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article and
photos by Carl Norberg
To
every collector, they’re the perfect accessory; one of the most
necessary finishing touches to a project they’ve poured their heart,
soul, and more of their pocket book they care to admit into. For any
classic vehicle, a year of make license plate is almost as important
as the script or badge that signifies the make of the vehicle. With
characters gleaming in glossy paint, perfectly contrasting in a
two-tone scheme, the christen each vehicle on a maiden voyage for
its new owner, the open road is abound and awaits.
They can be the perfect conversation starter or ender. Especially to
the average Joe who wouldn’t know a carburetor from a colander, and
is always the first one to ask, “What year is that?”
Several years ago, many states began to reissue plates that matched
the vehicle’s model year. The State of Texas quickly followed suit
allowing such plates to be issued, but as with all government
activities, many regulations and stipulations were put in to place.
Asking around at car shows, one may walk away with several different
answers of how and where to register vintage plates, and just as
many stories about how difficult it may have been to complete their
registration.
After personally attempting to restore and reissue several sets of
original plates, the Texas Classic Automotive staff decided to
compile a guide to help answer many of the questions that go along
with registering and reissuing vintage plates.
The
State of Texas offers two classifications of collector automobile
registration: Antique and Classic. A vehicle must first be
registered as either class to be eligible for year of make plates to
be reissued.
Registering a vehicle as an Antique stipulates that it must be
driven explicitly for exhibitions. The vehicle can not be used for
advertising purposes, and can only be driven for parades, car club
functions, to and from car shows, and the occasional trip to a
repair or restoration shop. So an owner wanting to take a Sunday
drive better have a good excuse if questioned by law enforcement.
The
benefit to registering a vehicle as an Antique is that no state
inspection is required, and only a small license plate registration
tag is issued in place of the standard windshield registration. As a
result, no stickers are required to be affixed to the windshield,
and the license plate registration tag is easily removable for
showing, leaving your vehicle 100 percent legal, and looking 100
percent original for the judges. Just be sure to reattach the
registration tag before leaving the car show to avoid Johnny Law and
his ticket book.
Antique vehicle registration is valid for five years, eliminating
the yearly fees and renewals, and is applicable to cars, trucks, and
motorcycles.
A
vehicle registered as a Classic faces a less strict criteria. The
vehicle is allowed fully operational use, allowing it to be a daily
driver. Unlike an antique registration, however, vehicles designated
as a Classic require a yearly state inspection, and the registration
is only valid for a single year. To be designated as a classic, the
vehicle must be a minimum of 25 years old, and is available for
cars, truck, motorcycles, and travel trailers.
Either designation, Antique or Classic, allows its owner to reissue
plates that match the model year of the vehicle, but the plates
themselves have to meet a certain criteria as well.
First, and most obviously, the plate must be an original Texas
plate, and it must match the year of make as listed on the vehicles
title. Reissued plates are required to be in pairs and both plates
must be affixed to the vehicle in the factory location. The state
does allow the reissue of single 1945 and 1946 plates, when only one
plate was originally issues.
Although no direct answer could be obtained, some
counties may dictate that the type of plate match the vehicle as
well, requiring an original “TRUCK” plate to be registered to a truck. In this same
effort, some counties may allow an original car plate to be
registered to a truck, for the simple fact that the plate doesn’t
designate the type of vehicle. It can also be inferred that it may
be difficult to register a designated “TRUCK”
plate to a car.
When reissuing plates, each county’s tax office will verify the
plates’ number as valid, and perform a visual inspection of the
plate before approving it for reissue.
Many sources list repainting plates for reissue as illegal, but the
state of Texas does not explicitly prohibit it, only stipulating
that the paint must be in its original issued colors, clean, free of
defects and all characters must be legible. There can also be no
visible rust or large areas of paint missing from the plate.
While no strict criteria exists, the condition of plates that are
reissued is often simply up to the discretion of the tax office
employee, and some may be more generous and/or forgiving than
others.
The
featured set of plates registered by the Texas Classic Automotive
staff was repainted, and although not completely professional in
appearance, the plates were reissued without hesitation regarding
their aesthetics.
In
addition to the consent of the state to reissue vehicle plates, they
also offer new state-issued plates carrying the vehicles title
designation of Classic or Antique. Personalized plates are also
available on vehicles designated with a Classic registration.
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