Can someone tell me the significance of a car having "Black Plate" status in CA?

Thanks, Kurt

The answer to your question is unclear. I own 4 68's. Two have black plates. One I bought new in NOV 67. The 2nd car was bought in 1988. The 3rd has a blue plate. The 4th has a white plate. I was told that if you have a black plate that it signifies you were the original owner. Wrong answer. I'm the 2nd owner on car number 2 and 3.

As Paul said the original owner thing can't be true my friends 69 are Black and he's the 3rd owner. Mine has black plates I'm the 2nd owner. And my friends 64 1/2 ton pickup has em also and he's like the 9th owner. I think it may be that sometime within the 'balck plate' era in CA the car was registered in CA there fore if it still has em its been in CA for a while therefore being more or less rust free due to not being exposed to much snow/salt.
Thats my thought, Steve

The significance of a California black plate car is that it is almost certain that the car has resided in CA since the early to late 60s, thus increasing the odds that it has seen better climate than most cars of the same era.

There are only two ways a vehicle today can have CA black/yellow plates: (1) If the car was originally sold in CA and has remained registered in the state since day one, or (2) if the car was brought into CA between 1963 and 1969 and has remained in the state since.

From the mid-50s through 1962, CA license plates were black on yellow; from 1963 through 1969 they were yellow on black. Beginning in 1970, the plates were painted yellow on blue. New cars sold in CA and cars brought into the state at present receive blue on white plates.

The yellow on black plates all had three letters preceeding three numbers (ex: ABC 123); the sequence on yellow on blue plates was reversed (ex: 123 ABC). Genuine black plates have a "63" stamped in the left upper recessed registration sticker square of each matching plate and both are made on steel (as are the blue plates). Modern-day CA plates are made of aluminum and have a white reflective adhesive background.

RSTOLZ,

Good job. Bravo.

I heard 1-pair of black CA plates are fetching around $1200.00 Canadian. Why, I really don't know.

Mark

Once again I agree with Paul, RSTOLZ, great job at explaining. One thing I would like to add you can now get yellow on black plates on an special order of a 'vanity plate' but they are rather different looks more like a dark gray with a lighter yellow.
Steve
I'll look for the address of the CA DMV where I read about those vanity plates.

Thanks for the "bravos," guys. I didn't know that you could now get the black/yellow plates vanity plates. The current regular issued CA plates do not have "CALIFORNIA" in raised letters at the top; they have "California" in script as part of the reflective adhesive background. Steve D64 SS, do you know if the special order vanity plates have the raised "CALIFORNIA" like the original black/yellow plates?

Back when DMV still had the raised CA on all of their plates (about 5 years ago) I ordered a set of vanity plates (RPO ZK7) for my 68, and had them repainted the original 1960's black and yellow by Darryl's Plates (he's in PA). Not that I wanted to pass off the car as a fake black plate car, but just for that 60's CA "look." (I even found a guy at a swap meet selling the original red-colored month registration tags; DMV issues blue tags these days.)

Technically, what I did is illegal because I've altered the original appearance of a set of DMV-issued plates. I got pulled over by a CHP once because of it. But the officer was a Chevelle nut and wanted to know where he could get a set painted. :)

rstoltz,
I can't find it anywhere on the CA DMV page, if you want to find it the site is:http://www.dmv.ca.gov/ . Although I was thinking I saw it might of seen it at the Recycler homepage which is www.recycler.com . Beats me I know I read it somewhere on the net about the beginning of 1998 (Feb. or March) There was a guy at school who was a senior last year who had a VW Bug that had the new plates that's how I knew what it looked like it does have the raised lettering. The guy claimed they were new plates and they sure looked new. If it was at the recycler site though I think it was a R'Member tip of the week.(R'Member is a free service) I think the best bet though would be to give the DMV a call and see what the operator can give you for information after you are on hold for an hour, that's if you can get through. A tip to get through at the CA DMV is to just keep hanging up and hitting redial about the 15th try you'll get through, unless you're lucky then you'll get through sooner.
Good Luck, Steve