1977 or 2010? You decide

That's a cool picture. The license plates on the cars also give the impression that it could be a picture from 1977.

Most states have these picturesque license plates that will instantly say "2010", rather than "1977". The plates on your cars look like they are original to the cars and so it could be 1977 and nobody would be the wiser (except for the FedEx sign ).

I live in a split-entry (aka: split-level) house build in 1979. I've often dreamt about having two cars, pre-1979, parked in the garage. I used to have a 95 Roadmaster sedan and in the garage, I would have about 3' behind the car and 4' in front of the car...so a 70's car would fit.

 

The license plates on the cars now are year-correct because they're registered as historic vehicles and Ohio, like most states I think, lets you do that. By 1977 the cars would have had 1977 license plates because Ohio would have had them updating every year. In fact, I think 1974 was the last year that Ohio issued a plate that said the year on it. After that, they started the now common practice of issuing a plate meant to last for multiple years, and all you did was put a new sticker in the corner each year, as we do now. So if this were a true picture from 1977, the cars would have had plates issued in 1975 but with stickers current for 1977 and showing an expiration date some time in 1978.

 

Aw maaannnn, wagnut! What a bummer! The guy should have kept his mouth shut. I, TOO, was waiting for the day you got that wagon. Your suspicions are probably correct or close to it. The guy must have been showing off how rich he was or something when he made you the offer. Maybe you should call him and say..."Hey, you made me a kind offer and perhaps you realize now that you shouldn't have. I would LOVE to have that car but, hey, it's OK if you have had a change of heart. I don't have much money but......maybe you would sell it to me cheap?"
That way HE may feel sheepish and live up to his offer....OR...sell it to you for a thousand bucks or so. OR...he may just tell you he is giving it to his kid. Can't hurt to give him a call like that....at least you would know what's up.

 

Many states do allow for year-correct plating of historic vehicles. In Oregon, the license plates are issued to the car and they stay on the car... and, as long as it's never expired, can continue on the car, even if Oregon no longer produces those plates. You can see 60's cars that have their original plates (Oregon did not replate every year like a lot of states did). Their registration type and fees are the same as that of a new car. If the registration expired, though, the plate is invalid and you would receive a new plate when you re-registered. That is why you see quite a lot more of the 60's, 70's and 80's cars with newer plates on them. I've heard that you can "convert" period-correct plates to "custom" (aka: vanity) plates, if you want to have the correct type of plates on the car. DMV told me that the car has to be 1975 or older to do so...and then you can only use the cars to go to car shows and events...but I've seen a couple people who have done that with newer, daily-driver cars. They get older plates in good condition from eBay and convert them to custom for their newer cars.

Oregon recently came out with an optional, limited issue, plate to celebrate its 150th birthday. They look like the 1959-1964 "Pacific Wonderland" plates. They are extra-cost ($100) at issuance, but cost the same to re-register every other year, just like the standard-issue plates. Many people who are restoring older cars are getting these to have that "vintage" look. I've noticed recently that it has also just become some sort of "status symbol" for the BMW's and such. It's also become "en vogue" to put them on a Prius for some reason. I don't get that. I got some for my Park Avenue, even though it's not old. I'm now trying to convince the wife that I need an older car now to go with my older-style plates. So far, she ain't buying it.

 

Both of the garage pictures in this thread are wonderful.
The first one reminds me a little of the US TV shows I used to watch in New Zealand during my childhood. For example, Mike and Carol Brady could easily be in it, though their house was a little different and they drove various MOPAR products (I started a thread in 'TV and Movie Station wagons' to find out).
As far as licence plates are concerned, I have a few American ones on display here in my classroom, which I purchased in Caen, France, of all places. One is from Alabama and has a 2007 sticker on it; one is from South Dakota with a 2003 sticker; another is from Kentucky and one each from Georgia, Florida and Arizona. All have recent stickers.
The last one is interesting. It is a 1991 plate from Indiana and says 29 J 58 with the J in the middle in a smaller font than the numbers. On the bottom, it says 'Hoosier Hospitality.' It is much plainer than the others.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if 29 J 58 used to be attached to a car associated with this forum?

 

That would be quite the coincidence! The "29" on that plate indicates the county it came from (some states use a code on their plates, just as I believe that Britain does). It would be Hamilton County. The "J 58" is the plate number assigned to that person. Your South Dakota plate should have a county code, as well (the numbers before the dash). I don't know about the others...depends on how old/new they are. Many states did away with the coding, and just used the letters/numbers to serve as the individual plate number, so some older plates have a code. Oregon used to use the first number or letter to indicate the month of expiration, but since 1987, they've not had codes in their numbering. New Mexico used to use county codes, but in 1972, they stopped. Here's a link to a guy who has a very cool site that explains everything you wanted to know (and didn't know you wanted to know...and possibly some things you don't care about ) about license plates. http://www.15q.net/usindex.html

I really would like to have the same set up as Jaunty...cars from the 60's/70's filling the garage of my 70's house. Very cool!

 

Excellent, thanks. I'll have a good look at the website. The boys who reside in my classroom often ask about the plates, so I'll hopefully be able to tell them a little more now.
Car licence plates are something I've always been fascinated by and I try to work out a code in every country I visit, starting with the one on my rental car. American ones have always confused me but they have a special fascination with all their pictures, state slogans and the wonderful old V8 cruisers they must have once been attached to.
It sounds a little silly, I know, and many people would think me nuts, but you only live once.

 

There's no rhyme or reason among the states. Some put county numbers on, others don't. In Ohio, there's no significance to the plate number itself (that I'm aware of), but there is a county sticker in the form of a number on the lower left of the each plate (front and rear--Ohio still uses two plates).

The counties are just listed in alphabetical order and then assigned numbers starting at 1 (through 88 for the 88 counties). So, if you know what the number order of the counties are, you can tell what county the car is registered in. I've always thought I should print out a list of the 88 counties and stick it to my dash so that when I'm out driving and see a sticker number different from mine, I can tell what county they're from.

Before the number stickers, they would give you a sticker with the county name itself on it, and you would stick that on the plate centered below the number. They stopped this about 10 years ago.

 

A great system.
Old plates are often much more interesting than new ones. I was in Italy last month and they used to use 'ROMA' and then some numbers for Rome, MI for Milan, TO for Turin (Torino in Italian) and so on. Now, there is just a characterless jumble of letters and numbers.

 

New Mexico did the same thing. Before 1972, there were county codes in the form of a number (single digit) or stacked numbers (double digit) on the left, with the individual number on the right. In 72, they ditched the digits, as it were, and went to ABC-123 format with no county codes. In about 78 or 79, they started putting stickers with the county name on the top-center of the plates. They did that through about the mid-90's, then stopped. Now, there are no more county codes or stickers.

I learned that some states don't have their counties listed in alphabetical order when numbering them for the county codes...instead, they are listed/number-coded by population. And Idaho uses a letter for the first letter of the county name (i.e. plate "K-1234" would be from Kootenai County)...and if there are more than one county in the state that starts with the same letter, a number is used to state which county it is referring to (i.e. plate "8B-1234" would be from Bonneville County, the 8th county (alphabetically) that starts with "B" in Idaho).

I don't know why I think the whole county coding idea is neat, but I do. However, I don't see the reasoning for states to need to do it.

I was reading that in Wyoming, you can register your car in another county if you want to, even though a county coding system is in place...(so what's the point?) The most registrations are in the 2nd and 4th counties, and they have more vanity plates there than other counties, which I hear the vanity plates must still have the county code on the left. Makes for interesting vanity plates (i.e. "2-COOL", "4-MYWYF", etc).

 

My plate starts GK55... G is for 'The Garden of England' - which is what the county of Kent is known as - K is for the district of Tunbridge Wells and 55 means that it was registered in the second half of 2005. There are three more letters which are random.
A little controversial when it was first invented, I now think it's a great system.