Anyone with historical plates?

[thefrog1394]

Well, my 91 318i is now eligible for historical license plates in Ohio. I just switched my registration over. Technically am only allowed to drive to club events, parades, or a place where I perform maintenance. $20 registration for the life of the car... Anyone else go the historical plate route?

In Ohio, we are allowed to use "year of model" plates in place of the historical vehicle plates as long as we register the number with the BMV. The law was designed for those old plates that had the year engraved on them, but technically still applies to newer plates as long as they were valid the year the car was manufactured. So, I found a set of these ohio plates, used in the late 80s until 1991 in my grandpa's basement and am probably going to run them.

[sgtskid]

TN has very similar laws regarding antique plates. I haven't bought them for my BMW yet but I do have them on my Corvette. I don't drive it very often but I've never had issues with law enforcement about them.

My brother ran antique plates on his DD Mercedes and never had any trouble with the cops. He was pulled over a couple times while he owned it and they never even asked about them.

TN allows the use of historical plates as long as the antique plate with registration is kept inside the vehicle and available to show if asked.

[McGyver]

It's a very similar law in VA. I have them on my vert since it's just a weekend car and I wanted to get out of the annual state inspections since the car is so modified. I've never had a problem, but I also never get pulled over. I have a buddy that DD's his e28 with antique plates and he's never had a problem. I have another friend that ran them on his e28 and got hassled a few times, but never had a real issue.

That being said, the purpose of the plate are for people with true weekend cars, not for people to get out of paying $20 a year for their DD. Odds are that you'll never have a problem, but what is the repercussion of getting caught? In VA it was loss of antique plates for 5 years, a big fine, and a misdemeanor.

Also, having people abuse the law is a great way to have it get changed and ruin it for everyone.

[thefrog1394]

It's a very similar law in VA. I have them on my vert since it's just a weekend car and I wanted to get out of the annual state inspections since the car is so modified. I've never had a problem, but I also never get pulled over. I have a buddy that DD's his e28 with antique plates and he's never had a problem. I have another friend that ran them on his e28 and got hassled a few times, but never had a real issue.

That being said, the purpose of the plate are for people with true weekend cars, not for people to get out of paying $20 a year for their DD. Odds are that you'll never have a problem, but what is the repercussion of getting caught? In VA it was loss of antique plates for 5 years, a big fine, and a misdemeanor.

Also, having people abuse the law is a great way to have it get changed and ruin it for everyone.

Yea, its not really my daily. I have a 335 that I put like 20k miles/year on. But I do tend to drive it to work in the winter to keep the 1.5 mile winter commute off the 335 and in the summer when I get bored of driving an auto or am doing maintenance. I probably only put a few thousand miles/year on it. I feel like I'm meeting the spirit of the law, but who knows. I also was getting bored of the standard Ohio plates and thought it would be fun to change things up haha.

Seems like most people say the cops don't hassle them. Figure if I get pulled over for it I can just go back to standard plates, not worth the hassle. We don't have inspections or emissions tests in my county, so there is not advantage there which is probably why not you don't see too many people running them around here. Only thing really I'm worried about is a clueless meter maid or cop on a power trip deciding to bother me about the old plates and not realizing they are legal.

[TimeMachinE30]

Yes.

[Vincent Brick]

I daily my car so no, but my Dad is in Ohio and he did the same with his '60s Mopars, he drives them a little more than you are supposed to but he never gets hassled. I do know a guy in Cincinnati who got hassled while taking his folks out to dinner in his '63 Fury on Historical plates, no ticket, but depending on where you are the cops will halfway enforce the exhibition restriction.

If I was in Ohio I would make my own Euro-size plates, totally legal there, though you will probably have to carry the text of the law permitting it in your glovebox like the VW guy my Dad met (2nd pic).

[Das Delfin]

I have a historic plate on my car here in CT but there is no mileage restriction. We also have a "year of manufacture" law and I have a set of 1988 issue plates ready to go on as soon as I hit the DMV

Also I can't figure out how to tell my EZ Pass account about the new plates since there's no place on the form to write in a YOM plate registration type. I guess I'll have to call the massDOT to find out..fuckers

[thefrog1394]

I daily my car so no, but my Dad is in Ohio and he did the same with his '60s Mopars, he drives them a little more than you are supposed to but he never gets hassled. I do know a guy in Cincinnati who got hassled while taking his folks out to dinner in his '63 Fury on Historical plates, no ticket, but depending on where you are the cops will halfway enforce the exhibition restriction.

If I was in Ohio I would make my own Euro-size plates, totally legal there, though you will probably have to carry the text of the law permitting it in your glovebox like the VW guy my Dad met (2nd pic).

Those fake ohio euro plates are pretty epic. Are they really legal though? I actually didn't think that worked here.

Getting hassled for going out to dinner sucks. Thats what I'm hoping doesn't happen. I used to run without a front plate on my e46 until I got pulled over by a state trooper for it. Don't really like giving cops an excuse to pull me over and fish for a reason to give me a ticket. It actually surprises me that you can be stopped outside of another violation. The law is worded vaguely enough, is it really possible to have probable cause to think you are not driving to a club event or home from a place of maintenance? Seems far fetched.

[Vincent Brick]

Those fake ohio euro plates are pretty epic. Are they really legal though? I actually didn't think that worked here.

Getting hassled for going out to dinner sucks. Thats what I'm hoping doesn't happen. I used to run without a front plate on my e46 until I got pulled over by a state trooper for it. Don't really like giving cops an excuse to pull me over and fish for a reason to give me a ticket. It actually surprises me that you can be stopped outside of another violation. The law is worded vaguely enough, is it really possible to have probable cause to think you are not driving to a club event or home from a place of maintenance? Seems far fetched.

From what I have seen nothing forbids it, they just have to be the right colors and the appropriate reflectivity. Claddagh Irish Pub, the restaurant chain, had a LVI London black cab in Cincinnati with plates almost identical to the VW I pictured. IIRC the VW guy had a vinyl place print out his own design on heavy reflective vinyl, which he then applied to the plastic plate. I think... this was 10 years ago, and I'm only remembering what my Dad said the guy told him. The guy did tell my Dad he found it easier to print out the text regarding the law to show cops, that he did get pulled over several times for it but no tickets.

Damn, pulled over by a statie for no front plate? I was under the impression that Ohio no longer enforced that, despite it still being law. My Dad refuses to put front plates on his late model daily drivers, makes sure the dealer doesn't install the bracket with each new one. Getting hassled is the only reason I would keep regular plates and one up front, I carry weed on me, not a problem here in California but presumably still completely illegal back there, though that doesn't stop my old man....

As for pulling someone over with historical plates, you would have to be a bored prick to mess with someone in Ohio over that IMO, especially on a car as old as the instance I mentioned.



Off topic, but sadly in looking for a little more info just now, I found mention that the 959 I posted was totaled four years ago from a lady in a Toyota running a stop sign in Dayton while the car was on its way to be photographed for a magazine.

[M_3_X]

Anyone with historical plates?

Mississippi offers "Antique" plates for any car 25+ years old, $30.00 for the life of the car (And you own it). I had them on my old 1989 VW Cabriolet and I have it on my '91 Vert.

Unlike most states, here you don't have any kind of driving restrictions, so even though this car spends most of its days in the garage, I can drive it freely whenever I want to.

[Das Delfin]

Off topic, but sadly in looking for a little more info just now, I found mention that the 959 I posted was totaled four years ago from a lady in a Toyota running a stop sign in Dayton while the car was on its way to be photographed for a magazine.

:shock:

[rturbo 930]

I'm surprised you can total a 959. I thought at that price point, they were just sent back and fixed.

Some more info for those curious: http://jalopnik.com/a-priceless-pors...y-f-1309195430

[Roadrunner]

I looked into getting historic plates a while ago for our E28, since the previous owners had historic plates on the car. We ended up going with regular plates since it didn't seem worth the hassle.

In case this helps out anyone else here in Ontario, Canada:

License plate stickers for historic vehicles cost $18 per year instead of $120 if you live in Southern Ontario.

Here are the requirements / restrictions for a historic vehicle from the Ontario Highway Traffic Act:

“historic vehicle” means, despite the definition in subsection 7 (1.1) of the Act, a motor vehicle that,

(a) is at least 30 years old,

(b) is operated on a highway in parades, for purposes of exhibition, tours or similar functions organized by a properly constituted automobile club or for purposes of repair, testing or demonstration for sale,

(c) is substantially unchanged or unmodified from the original manufacturer’s product, and

(d) does not have attached to it year-of-manufacture plates

The second and third points seem completely open to interpretation. Does it mean you could be pulled over for taking the car out for a drive on a nice summer day if a cop suspects that you're not on your way to or from a car show? Couldn't you just say you're "testing" the car or taking it to be repaired? Plus, what do they consider an unacceptable modification (and how would someone who is unfamiliar with your old car even know it's been modified)?

[roguetoaster]

Those regulations seem to mimic those in Maryland. As to enforcement, it's just not realistic for police officers to know what stock is or what you're doing with the car, so it seems unlikely that the plate could be used as a primary reason to stop someone in that way.

However, Maryland did recently add the provision that cars tagged as historic could not be used for general transportation, but only for occasional use plus what you outlined. So, if the officer knew the regulations and you were seen to repeatedly pull in to work, leave, or were clearly wearing a uniform during work hours that would be all the reason they would need to give you a ticket/potentially have you plates revoked. It should be noted that MD added this regulation primarily to combat people using historic tagged vehicles (lots of vans/trucks) for work purposes to dodge emissions/inspections.

As for me, I used to frequently take my historic tagged car to work, and sometimes used it as my primary car (but it looked very stock). There was also a time when I had only historic tagged cars, so in theory I could just rotate usage and sort of comply with regs. In all those years I was pulled over once and was not questioned about the plate. These days I do actually have a regularly tagged car to avoid the potential hassle.

[Das Delfin]

Plus, what do they consider an unacceptable modification (and how would someone who is unfamiliar with your old car even know it's been modified)?

I think they're talking about stuff like this