Re: painting vintage license plates

[Jim Altemose <jaltemoose@xxxxxxxxx>]

Great thinking Dan.  I have a good friend who air-brushes amazing
hot-rod and motorcycle art for a living.  It didn't even occur to me
to ask him about something like license plates.  I'll file that under
'ignorant'.

- Jim
Jim Altemose, Long Island, NY
'63 Polara 500 (Max Wedge)
'63 Polara 500 (383)
'65 Belvedere I (Street Wedge)
'71 Bronco


On Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 10:46 AM, Dan McCormack <mcwheels@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Thanks Jim, I can always use a good laugh and I'm always glad to find out there's other people besides me that have these trial and error disasters. Third time is a charm isn't always true is it. LOL
>
> First let me say that yes we are allowed in NY to register a vintage car with Year of Manufacture plates but..... They have to be a matched pair (if 2 plates were used in that year) of original unrestored plates. They are not allowed to be repainted. That being said my story starts with me buying a pair of 1936 NY plates for my 36 Plymouth at Hershey for $45.00. After I got home I had a friend of mine who's a police dispatcher run the number. (I get by with a little help from my friends) He found out that the number was already in use on a 69 Chevy owned by some 85 year old woman I so couldn't use them. Damn old lady probably's had the number since 1936. LOL Anyway I found another matched set on eBay that were much better condition than the first set. I had my friend run the number before I bid on them this time and got them for $14.00.
>
> Here's what I did:
> 1. Cleaned dirt off plates and took picture to send to DMV in Albany. (before repainting)
>
> 2. Used fine steel wool to scuff up old paint and remove small rust spots.
>
> 3. Wiped off plates with lacquer thinner.
>
> 4. Sprayed plates with Rustoleum Satin Black and let dry.
>
> 5. Gave plates to a friend of mine who's a sign painter. (Again I get by with a little help from my friends)
>
> 6. He painted the letters back on with a brush and one shot yellow paint. (the same paint used by pinstripers)
>
> 7. Got plates back in 2 weeks. (Can't rush a friend who's doing you a favor for nothing) The plates look totally original.
>
> Two things in closing, Krylon clear coat is a lacquer based product so that's why it ate up the Krylon enamel. (been there done that LOL)
>
> Also I've since found out that if you want to check if a number is in use (at least in NY) and you don't have a police dispatcher friend you can go the NY DMV website. There is place on the website where you can type in a number for a vanity plate to see if it's available. It won't tell you who has the number but it will tell you if that number is in use or not.
>
> Dan,
> NY  36
> 8D 90-23
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Altemose [mailto:jaltemoose@xxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 1:56 PM
> To: 1962to1965mopars
> Subject: OT: painting vintage license plates
>
>
> Hopefully this isn't too off-topic.  I'm sure some of you may try to
> restore vintage license plates for your car.  Maybe this can save you
> some trouble.  In NY I'd guess it's the same as much of the country in
> that you can register a real vintage plate if it's the correct year
> for the car and not in current use.
>
> There's guys on the Web you can find to do it for about $75 per plate,
> which may well be worth it.  I'm too stubborn and ignorant to think I
> can't do everything myself.  It took my dumb a$$ five tries to get it
> right, but they finally came out real nice.
>
> Here's what worked:
> 1. Paint remover to take off majority of paint.  Blasting cabinet for the rest.
>
> 2. Sprayed base-coat primer using white Rustoleum metal primer.
>
> 3. Sprayed letter color 12 coats with Krylon Indoor/Outdoor.  Why
> Krylon?  They had the right color.
>
> 4. Sprayed 12 coats of Rustoleum Clear Enamel to thicken and protect
> layer.  Why?  KRYLON CLEAR COAT RUINS KRYLON PAINT.  More on that
> later.
>
> 5. Sprayed 4 coats (or enough to cover) of Krylon Indoor/Outdoor
> background color.
>
> 6. Very gently sanded off letters and edge with 900 grit emory.  Used
> a tiny square with my finger tip.  Took about 1/2 hour per letter.
> Touched up where necessary.
>
> 7. Sprayed 12 coats of Rustoleum Clear Enamel to finish.
>
> I'm very pleased with the final results.
>
>
> In case you want to learn from my mistakes, here's what didn't work.
>
> 1. Similar sanding method as above, but with a block.  Letters weren't
> as uniform height as you'd think.  Got to metal quickly.  Strip it
> again, start over.
>
> 2. Spray on background.  Roll on letters with a small detail roller.
> Impossible to get full coverage without splatter and without getting
> down edges of letters.  Strip it, start over.
>
> 3. Spray on background.  Hand paint with a fine brush.  You better be
> Bob F'n Ross.  Very hard to not get edges.  Don't sneeze, burp or
> fart.  Start over.
>
> 4. Back to sanding method.  Sprayed on Krylon letter color.  Then
> sprayed on Krylon Clear Coat.  Gee, you'd think it would say somewhere
> on the can they're incompatible.  Paint got sticky and bubbled up in
> spots like it was paint remover.  Boy that one put me in a bad mood.
>
> Hit on the correct combo of Rustoleum and Krylon after trial and error
> on scrap plates.  It all sticks real good.
>
> I never tried masking tape or vaseline; they might have been next.
>
>
> A word about color selection.  I couldn't find the right letter color
> in any stores, so had to go on line.  Rustoleum didn't have anything
> close.  Krylon had a whole bunch, but they were 1/4 inch sample
> swatches.  I'm handy with computers and Photoshop, so I brought into
> Photoshop jpg images from the Web of the license plates.  Then I was
> able to select a Photoshop pen with the same color from the swatches.
> I could then paint right over the letters on the plates and compare
> the colors.  Worked well for me.
>
> Anyway, that's my story.  I hope I can save someone some of the hours
> I lost drinking beer and listening to music and watching paint dry.
> Actually, I guess it wasn't so bad.
>
> - Jim
> Jim Altemose, Long Island, NY
> '63 Polara 500 (Max Wedge)
> '63 Polara 500 (383)
> '65 Belvedere I (Street Wedge)
> '71 Bronco
>
>
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