roger can you post pic of car and plates? thanks
Roger,
Good question. Not to complicate the issue too much, but upon registration, there will actually be TWO tags:
In order to register the car, there must be a year tag with the original plate that matches either the MY of the car or whatever year is on the title. In the picture below, you see my 1956 plate that has a 58 tag. The 1956 plate is what California was issuing at the time my 1958 XK150 was first sold/registered.
The tag on the plate must match the MY of the car. If the MY and title year don’t match, the owner can petition for a MY tag, but must show documentation to prove the cars true age. I gave the DMV a copy of the car’s JCNA certificate as the car had never been registered in CA. They then titled and registered the car as a 1958.
The second tag is for the current registration year. Upon registration or renewal, the DMV gives you a current year sticker to affix to a separate metal tab, which is supposed to be affixed to the license plate. In my case, you can see the 2000 registration sticker and the metal tab above the plate:
Is the [TJY868] plate the original plate not the number but the actually item that was on your car in 1958 seems to be in awfully good condition?
Hi Terry, sure I will post some pictures of car and plates in about one week.
Terry,
Those plates are completely original and unrestored. It’s common in CA to go without a front plate, so the one you see in the photo had probably been removed early on. The other plate is more weathered, so I will use it as the (unmounted) front plate.
The car was first sold somewhere around New York (it had snow tires on it when I bought it) and had never been registered in CA.
This is not my car, but you can get the idea. This is a 1953 CA Car with '51 plates, '53 white YOM tag AND modern/current Month/Year tags for registration.
Thanks for that terry
Not a common sight, one of those!
OK even more confused registered in NY never registered in California but you have a set of California plates for it?
Have these come from another car?
Yes, they absolutely were used on another car in California back in 1958.
As a general rule, when you sell a car, the plates usually remain on the car. However, in the US, we don’t marry license numbers or plates to a car like they do in the UK. Since each state uses their own unique plates, when a car moves from one state to another, the plates are changed. If I wasn’t in the military, I’d have to change plates every time I moved and registered the car in the new state.
When I bought my car, it had Arizona plates on it, the state where it was last registered. But to register it in California, I had to get CA plates. I could have gotten a brand new modern set of CA plates issued from the DMV. But in CA we also have the option to use “period correct” plates for cars older than 1980. Hence the original pair of used plates you see in the photo.
1 Like
Ok thanks terry …
Hi Terry, per your request, here are pictures of car and plates for the 1950 Mark V saloon which has spent its life in California.
While California requires front and rear plates, many cars don’t use them. You can see the Ace plate I run in front. The rear plate is a 1947 plate with 1950 tab correctly added (the 1950 tab has a stamped serial number not easy to see in the photo). Nearby is the month and year sticker tab required alongside the year-of-manufacture rear plate. Underneath the 1950 tab, the plate has a 47 stamped. Also shown is a 1930 plate I run on a 1930 Ford model A. I keep the second plates in my garage so if one is stolen off my car, I can still keep using it by replacing with the spare.
