Topic: License Plate Color ?

[Brian Conway]

A bit puzzled about which California plate would be correct for my 1969 Mach 1 sold on 9/27/68.  I am not the original owner, don't have any of the original paper work , registration or plates.  Question is which color combo plate would the car have gotten in California in September of 1968 ?  Gold on black or gold on blue ?  If gold on black the plate letters would have begun with X, Y or Z ?  Thanks,  Brian

[jwc66k]

Brian,
It depends on where the car was sold. A Marti report is the first step.
The current belief is that as DMV offices used up the black-gold plates, they went to the blue plate special (I just had to do that). My 69 VW has blue plates and the registration says first sold in 0/0/1969. The plates are "81x YGx" (the "x" is for security). I don't know where or the exact date. If there is a license plate system in California for blue-gold plates, let me know.
Jim

[krelboyne]

Going to turn into a poll. We all have different recollections based on 'where in California' that we lived in the late 1960's.
Lived in the San Gabriel Valley of Southern California during that time frame in 1968-69. Would say definitely Black / Gold plates, XAA to YZZ would be acceptable. In my area the blue plates started appearing on 1970 model year cars. Whether or not they started Jan 1 or before, I don't know.

[Brian Conway]

Thanks for the interest and replies.  I did a little looking around on the Ca. DMV site and came up with ' 63 thru 69 black plates and 6 yellow characters '.  That's item 7 on their YOM, year of manufacture, form.  Brian

[J_Speegle]

Agreed for 69 and even some odd 70's sold to very remote regions of the state it might be a black plate given that it 9/28 sold car. Have examples of black and gold Zxx xxx as late as Jan 69 and a Yxx xxx in Feb 69 in my database

Unfortunately I don't have MArti information or reports of the thousands of examples I have data and pictures of

[Brian Conway]

So a best guess for the letter portion ?  Late 68 plate, September, issued for a 69 model year car ?  Thanks,  Brian

[lancelot66]

By no means am I an expert but this site would make me lean towards going with gold on black, without the "63" embossed in the tab recess, for later in the '69 model year:

http://www.15q.net/ca.html

[J_Speegle]

By no means am I an expert but this site would make me lean towards going with gold on black, without the "63" embossed in the tab recess, for later in the '69 model year:

Did they even make one without the 63 in the upper left corner?? Will have to see what the late versions I have show The number was there to indicate what corner the odd numbered year tags should be placed

[lancelot66]

yeah, when I went to that link and read through it, I had no idea there was a later version without the "63". Every plate that I've ever seen always had it. I'll admit I've been "earlier model-centric" but at shows and so forth too...

[Brian Conway]

Well again citing from the Ca. DMV YOM form item 7; ' 64 to 69 year model vehicles must have a 1963 base plate '  Checking with a couple of the local guys and came up with; 69 BOSS 9,  7/69 with a YYG black plate and a 69 Torino black plate, 8 or 9/69 with ZVA letters.   Similiar to what Jeff posted and getting a rough idea for San Diego at the mid/end of 69.  My Sept. 68 early car could be in the  X or Y area ?  Thanks,  Brian

[67_1183]

If I understand correctly, you are inquiring about plate numbers for a vehicle sold in the San Diego area in 9/68.

I have a vehicle sold from Drew Ford (now Penske) in next door La Mesa in 6/68 with plate WSD xxx per California title.

I hope this helps as a lower bound.

[Brian Conway]

author=67_1183
If I understand correctly, you are inquiring about plate numbers for a vehicle sold in the San Diego area in 9/68.

I have a vehicle sold from Drew Ford (now Penske) in next door La Mesa in 6/68 with plate WSD xxx per California title.

I hope this helps as a lower bound.

Yes Thank you.  Definitely at the end of the alphabet.    So after checking around and seeing what's for sale on epay and taking condition into consideration...   Brian

[67gtasanjose]

author=67_1183
If I understand correctly, you are inquiring about plate numbers for a vehicle sold in the San Diego area in 9/68.

I have a vehicle sold from Drew Ford (now Penske) in next door La Mesa in 6/68 with plate WSD xxx per California title.

I hope this helps as a lower bound.

Yes Thank you.  Definitely at the end of the alphabet.    So after checking around and seeing what's for sale on epay and taking condition into consideration...   Brian

Hmmm...Nice enough, restorable plates and look to have a good number sequence but NO "63" on them.

[Brian Conway]

Well, by golly, you are right about that.  These plates are not stamped with the 63.  My 65's black plates are stamped with the 63.  More checking around and it seems the ' 63 series ' plates are steel and ' 70 series ' and onward are aluminum ?  My thinking is that this is how the difference is identified ?  Will get the ' shinny ' on Monday when I begin the registration process.  Brian

[jwc66k]

Will get the ' shinny ' on Monday when I begin the registration process.  Brian

Having done this "process" before, remember you opponent is the California DMV, and its bureaucracy. Their main function is to do motor vehicle related paperwork. Most believe they are there to frustrate customers and either give them an ulcer of drive them to drink.
To "placate" their instruction for reuse of black-yellow plates you need: two identical black-yellow plates; a "year of manufacture", aka YOM, sticker on one plate. It's officially called the registration expiration date. For your purposes, the year of the YOM sticker MUST be the same year as the car you are trying to re-use the plates on. Simply put, you want to re-register a 65 Mustang (or any 65 car), the sticker must have "1965" on it. The expiration month does not appear to be a problem.
The Now it gets weird. If you buy a new 2017 car, or bring in an older car from out of state with the intent to register it in California, the DMV will issue your car a (wait for it) a 2018 sticker. Get the discrepancy? Don't argue with them, don't stir it up, "Flash", your DMV clerk does not care. He, or she, has a book with ridiculous laws, rules and regulations in it and you, citizen, do not count.

author=67_1183
If I understand correctly, you are inquiring about plate numbers for a vehicle sold in the San Diego area in 9/68.
I have a vehicle sold from Drew Ford (now Penske) in next door La Mesa in 6/68 with plate WSD xxx per California title.
I hope this helps as a lower bound.

One more item - there were over 13 MILLION black plates in that series. They were issued by the DMV, not the dealer. You could buy a car in San Diego and four to six weeks later, the plates would arrive in the mail, no matter where you lived. The criteria used was - "next" -  without regard to letters or numbers. In other words, don't overthink this. The current DMV does not care, they want your money. You are correct in that in the 1969 time frame, there was a transition to blue-yellow plates. "When" was the original question. The question really should be - "What is the earliest date a blue-yellow plate appeared"?
Jim