YOM PLATES - Do you have them on your classic ?

[STEVE POLLARD]

 

YOM plates ( year of manufacture ) was suggested to me by AACA member Tim @EmTee that it would be icing on the cake for my '69 Impala and I think he is right. Here are before and after pictures:

 

 

 

 

Do you have them on your classic ?

 

 

Thanks Tim !!

 

 

[CChinn]

1938 NC YOM plates on my ‘38 Cadillac convertible 

[Lahti35]

Always! I've never run historic vehicle plates.

 

In Michigan it's a pretty easy process to run YOM plates. It's much harder to find some specific years of plates than it is to register them! These '20 plates weren't too hard to find for my newest project but they weren't hanging of trees either. 

 

 

Edited November 29 by Lahti35 (see edit history)

[Walt G]

I have used them and like the fact that they can inform the general public of what year my car is without having to answer that question over and over if I don't have a sign on the windshield what it is.

[STEVE POLLARD]

1 minute ago, Walt G said:

I have used them and like the fact that they can inform the general public of what year my car is without having to answer that question over and over if I don't have a sign on the windshield what it is.

Hey Walt, what year did New York State stopped issuing plates yearly and went to the tiny registration stickers?

 

Thanks ! 

[plymouthcranbrook]

Yes. Both Illinois from 1952 and 1980 respectively.  I don’t have current pictures of the 1980 Plymouth with them on but here is a picture of my 1952 Plymouth. Illinois doesn’t care if you use them as long as current plates are in the vehicle if the police need to access them. Probably most of us will never use our old cars to flee from a bank job. 😹

 

 

 

Edited November 29 by plymouthcranbrook (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

My '64 YOM plate would have had a red stick-on renewal strip in '65. Prior to that they used a metal tab.

 

With 1964 I get the Worlds Fair and rear plate only.

 

A while back my wife and I were having pizza at a window table over in the next county. My Riviera was facing us in the window with the rear toward the road. Two cops pulled in tight to block entry to my door and leaned toward the center console. I told my wife "Watch this." About two minutes later they backed out and sped away. She gave me one of those shoulder and blank eye looks. "They just learned about Year of Manufacture plates" I told her.

 

[ted sweet]

13 minutes ago, STEVE POLLARD said:

Hey Walt, what year did New York State stopped issuing plates yearly and went to the tiny registration stickers?

 

Thanks ! 

1966 to 1973 used the blue with gold letters

 

[John Byrd]

26 minutes ago, CChinn said:

1938 NC YOM plates on my ‘38 Cadillac convertible 

Love your Caddy, but also the ( Piaggio ) Avanti parked back there behind the lady in the short skirt ! I've never seen one in person. Thanks for the photos !

[ted sweet]

4 minutes ago, 60FlatTop said:

My '64 YOM plate would have had a red stick-on renewal strip in '65. Prior to that they used a metal tab.

 

With 1964 I get the Worlds Fair and rear plate only.

 

A while back my wife and I were having pizza at a window table over in the next county. My Riviera was facing us in the window with the rear toward the road. Two cops pulled in tight to block entry to my door and leaned toward the center console. I told my wife "Watch this." About two minutes later they backed out and sped away. She gave me one of those shoulder and blank eye looks. "They just learned about Year of Manufacture plates" I told her.

 

my brother is retired nys trooper and got stoped twice with the yom on his 73 buick

[ted sweet]

my 62 fairlane

[ted sweet]

my 70 challenger

[ted sweet]

my 66 mustang

[JFranklin]

On these.

[ply33]

1 hour ago, Walt G said:

I have used them and like the fact that they can inform the general public of what year my car is without having to answer that question over and over if I don't have a sign on the windshield what it is.

The general public must be more observant in your part of the country than I am in. I can’t count the number of times I‘ve been asked what year my Ford is by people looking at the 1933 YOM tags and the Plymouth logo.

Edited November 29 by ply33 (see edit history)

[Andy J]

I would if I could find one. In my state,Mississippi,plates have the counties on them.We have 82 counties and I haven't found one with my county,Lauderdale, on it. I would probably use another county if I had to.

[BuickTom87]

I always use the yom plates it just looks better .

[sftamx1]

I use NY yom  plates but NY law says they cannot be restored (repainted). So when judged at AACA shows, they must be removed as they have wear, which would be points deducted.

[BadGoat]

My 68 Lemans has the original plate that it was assigned when bought new. The original owner kept the front plate as he thought the car was scrap and I was going to part it out as it was so rough. 24 years later it is still going strong with OR special interest tag. 

[STEVE POLLARD]

6 minutes ago, BadGoat said:

My 68 Lemans has the original plate that it was assigned when bought new

Very cool ! I bet not too many cars still have their original plates.

[8E45E]

YOM plates are the absolute finishing touch for a vintage car.

 

Craig

[46 woodie]

I do have one on my 1946 Ford Station Wagon, I think it adds to the restoration. It took me a while to find the plate (New York only required one plate in 1946 because of a shortage of steel used in WWII) as only two states, New York and Maine required "Suburban" plates on suburbans and station wagons. From what I have learned New York started using suburban plates in the 1920's until sometime in the 50's. The New York plate had a vertical "SU" or "SUB" on the left side of the plate and a number. Maine had a circle, not a number zero or a letter "O" just a circle, I could never find out why. Any license plate experts/collectors know the answer and to add to what I have found out?

[zepher]

My 1926 Rickenbacker has '26 Calif plates but my Pierce Arrow has Calif plates from '62 when it was sold to my grandfather.

 

I am finding it will extremely difficult to find Wyoming YOM plates for my cars now that I have moved.

[Bloo]

Yes.

 

 

 

[TerryB]

40 minutes ago, 46 woodie said:

I do have one on my 1946 Ford Station Wagon, I think it adds to the restoration. It took me a while to find the plate (New York only required one plate in 1946 because of a shortage of steel used in WWII) as only two states, New York and Maine required "Suburban" plates on suburbans and station wagons. From what I have learned New York started using suburban plates in the 1920's until sometime in the 50's. The New York plate had a vertical "SU" or "SUB" on the left side of the plate and a number. Maine had a circle, not a number zero or a letter "O" just a circle, I could never find out why. Any license plate experts/collectors know the answer and to add to what I have found out?

PA also had a Suburban license plate.

[STEVE POLLARD]

4 minutes ago, Bloo said:

Yes.

What a great photo !

[ia-k]

Yes, 5 out of the 6 of my cars and also on my son's 2 old cars. The 1 without is a specialty plate with my wife's first name.

 

2 cars were a little more difficult to find than the others. My '51 Plymouth has a metal tag that needed to be clipped in, found plenty of 1950 plates, the "51" metal tags were much harder. Somewhat the same problem with my '84 Chrysler, plenty of the plate themselves (1979) but finding the correct year sticker (1984) took several years of eBay searching. 4 out of the 7 have the correct county for which we live in.

 

Never been pulled over but the current plates and registration are in the trunk just in case.

[Bhigdog]

In PA to get a YOM plate first you must have a valid antique/classic plate. Then you get to pony up an extra $95 for a YOM plate which you have to supply yourself.

But there are ways around that

Plan A....You just throw your antique plate in the glove box and mount a YOM and if you're stopped hope the cop believes you were just at a show and forgot to switch them back.

IF that doesn't work. ...... 

Plan B, You're just old and confused.

Or..........

Plan C.....Make a break for it and out run the cop with your 39 Chevy PU truck.

After you lose him what can he do?

Trace your plate?..............Bob

Edited Saturday at 04:14 PM by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[zepher]

Adding the YOM plates to the Rickenbacker was a nightmare. 

It took 4 or 5 trips to the DMV and it was finally resolved after I demanded a supervisor because each person we dealt with wanted different paperwork and different processes. 

But then again, Calif DMV has never been all that helpful. 

[5219]

I live in Pennsylvania with a 1940 LaSalle and a 1956 Continental II. I have YOM plates for both hanging in my garage, but it galls me to fork over 95 bucks per car to the state for the privilege of using them.

[Bhigdog]

3 minutes ago, 5219 said:

I live in Pennsylvania with a 1940 LaSalle and a 1956 Continental II. I have YOM plates for both hanging in my garage, but it galls me to fork over 95 bucks per car to the state for the privilege of using them.

See above post.....bob

[neil morse]

I'm too cheap to spring for a matched set of plates, so I cheat (don't tell the DMV) and run an old plate on the front and my true plate ("41 Super") on the rear.

 

The front plate is what my car would have had in 1943 -- it's a '41 plate with a '42 "topper" and a "V for Victory" tag, which was used from '43 through '45 to save steel for military use.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 12:43 AM by neil morse (see edit history)

[Akstraw]

The laws vary from state to state.  In NC the law is rather vague (which is good).  I have a YOM plate on every antique car, and I have never been stopped or questioned.  I keep a photocopy of the pertinent page of the motor vehicle code in each car just in case.

Edited November 29 by Akstraw
Clarification for correctness (see edit history)

[Gary_Ash]

I have a 1948 YOM plate on my Studebaker M5 pickup. It was tough finding a photo on my iPad that shows the rear of the truck and the plate.  Only one I could find was with the truck in my car hauler trailer which had to be ordered extra-tall so the truck would fit. 

 

My 1965 Studebaker Wagonaire (station wagon) has a 1964 plate since Massachusetts didn’t issue plates stamped 1965. Interestingly, my wife’s 2023 Ford Edge has the same number on her current year plate. She inherited the number from her grandfather, which is legal in Mass.  It is also legal to have one current plate and one YOM plate with the same number. Her grandfather had saved a pile of old plates in his basement.  We were once stopped in New Hampshire by a local cop who wasn’t familiar with Mass. YOM rules. Now I carry a copy of the rule in my glove compartment. 

 

A bill has been introduced in the Mass. legislature year after year to allow restoring old plates but has never been allowed out of committee. Why?  What would be political about repainting an old plate or how would it cost the state money?

[Nate Dort]

I've got YOM plates on 4 of my vehicles:

 

[BuickTom87]

4 hours ago, sftamx1 said:

I use NY yom  plates but NY law says they cannot be restored (repainted). So when judged at AACA shows, they must be removed as they have wear, which would be points deducted.

On all my cars they are restored . How would they know. 

[29 Chandler]

Our 1966 has a YOM plate with "MG" in the plate and still has a 1966 sticker affixed.

[EmTee]

 

 

[STEVE POLLARD]

Nice collection there Tim !

[rocketraider]

I have them on three of the Oldsmobiles, plus the metal county license strips for that year.

 

Had to put regular Virginia black and white antique plates on the 74 Hurst/Olds and the 1976 Ninety Eight. YOM plates have to have the year STAMPED into them and 1973 was the last year the Commonwealth did that on passenger car plates. Commercial and weighted plates were stamped thru 1976, but I cannot see using those on my cars. I don't really like the black and whites but they beat those horribly ugly yellow antique plates. I see too many of both types on cars that barely qualify as beaters, much less a properly licensed and maintained antique vehicle.

 

I went to a lot of trouble and expense to find an NOS pair of Virginia Bicentennials for the Ninety Eight. Those have "1776-1976" silkscreened on the plate but the GA amended the law in 2002 to require the year on YOMs to be embossed into the plate. I got one year's use of them, then I get the DMV letter informing me they were no longer valid for a YOM registration, and to continue using them I'd have to convert them to regular annual renewal plates. These aren't mine but you see the year silkscreening.

 

I personally think a certain Virginia House delegate should keep his fingers out of the Commonwealth's license plate statutes. But he won't.