Nothing special about it. If the plates are still presentable, they stay on the car - California doesn't ever scrap a plate - no matter how many years they are in use. The last time California scrapped old plates was in early 1963, when the black plates were issued for the first time. The old yellow 1956-62 plates were scrapped at that time. California, and most other states, has a Year-of-Manufacture plate provision also, in which you can pay an extra fee and get permission to use a correct year plate on your pre-1963 car. For example, I have 1956 California plates on my 1956 Packard, 1955 California plates on my 1955 Packard, etc. These are fully legit, we get a tiny tag to put on the plate each year signifying that we've paid the license fee. It seems to me that NJ used to keep the same plate number year after year (Mine was PL 15 S), but they issued new plates with the same number to you, year after year. What a waste! Dick Benjamin ----- Original Message ----- From: "dave brown" <imperial1usa@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 9:39 AM Subject: Re: IML: "Black Plate" > Its a west coast thing .... California apparently has some special old car > plates.(lol) Someone from the west will have to fill you in. > > Dave in NJ > 64 Crown Coupe > (2) 66 LeBaron