I finally got the Michigan license plate that was attached to my 71 442 convert when it was in Pennsylvania. It is a black plate dated 1979. Did Michigan issue new plates every year in the 70's? Did plates stay with the car or the owner on resales? If the last Michigan plate on this car was 1979, but the car was first registered in Pennsylvania in 1982, it could mean the car left Micigan after 1979 but was not used until 1982. Or was not used in Michigan between 1979 and 1982. Or went somewhere else. Any help from you long time Michigan residents would be helpful.
For as long as I can remember, in Michigan the plates stay with the owner, not the car. He can transfer the plates to another vehicle for a little less than it would cost to buy a brand new plate. But I'm sure many plates stayed with cars. Some sellers don't know they can/should keep them. Others are not replacing the vehicle, so why keep the plate? Michigan issued new plates every year at least through the early 70s. I could be totally off here, but I think 1977 was the first year we could keep prior year plates. I remember how cool it was to have the Bicentennial plates in '76 with a US flag theme on them instead of just a solid color. But I could be wrong about this; I was pretty young back then. Maybe some old coot here remembers better. Dave H? :moonu: Have you tried a title search? With today's privacy laws, maybe they don't give out names any more. But I would think Michigan could tell you when the car was last titled in Michigan and first titled elsewhere.
the 79 plate was used for many years after 79, with the sticker tab... until '76, as noted above owner the 79 plate was used in 81....... it was probably still in Michigan Any help from you long time Michigan residents would be helpful.
At the risk of responding to another age discriminatorial testimonial from another not so young himself smart ass , I can only add the following: 1972 used small stickers on the corner of the maroon and white 1971 plate. I think 1970 was the last year of the one year only plate. Most old Michigan plates ended up as floor patches for the rusted out pieces of $hit we drove back then. They were made in prisons when you could actually ask the inmates to do something without violating thier civil rights. You can register old same year plates on any car older than 25 years with a permanent plate that doesn't need to be renewed (until the Ladyguv decides to change those rules, too). One problem with that, though, is if the number you want to register is already registered on another plate from another year, you're S.O.L. Just happened to me on an unissued set of 1966 plates that I paid a bunch of $$ to get. Apparently someone already registered those numbers from another year. You can also paint the plates any color you want as the copy you send in to the state for registering is a black and white copy from a copy machine. I would imagine you could change the numbers or years or whatever your little old heart desires also as long as someone else hasn't used that combo. Michigan Manufacturer plates (M plates) are quite desirable (like Casey's Biscayne). Wouldn't take a lot of trick tin work to make one of your year from another newer one and paint it.
So I may assume this plate could have nothing to do with the car I purchased. It was sitting in the trunk (maybe to be a patch someday). In any event, now that I have the number is there any source that may shed some light on owbnership?
Well Dave, all I really remember about 1970 is that was the year my Dad had the new garage built for this car
It may have been the last plate issued to that car in Michigan. Don't know anyway to trace anything from the plate number. I always thought there was a way to trace a car's ownership history from the VIN through the Secretary of State. I think that's what they do when they issue new titles to cars over 25 years old here with no titles. I don't have any connections there, though. Donny: I bought my first and only Vette in 1970 for $500. A mint 60 roadster with a tired original engine and a 3 speed. Sold it a year later for the down payment on our first house: $1650 with a fresh hot dog 12.5 to 1 301 in it (bored out the original block). Nice very fast car.
My dictionary defines: Coot (koot) n. 1. A kind of water bird, especially one with a horny white plate on the forehead. o No: Paul, I think you can still get your complete title history from Michigan. I haven't heard of the 10-year limit before, but I'll admit it's been a while since I asked. Check out this link from our Secretary of State's website: Michigan Title Search Check out the pdf form at the bottom of the page. They charge you $7 per record, where a record is any transaction. So if your car was sold 10 times in Michigan, it would cost you $70. They used to be able to tell you how many records there are before you paid; I don't know if that's still true or if you have to cut them a blank check.
On the trail. Thanks Brian I think you have put me on the right path here. This kind of persistance paid off when I was doing the research on my Chrysler 300. The history of a car I own is a critical part of its documentation. A write up on my 300 FYI. http://www.chrysler300club.com/stories/martin/300f.html
Paul, keep us posted on what you find about the process in Michigan. That's a great story about your 300F. All history searches should be performed so thoroughly -- no wonder your efforts were rewarded! I especially like the idea of sending the lady pictures of your family. Smooth. I wish I was so lucky. For my W-30, I know the most recent owner (local), and his friend in Alabama who picked up the car for him. I also know the name of the original owner. But I'm missing everyone in between. After some internet research and many phone calls, I found the brother of the original owner. He remembered the car and chatted for a while, but was unable or unwilling to put me in touch with his brother. It was a little strange; I couldn't figure out if he was dead, estranged, or maybe just didn't have a phone (this is rural Alabama......). And the original "dealer" was nothing but a garage, now non-existent. If only I could locate the missing links, I could verify the mileage and maybe even find the 2 missing original parts: the Q-jet and exhaust manifolds. The original owner's brother also mentioned the car was raced, so maybe there's some interesting history there, too.
I can vouch that the '74 plate was a '73 with a sticky tab...except for the Manufacturer plate, which was stamped "1974". :Smarty:
It doesn't matter for the 300's history, but Michigan used tabs earlier than the 1970's. 1964 passenger plates are rare/unavailable without the metal renewal tabs. There were times in the 50's when renewals were with metal tabs.
Maybe the use of tabs instead of new plates every year correlates with prison overcrowding.......??????? That being the case, surprised our Lady GUV hasn't changed the laws and require new plates every month here or that we buy next years plates now.....like she has with the property taxes. Maybe even try the "lifetime" plates concept like she did on trailers. Any time a trailer changes hands, you have to buy a new "lifetime" plate. Wouldn't that be something with cars? p.s. please don't forward this note to her......... uzzled:
Stopped in my tracks I spoke with a rep at the record lookup awhile ago and they said, there would not be any info on my car as there had been no transactions since 1982 (the year it was registered in Penn.) I cant believe a state would not have some info. I have gotten similar info from Missouri,Kansas and Oregon that went back over 40 years. I understand each state has its own guidelines. Anybody know some one who works for the State Dept.
Well that sucks. Are they saying that they have no records prior to '82? Or that their policy is to not produce such records? If the latter, it seems to me that filing a Freedom of Information Act form would force them to produce whatever they have. I'm no lawyer -- maybe one of you could pipe up. Of course, the downside of going the FOI route, if successful, is that they might get smart and destroy all old records so as to rid themselves of pesky car enthusiasts such as us.
