CA Blue Plate re-registraton contacts / help?

[LongRanger]

. . . you need a clean pair of blue Cali tags. I have a nearly spotless set that are yours if you want them. Free . . .

Can't beat free! . . .



. . . circa '76-issue




........

[Bullethead]

. . . circa '76-issue

Sorry, I missed that bit... so, he really is looking for 1970 issued tags. BTW, how do you know that from looking at the plates? Just curious.

[Jim Breazeale]

Sorry, I missed that bit... so, he really is looking for 1970 issued tags. BTW, how do you know that from looking at the plates? Just curious.

There is a 1970 sticker at the bottom of the stack.

[NeunElf]

Sorry, I missed that bit... so, he really is looking for 1970 issued tags. BTW, how do you know that from looking at the plates? Just curious.

The HOW is that the first plate issued in 1969 was 000 AAA and 999 ZZZ was the last plate of the sequence in 1980.

I believe the order would have been 000 AAA, 001 AAA,... 999 AAA then 000 AAB, 001 AAB...

I could be wrong about some details, but the gist is, they came out in a fairly predictable sequence.



In the days before computer networks (not that the California DMV has mastered computer networks in 2019) they'd start by sending blocks of license plates to each DMV office. I did find the list for the yellow on black plates:

Initial Black Plate blocks by DMV Office

I don't recall where I found that list, but there are people who know these things.


It's time for me to head to the DMV for my REAL ID. If I don't post again this year, I'm at the DMV.

[LongRanger]

. . . how do you know that from looking at the plates? . . .

CA started issuing 6-place blue-plates for new registrations, beginning 01-Nov 1969, and ending ~April '82 . . . ~13 years later

From the plates that I've seen, I'd guesstimate that there were ~2 - 2.5 series issued per year --- but these were never distributed evenly. (Some DMV offices have heavier reg traffic than others --- and so would burn-through their plate allocation faster . . . while smaller/more-remote offices would've had 'older' series plates for a while longer = the guesstimation)

I also had an 'R' plate issued in June '76 and a 'W' plate issued in April '81

Anyway, going by my 'R' plate --- issued @Costa Mesa DMV in Orange County (high-volume) . . . I'd guess that the earliest an 'S' plate would've been issued to've been circa-1976



But to be fair . . .

. . . a 'later' plate can always be issued to an 'earlier' car --- like when a used car was re-tagged . . .

. . . but you can't hang an 'earlier' plate on a 'later' car . . .


. . . like putting a '70-issue plate on a car that wasn't built 'till '73





Hey --- it happens. But I'm prolly one of three Guys who even notice, so . . .



....

[stout]

The original blue plates on my very early 1973 914 are 187 GTT...which I didn't think too much about until I ran across a silver 1973 911S in my office park in Novato, CA with the plate 188 GTT. The 911S had just been purchased out of LA, and was said to be a very nice original car (maybe from down there). Have no idea where my 914 was sold new, but it's been in my family since 1986 and with me since ~1991. Perhaps both cars are from the same Porsche dealer (near Lancaster?) and were sold in close approximation to one another. Wish I knew where that 911S was now. Last I knew, it belonged to a guy who ran a place called Paris Printing. I think he lived in the East Bay.

There's a parallel thread to this one going on 914world.com, and a blue plate 914 2.0 in San Diego—likely on original blue plates—has a KMQ sequence that corresponds with the black-plate list above for San Diego. Wonder if they just switched from letters-numbers to numbers-letters while keeping the sequence for each DMV office the same?

Good point about high- vs low-volume DMV offices...

[Arne]

Boy, am I glad Oregon's process for this is simpler than CA!

[70SATMan]

The HOW is that the first plate issued in 1969 was 000 AAA and 999 ZZZ.

I believe the order would have been 000 AAA, 001 AAA,... 999 AAA then 000 AAB, 001 AAB...

I could be wrong about some details, but the gist is, they came out in a fairly predictable sequence.



In the days before computer networks (not that the California DMV has mastered computer networks in 2019) they'd start be sending blocks of license plates to each DMV office. I did find the list for the yellow on black plates:

Initial Black Plate blocks by DMV Office

I don't recall where I found that list, but there are people who know these things.


It's time for me to head to the DMV for my REAL ID. If I don't post again this year, I'm at the DMV.

That’s so cool. I didn’t know that the blocks were issued like that. I wonder if they followed the same issue when switching to blue plates. I’ve not been able to track down the original delivery of my 70S but I do know that my plates are original to the car. “BMJ”

Did the dealers back then issue the plates on a new car or did the owner plate the car themselves?

[LongRanger]

. . . Did the dealers back then issue the plates on a new car or did the owner plate the car themselves? . . .

Back Then, Dealers charged me for my tags, then gave me a 'temporary' registration that was taped inside the windshield. Plates came in the mail, a few weeks later

Still have some of the envelopes

AFaIK, this is still the process

When I think about it, unless there's a DMV (or an authorized agent = AAA) inside the Dealership, plates + tags are state property and wouldn't be handed-out by just anyone, would they?


The only plates + tags that I ever took direct possession of were the ones that were issued to me when I personally registered a vehicle at the DMV . . . used cars, out-of-state titles, etc


.

[72targa]

My CA Blue plates from '72 are ### Fxx. My friend's '73 are ### Hxx.