What is the significance of a CA black plate?

[CharlieG]

Keep the plates, title it in Texas, slap the black ones on when you go to a show.

Voila.

On that note, anyone got some '76 blue Cali plates floating around?

-Charlie

[mbaze]

Regarding Bob's question of where are all the old plates: Black and yellows were for cars '69 and before (not 1975, as noted above). That's a small subset of 2002s. Of those, I'm sure many got trashed or rusted over the years, or maybe people lost the front plate and needed a new set. Or the car went non-op for a while and was issued new plates when it was reregistered. I still see quite a few blue and yellows, including on both my 2002s.

[HBChris]

Charlie,

I have some blue plates (pairs), if you are interested send me an e-mail.

[richdnyc]

to keep the plates (which you MUST do under any circumstances, as it makes your 02 a zillion times cooler and that much more authentic) do what i did: register the car in cali and keep it in texas. you can give the dmv your texas address and they won't bat an eyelash. you can also renew by mail. blue or black original plates on a cali 02 just seem right, and the white ones don't.

btw my car had the blue plates when i first owned it, and when i found it again in washington state and bought it back again (after twelve years and four subsequent owners) the plates were still on it. the two wa owners never changed the registration, so i lucked out. i then drove the car back to cali and re-registered it, just getting in under the grace period before i might have been forced to switch to the awful white plates, which, imho, make an 02 look tacky.

[PSloan]

Good info in here. So regardless of whether or not it's a one owner car - it's rare to have a CA black plate car.

[f1reverb]

Blue plates appeared at the end of '69. My previous owner of my '66 912 had purchased it then, and I purchased it from him in July 1971 and it had blue plate 942AQY. The van I sold to get the Porsche I purchased in April 1970 and it had a black commercial plate on it (S36756) and then I had to put a new plate on it, blue 419COR. I bought a new van in Feb. 1972 and the new plate was blue 251FLE. I sold it and bought my '69 1600-2 in December 1972 and, because the car came from NJ, I got a new plate and it was blue 895GPN.

My Press Photographer plates stay with the person. I got blue PP plates on my '02 in the late '70s and still have them on my 533i, after being on the '69 1600-2, '73 Plymouth Valiant and '79 Dodge Aspen wagon. A few years back I finally had to peel off the stack of about 25 years worth of yearly stickers which was sticking out about 1/2 inch! I got my current '74 2002 in 1990 and got a new set of white PP plates for it when I purchased it. Other special plates can stay with the owner, such as Ham Radio and the like. The white plates have evolved a number of times since 1990, unlike all the previous plates.

Speaking of plates, there were an awful lot of nice '02s at the show with plates in poor condition. I've always maintained mine carefully. If you restore the car why wouldn't you restore the plate to like condition? As long as it's not bent you can repaint it. The DMV will give you a new month sticker if you tell them it's faded, and you can then wait to upgrade the whole plate with the new reg sticker at the next renewal.

[FunElan]

I bought my car with it's original black plates still on them. I don't feel the need to restore them because I think they add some patina.

-Matt

[Hammer03]

I had to give the disabled veteran plates back to the previous owner when I bought my '73, and was issued new plates.

I've tossed around the idea of finding a black and yellow plate, and registering that plate number as a vanity plate. Then just affixing the new stickers to the old plate, and throwing the new blue and whites in a drawer. Not sure how the DMV would feel about that, but something to think about. Anyone tried it?

[napa02]

I know a few people who have taken the Cal. white plate and painted them blue and gold. Don't know how this would go over in a traffic stop, but food for thought none the less.....

[f1reverb]

I know a few people who have taken the Cal. white plate and painted them blue and gold. Don't know how this would go over in a traffic stop, but food for thought none the less.....

plates or stickers. You will be arrested, possibly for a felony, and your car impounded. I've seen it happen on a ride-along with the CHP. You don't just get a ticket for deliberate fraud.

[napa02]

how is that a felony? car impounded, for painting your plates?

My brother in law is a police officer, I'll have to run that by him.

sounds excessive to me.

[mbaze]

Yeah, the DMV and the CHP want people using the white plates whenever possible because they are reflective and easier for officers to see the numbers/letters when they're behind you. Deliberately altering that would probably get you in big trouble:

4463. (a) Every person who, with intent to prejudice, damage, or defraud, commits any of the following acts is guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, two or three years, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year:

(1) Alters, forges, counterfeits, or falsifies any certificate of ownership, registration card, certificate, license, license plate,

And...

4464. No person shall display upon a vehicle a license plate altered from its original markings.

[Hammer03]

Yeah, the DMV and the CHP want people using the white plates whenever possible because they are reflective and easier for officers to see the numbers/letters when they're behind you. Deliberately altering that would probably get you in big trouble:

4463. (a) Every person who, with intent to prejudice, damage, or defraud, commits any of the following acts is guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, two or three years, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year:

(1) Alters, forges, counterfeits, or falsifies any certificate of ownership, registration card, certificate, license, license plate,

And...

4464. No person shall display upon a vehicle a license plate altered from its original markings.

Not an attorney, but both of those seem to be fairly broad. In the former case, it could be argued that it was without "intent to prejudice, damage, or defraud," since it would be for personal enjoyment. You aren't representing the car as a different car if you paint your plate, as long as the tags and plate numbers are accurate.

In the later case, the original markings are still there (as long as the text is unchanged) and only the color has changed. That would also seem to allow a bumblebee plate to be displayed that is of the same text as the registered plate, as it would not be altered.

And really, how would an officer know that you should be displaying a plate of newer colors?

Just playing the devil's advocate, not giving advice or pretending to be an expert.

[f1reverb]

Yeah, the DMV and the CHP want people using the white plates whenever possible because they are reflective and easier for officers to see the numbers/letters when they're behind you. Deliberately altering that would probably get you in big trouble:

4463. (a) Every person who, with intent to prejudice, damage, or defraud, commits any of the following acts is guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, two or three years, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year:

(1) Alters, forges, counterfeits, or falsifies any certificate of ownership, registration card, certificate, license, license plate,

And...

4464. No person shall display upon a vehicle a license plate altered from its original markings.

Not an attorney, but both of those seem to be fairly broad. In the former case, it could be argued that it was without "intent to prejudice, damage, or defraud," since it would be for personal enjoyment. You aren't representing the car as a different car if you paint your plate, as long as the tags and plate numbers are accurate.

In the later case, the original markings are still there (as long as the text is unchanged) and only the color has changed. That would also seem to allow a bumblebee plate to be displayed that is of the same text as the registered plate, as it would not be altered.

And really, how would an officer know that you should be displaying a plate of newer colors?

Just playing the devil's advocate, not giving advice or pretending to be an expert.

Black plates with yellow lets/nums had three letters followed by three numbers (assuming passenger cars, not trucks or other plates), blue plates with yellow lets/nums had three numbers followed by three letters and later had a number followed by three letters followed by three numbers, white plates had a number followed by three letters and then three numbers and various paint color differences and script. How are you going to paint one to imitate the other when the number/letter or letter/number sequence is different? Repainting a plate in its original colors would not change anything other than the shine if it's a black or blue plate. A cop could easily determine that the colors were altered by the sequence of numbers and letters at the slightest glance.

"History of the California License Plate (this is from the DMV website but isn't exactly correct. Check the link at the end of this post)

Basic information on 1963- present plates:

* 1963 was the last year a complete new plate issuance to all vehicles occured (the plates had a black background and chrome yellow characters).

* 1970 is the year the basic plate was changed to a blue background with yellow characters. It was also the last year any black/yellow plates were issued.

* 1976, year round registration started which requires a month expiration sticker afixed to the upper left hand corner of the plate.

* 1982 is the year when the standard plate was changed to a white background with blue characters with a sun graphic and CALIFORNIA in red block letters. It was also the last year any blue/yellow plates were issued.

* 1987, reflectorized plates with CALIFORNIA in red block letters were issued. The sun graphic was discontinued.

* 1991, only reflectorized basic plates were issued.

* 1993, the word CALIFORNIA was changed to red script.

* 1997, stickers were made with background colors that change every year and characters printed in black.

* Basic plates issued from 1998 through 2000 contain the words SESQUICENTENNIAL - 150 YEARS in red block letters at the bottom of the plates."

* 2001, the basic plate is white with blue characters and CALIFORNIA in red script. There is no writing at the bottom of the plate.

"

I have blue PP plates on my 533i and the second generation white ones on the '02 (pictured above).

Black Press Photographer plates . . .

Earliest White PP plate . . .

This link has more photos and explanations of variants . . .

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

[mbaze]

Legal issues aside, what pleasure do you get knowing that you're driving around with fraudulent black plates? It kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?