Vintage License Plate for the TR6

Running a "year of manufacture" plate is a nice touch on an old car. Your ability to do this depends on where you live. Fortunately North Carolina provides the following statute for cars 35 years or older. Print the following section and put it in your car along with your current plate. Many local law enforcement officers are not familiar with the law.

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HB 704 Chapter 257 An act to permit drivers of Antique cars not to display the current registration plate under certain circumstances.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1. G. S. 20-63 (d) is amended by adding a new sentence at the end to read:

"Any motor vehicle of the age of 35 years or more from the date of manufacture may bear the license plates of the year of manufacture instead of the current registration plates, if the current registration plates are maintained within the vehicle and produced upon the request of any person."

Section 2. This act is effective upon ratification.

Robert B Jordan III President of the Senate Liston B. Ramsey Speaker of the House of Representative

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Plate Quest
I picked up this plate locally on EBay for the tidy sum of $6.30. I could have purchased one in good condition for $15 but then I would not have had the fun (??) of restoring it.
Colour Quest
Finding the appropriate colours was more difficult than I had anticipated. Sure I could have cleaned up the plate and had the colours scanned and custom mixed, but its a $6 plate! Besides, how many people will actually notice the difference? The white was easy to find at a local auto parts store. There are not many green cars these days - at least not in the colour used on the 1971 plate.
Paints used:
Etch Primer : Duplicolor Self Etching primer (Auto Zone)
Green : Forest Green 2774N (Northern Tool)
White : Wimbledon White BFM0041 (AutoZone)
Clear Coat : Dupicolor, (Autozone)

Other Materials:
Sandpaper - Wet/dry 800 and 1000 grit

And the secret weapon: a cutoff pencil used as a sanding block. I cut the sandpaper in narrow 1.5 cm strips and wrapped them around the pencil for wet sanding.

"Let me see you stripped down to the bone...."

(No Depeche Mode fans in the house? Oh well.)The first step is to strip the plate down to bare metal. You can do this with chemical strippers, wire brush or media blasting. I used glass bead in my media blasting cabinet followed by etch primer.
Paint the letter colour next: 4 coats of green followed by four good coats of clear. The clear coat forms a barrier between the letter and background colours to protect the letters while sanding off the background.
Spray the white background after the clear coats are dry. The background should be shot onto the plate in as few coats as possible that give a solid finish. Two coats were enough.
When the background is dry start sanding with 800 grit then finish with 1000 grit. In this picture the "2" is being sanded with 800 grit while the "SP" has been finished with 1000. "SP" indicates this was a "State Park" tag. I wonder if law enforcement will notice that...
Finish with another four clear coats.All done -baby got back!
Now go for a drive...
"Hey man, what year is your car?"
"Its on the plate, yo!" :)