Caution on buying "original black plate" Cali cars

[nhdoc]

I heard they just changed the California law in July of '09 that if you have an old car you can register it with plates of the original model year. In other words, if you live in California and have a '67 Mercedes and find black plates (from ebay or elsewhere) from that year you can pay a fee and they will register it using those plates (assuming the plates you find aren't stolen and aren't "reserved"). The problem, as I see it, is that the so-called "original black plate" cars all come into question since for a couple of hundred dollars and some hunting any car can be a black plate car - which used to add quite a bit of value to a car. Apparently this is an expansion of an earlier law which covered earlier cars and now cars up through MY 1969 and trucks through MY 1973 can be registered with year of manufacture plates even if they were not originally assigned to the car.

Food for thought and just another reason for Caviat Emptor.

[Pavka007]

That is very useful info. So in essence now you can pretend (on appearance) that you car is more or less with "original" registration. So some people not checking the history of the car can be fooled that they are buying the real McCoy.... nasty..

Just as a small qualification for the sentence I think you are trying to use: "Caveat Emptor" Latin for "Let the buyer beware" the opposite is: "Caveat Venditor" / "Let the seller beware" but if I am wrong my apology. I am European and half Italian (my Mama) and Latin was part of my school education.... for good or bad

[POS]

Texas has the same law.

[Tony H]

It has been permissable for some time in CA to replace your plates with period plates-not just since July. I ran a history report on my car's ownership and registration before I bought it because the owner claimed it had been imported from Germany in the mid 70"s and I wanted to make sure the blue CA plates were authentic.

[samdon]

There must have been a quarter inch of yearly registration stickers piled up on the front and back plates. Since it was a verified one owner car, sold to me by a classic car dealer; I never really questioned its authenticity. I will now perform the due diligence I should have done before purchasing.

Good info and thanks for the tip.

"""Banging head on desk. It better be real. I paid for it. I paid for it. I paid for it."""

[Tony H]

We are going to move to another state when I retire (5 years-can't wait) and I am concerned with having to give up my original plates. I guess I will have to register the car in someone else's name to keep the ca plates. You cannot use a PO box for a address. Anyone had to do this to keep their original plates or any ideas?

[nhdoc]

Originally Posted by Tony H

It has been permissable for some time in CA to replace your plates with period plates-not just since July. I ran a history report on my car's ownership and registration before I bought it because the owner claimed it had been imported from Germany in the mid 70"s and I wanted to make sure the blue CA plates were authentic.

My understanding that in July is that they extended the model years which plates can be "backfitted" to 1969 for passenger cars. Prior to that I believe the cars had to be much older (pre-1960). Since most of us are interested in 60's and on Benzes it is of particular interest now that our cars can be made to look like they were original black plate cars.