Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Okay, so maybe some of us have a complex about the Datsun Roadster because the general public doesn't know what they are, and make unintended wisecracks like who is Datsun?, is that a Fiat?, whatever.

So maybe some of us hope to make a statement of clarity via our license plates. I know I do.

Question to the group:
What are some of the other Roadster-related tags out there? In Maryland we get seven places for alpha-numeric. Other states are more generous. Maybe by sharing the nomenclature others can land a tag that is not already taken in their state.

I had to wait six years before DATSUN came available. In the 1970s, when Maryland first allowed what the state calls "vanity" tags, a woman who had a 240Z got "DATSUN" and held it until she apparently sold the car. This was according to a policeman-friend of mine who knew I wanted that plate and would check every so often as to whether the registration was still active.

Finally he said it had expired (I knew the expiration date and would pester him every other year of the bi-annual renewal), and I had to wait ANOTHER year as "renewal grace."

Seen: NOTAMG
CLICK the photo for better resolution. Thumbnail, at least on my monitor, scrambles the tags.

State of Georgia changed some it's license plate rules to allow Old Plates to be used again. You still have to get a current plate but you display the Old plate on the car. The rules only apply for Older cars and the plate must be the same year as the car.
What's cool about this is you don't have to pay any extra "Fee's" to use Older plates

So with that said, I have a 1965 plates registered to my 1965 Datsun. Just had to make sure it's car plates not truck plates!

New York, now allows for the use of period correct "vintage" plates on Classic/ historic cars.

I registered the Roadster as a classic and put 1969YOM(Year of Manufactured) issued plates on the car, makes it a bit more "authentic"

Pete has my old Washington plate "ROADSTA".

Oregon only allows 6 characters. I have "69 SRL" on Zippy.

Paul
Mine is kinda juvenile, but then again I did get it when I was 20 or 21, "MGSLAYR" I'm actually surprised it made it through DMV, probably wouldn't now.


Is this the same Paul I met in Frederick a few years ago?

I should have went to Dulles that year, largest Roadster outing they ever had. The following year I was the only Roadster there and the rain came down in buckets about 30 minutes into it.

Later
Mark

Both my 1500 and my 2000 have YOM plates. They were pretty easy to find. To make it more fun, I found a YOM Plate for my wife's car that has the last 4 digits of the VIN on it...

South Australia has re-released the "R" and "S" series alpha-numeric plates which can be purchased for a one off fee of $50.
These plates were the first issued in the late '60s so they are period correct for many of my cars.
I have also purchased: -
RPL-510 for my PL510 project,
RZG-250 for my 250ZG project [a 1973 240Z using an RB25DE engine and a G-nose body kit]


A fellow South Australian has these for his SR311.

Australia's number plate system must be somewhat like the UK's where the alpha-numeric sequence only goes round once, and that the registration and car usually are paired for life. That must make finding year-of-manufacture plates difficult since the demand is probably that much higher than as in the U.S., where license tags were typically discarded every year with renewal.

Glad to see NY and Georgia are among those allowing ANY license plate from the era to again be installed on a vehicle. There's been reluctance, I guess in case people start trying to sneak-by two cars on one registration.

But yes, it is also very cool to have "YOM" tags (an acronym I had not heard before now). In some areas, the use of such tags is restricted to parades, car shows, weekends and annual mileage. I'm not quite ready to limit the use of the car that way, especially since the occasional drive to work can be just plain exhilarating.

But you've reminded me that I've got a set of license plates on the shelf. I just went and dug them up. (amazing I found them, the way things are in the garage)

It was a few years ago that I was on a work-related assignment in a residential area, and saw some elderly people with a sign saying "YARD SALE." I had a few minutes and thought I'd drop in to their garage where all this stuff was accumulated. I picked up a few high-quality wrenches and was talking with the old gent, and I saw several sets of license plates nailed up along the garage rafters.

This took me WAY back to when I was a little kid.

My grandfather used to save his old license plates, nailing them up in the rafters just like this, every year when the new tags would come in from the DMV. It was quite a colorful array since they changed colors every year to help the police spot expired tags. Wish I would have saved all the ones he had accumulated; the earliest ones were the late 1950s. But they eventually moved, and the tags stayed.

So anyway, among the sets nailed up at this guy's place were a set of 1969s. This was before Maryland went to sticker renewal, where now we keep our license plates many, many years until there's a mandated design change. Makes me wonder whether the artistry of having "YOM" tags is, itself, a closed antiquity now.

Paul,

I run YOM plates on my cars in MD. The way the system worked in MD is the plates expired march 31st of the next year. The plates you have would be correct for a 68. The correct ones for 69 would expire in 70. You pay $5 to attach the YOM plates to the regular tags and need to have the regular ones on hand, mine are in the trunk


Mark

Mark, first let me say I'm looking forward to meeting up with you for the Dulles Airport car show next month. Nice to be back in touch.

But regarding vintage license plates, you're right, under the old annual renewal, the bulk of the year's validity is ahead, and one year newer from the model year.

I guess the state's thinking was that most people "see" the year on the license plate, not the expiration date.

From the MVA website:

Application for the Use of Vintage Registration Plates “ If you possess vintage (old) license plates that are dated the same year as your vehicle's model year, you may apply to display these vintage license plates on the vehicle, in place of the historic tags that are usually displayed. However, the historic tags will still be issued and must be carried in the vehicle at all times. There is a one-time fee for the use of vintage tags.

FairladySPL wrote:Mark, first let me say I'm looking forward to meeting up with you for the Dulles Airport car show next month. Nice to be back in touch..

I will be at The Glen. The Dulles show is the same weekend as Watkins Glen 4 out of 5 years......

shifty wrote:Pete has my old Washington plate "ROADSTA".

Yup. Just look left at my avatar.

Funny seeing the two DATS FUN plates. I was going to get that one, but went with the YOM plate instead

I was thinking of getting


NO ITSA

Here's mine: