blue ca plates

[HBChris]

Mine is from Jan/Feb of `69. Anyone know about Helane Motors in Alhambra? Supposedly one of the first BMW dealers in LA.

[richdnyc]

here are the plates cali issued starting with the black ones in 1963 and going from right to left i the bottom and then the top row. in 1970 they switched to yellow on blue and went to 7 digits around 1979 or 1980. the sunset motif began in 1982, the blue and red on white in 1987, and the script lettering in 1993. since plates on cali cars stay with the car forever, as long as cali registration is maintained, a car with period correct plates means it has always been registered in cali. if you register a vintage car there and want period correct plates, the only way to do that is to find some in a junkyard or flea market, apply for vanity plates with whatever number is on them, and if the number is available you can use the old plates if you apply the current tabs.

[HBChris]

The DMV won't issue vanity plates in ABC123 or 123ABC configration in CA. And they won't even let you substitute a zero for an O because they are similar in appearance.

[HBChris]

The DMV won't issue vanity plates in ABC123 or 123ABC configration in CA. And they won't even let you substitute a zero for an O because they are similar in appearance.

[BarryA]

equivalent of the adhesive backed annual renewal sticker that's been used in CA ever since 1956 - the metal tag attached to one of the upper corners of the plate.

A general comment on keeping the blue plates with the car even after registering it in NY - since CA issued plates for the life of the vehicle (at least until they gave in and started issuing "vanity" plates in the late 70's), the existance of the originally issued plates and annual renewal stickers through the end of it's CA residence is a irrefuable proof of the car's history as a west coast vehicle (assuming that the three letter sequence is appropriate to the model year of the car - blue plates were first issued in late 1968/early 1969 in sequences starting with "Axx).

Personally, I'd make copies of the CA title and the last registration card, keep any back year registration cards, and tell the NY DMV that the plates disappeared in transit from CA, then keep the plates, title and registration with the car as part of it's "provenance".

Slight disagreement here. The blue plates which were first issued in late 69/early 70 and were six characters with a group of three numbers first followed by three letters (example 123 ABC) the black plates which were last issues in late 69 also had six characters, three lettters followed by three numbers (example ZZZ 999). Later the blue plates were issued with seven characters, I'm not sure what year that started, but it was well after 73, seven digit blue plates on roundies are not original, The black plates were sequential, my current early 68-1600 starts with "WL", my previous 69-1600 started with "ZQ" the 69-1600 off and on e-bay, ragtop conversion must have been very late, its plate starts "ZZ" (no affiliation with the conversion car)

issued in sequence based on the letter series, starting with "AAA 000" for the '55 to '62 black over yellow and '63 to '68/'69 yellow over black series, "000 AAA" for the yellow over blue 6 character plates, and "A 000 AAA" 7 character plates in all versions.

Up through 1962-63, all vehicles registered in CA got the new series of plates at the start of the next registration year when there were no more plates to issue in the series (theoretically at ZZZ 999). As the black plate series got to its end in the late 60's, the CA DMV phased in blue plates for new passenger car registrations, but left black plates on vehicles that already had them (commercial plates - starting with "A 00 000" - continued to be issued in yellow over black though 1972, after which they also switched to yellow over blue with 7 characters).

Since DMV (and auto club registration counter) offices used up their existing supply of black plates before they started issuing blue ones, black plates continued being issued much later in some small town offices than they did in bigger cities - some '68 model cars got blue plates, some '69 models got black ones. A DMV guy once told me plates were shipped in batches of 1000 pairs (AAA 000 through AAA 999), which would help account for some offices issuing black plates well into '69 - my '69 got its ZOS 311 plates in Napa in March '69, so the Napa office probably issued ZOS series plates well into April or May '69.

[BarryA]

The DMV won't issue vanity plates in ABC123 or 123ABC configration in CA. And they won't even let you substitute a zero for an O because they are similar in appearance.

get "P0 (zero) R5CHE" for a 356 A coupe which we bought from Oregon in about 1983 (still have one plate hanging in the garage - "PORSCHE" was one of the first 7 character vanity plates taken, and the DMV wouldn't give me "POR5CHE").

I tried ordering "1 BMW 320" for the E21 on the DMV web site a few months ago, but their system wouldn't give it to me with either an "O" or a zero.

[Guest Anonymous]

I live in Vermont where I moved after 8 years in LA. I have black plates on one of my cars and have kept it registered in CA solely to keep those original plates on. All I did was an address change on the CA registration. CA doesn't seem to care--they just want the renewal fee. So my CA reg lists my VT address. Now, VT might not like it too much, and I don't know that it's actually illegal, but for now, that's what I'm doing. I got pulled over by a VT state trooper and he didn't seem to care about it--didn't even question it. If I get into trouble, I'll use a CA address on the reg. Currently, if you remove the original CA plates and register others, even if they are other CA plates, you can't put the vintage ones back on, unless they are the old yellow with black character plates, and those can only be used on '63-earlier vehicles I believe. That's why I want to keep mine current--also because I foster the belief (delusion?) that I will one day return to CA.

I'd say you should attempt to register your 02 while in CA picking it up--go to the Auto Club of California(part of AAA)--they do DMV transactions there, but you must be a AAA member. They have offices all over CA.