all this...this is what I did;

I found a Michigan 58 license plate tag on Ebay and trimmed it down. I then powder coated the background in black. I was going to powder coat the "58" letters in yellow like the plate, but decided that I liked the 58 metal look better as it "popped"; so I have left it.

Thought I would share this with others that don't want people to think their car is a 56 and also don't want to put on a sticker.

jimh_1962

You know... The people who know about the history of plates never bother to ask me what year it is since they know what DMV did during 1956 to 1962. The people who don't either ask or walk away puzzled. Part of the deal with owning an old corvette. Recently, I did have someone walk up to me to tell me I was not old enough to own my corvette. I looked at him and asked just how old do I have to be???? That one kind rubbed me the wrong way since I have owned my corvette for some time now.

But the 58 tab is cool. Also kind of hard to read from the back at a car show. Most people do not check out the back of the cars while walking around.

Heck, I covered up the 56 with the current year sticker and covered the 1962 registered sticker with the month sticker since I did not care for the metal tags hanging down from the plate. Not one have I had a problem with the "officials".

jusplainwacky

Hey Jim...

It has always bugged me that so many people think my car is a 56 because of the plates and for quite sometime I have been looking for some metal tag I could use. I figured I'd save people a lot of time just by looking for 58 Michigan License tag. I looked on Ebay using the search criteria "Michigan license tag (1958, 58)" and I don't see any at this time.

I have a lot of people looking at the back of my 58 at these shows because many have never seen a corvette with the trunk irons and then they see the license plate. Also when I'm at a stop light, I see people stretching their heads looking down at the plate and I see them mouthing the words "56".

I have yet to put on my year and month sticker...and have never been stopped. LOL. But I agree...having that metal tab hanging below the plates isn't that great looking. I do have the metal tab and powder coated it black with the year/month stickers....still undecided about putting it on.

bbison

I put a 1959 license plate frame on mine both front and back, as I kept getting the same questions/assumptions. The rear plate does have the 1959 CA sticker, as it was required by the DMV to register the car with the vintage plates.

In spite all of that, people still think it's a 1956 because of the plates.

Greg

Nice job on the '58 tag jpw.
I have a '57 T-bird that I plan to run the early CA plates on as well. I might do something like this for that one.
Personally I don't usually sweat what others think about my cars. I figure, the ones who really know, will know.
One day I pulled my '63 into a gas station and while filling up a young guy walks over and says "Wow! great car, what years is it..like a 1935?"
I said "Yes, you nailed it. It's a '35 Corvette."
He walked away happy and I got a good chuckle.
Greg

jusplainwacky

It's not so much I care what people think about my car, it's more that I like educating the public on what a 58 looks like. It bugs me if people think my car is a 56.

Here is a picture of the plate with the lettering blocked out. I didn't think about having my license plate plastered all over the internet. Call me paranoid.
It came out better than I thought it would. I like how the numbers are much bigger and stand out with the reflection.
Sure looks original to me!! LOL.
You know 99.9% of the police wouldn't know the difference.

Greg

Yep, looks great. Perfect solution!

jusplainwacky

I even put some of that 3M strip caulk that never gets hard behind the number so it doesn't vibrate and wear out the paint (56 number) on the plate. Looks like it has some smugges but it's just the reflection.

Andy no corvette

I am trying to get YOM plates assigned to my 1960 chevy. I bought the plates, ($300) bought the sticker (only 1, they didn't use months in '60 apparently) ($15) and bought the registration for the year ($185) after showing insurance. The woman took the plates and made copies to send to Sacramento, and gave me a "12" tag to display while I drive, pending new stickers arriving. I asked her how that works, she said they are supposed to send a metal tab for the new year and month stickers which attaches with the license plate screw. Great. Except that won't work on a '60, it can't fit the area where the plate fits into where you pull it down to fuel. My friend with a '60 keeps his year/month stickers on a metal tab on his keys and has never gotten a ticket for not having them displayed on the back.So today I was excited to get it all so fast BUT NO it is a letter saying they need a color copy of the plate to see the sticker color. And no stamp to send it all. The DMV made the copy on their own black and white copier, and THEIR agent saw it and should have been a good witness to the correct color. It will be nice when it's done but no one will see my '60 chevy and think it is a '56! California beauracracy-FUBAR

Railroadman

Andy, welcome to the forum, and you are far form the first to tell about CA motor vehicle insanity. One of our members wrote an amusing yet scary account of how they wanted to cut a hole in the floor of his Vette so they could see the VIN stamped on top of the frame. It took some fast and clever talking to avoid that.

And enjoy the '60 Chevy, my Dad had one he traded our '56 Pontiac in on when I was a kid.