Re: IML: California black license plates

I guess I just never thought about it. My car, the 1965 Imperial, came from New Mexico, but did live in California for a while and is practically rust-free. I had a 1977 Chrysler New Yorker that my parents bought new in Corpus Christi, Texas, and I drove it until 1993, when I sold it, and that car didn't have any rust or corrosion on it. Body-wise, it shined like it just came off the showroom floor.

Timothy Callaway

1965 Imperial Crown

The hub-ub is that a car with black plates still on it means that the car is an original California car, which pretty much means that it will have little or no rust anywhere, even underneath. There are some cases where the owner lived right on the seashore, so there are a few original California cars around that have some body rust – but generally, it’s a pretty safe assumption that there is nothing serious. My own 67 (written up extensively on the IML site) had rust under the vinyl top, because the car was poorly stored from 1978 until I got it in 1992- it was under a tree with all the leaf debris sitting on the roof for 14 years!. That car had never been out of Los Angeles county since new (It was only driven in town by a very elderly lady, and had 35,000 Miles on it). But it still did have rust on it due to the vinyl top and lack of care.

Dick Benjamin