I love year-of-manufacture (YOM) license plates. Nothing tops off a fine restoration or a good original better than a pair of license plates from the year the car was built.

Fortunately, I was able to run YOM plates in Minnesota, and took advantage of it by running them on both '55 Cadillacs. (I never added them to my '62 Caddy, since the 1962 Minnesota plate is almost identical to the black-and-white collector plate.)

I received a note from a fellow Caddy collector in Wisconsin who said he's working with a representative who may write a bill allowing YOM plates in Wisconsin, and all I can say is "It’s about time." Because YOM plates are not permitted on cars in this state, I still register most of my old cars to Minnesota under my parent’s name so I can run year of manufacture (YOM) plates. (In Minnesota, you also do not have to run a front license plate on a pre-1968 car, which I also like to take advantage of. This may also be part of the Wisconsin bill.)

They tried passing a bill to allow YOM plates before in Wisconsin, and just a few years ago, but they were not successful. As I understand it, people who helped draft the original collector license plate policy in Wisconsin had a hand in drafting the YOM plate bill that did not pass. When working on the previous YOM bill, these hobbyists were trying to make it so every collector had to have their car registered to a collector license plate, even if they displayed a YOM plate. The problem would be, when an officer pulls up the number for a YOM plate displayed on the car, it would not be in the system since the car was actually registered to a collector plate stored in the car. The officer would have to have the owner pull out their collector plate from the trunk or glove box in order to find its record. Of course, such a process is ridiculous and the bill didn’t get anywhere.

In Minnesota, and in many other states, owners can register their car to the YOM plate or a collector plate. The state collects the same fee for YOM plates as it does the collector plate, but the owner gets to choose which one to register their car under. If the owner wants to register their car with a YOM plate, they must bring the plate to the DMV, which checks to make sure the number is not already taken and the plates are in good condition (and are dated to the year of the car).

The only problem is, when buying a used YOM plate, the purchaser doesn’t know if the number on the plate is taken until they get to the DMV, but I have heard very few people grumble about this or even encounter a problem. Also, if the owner of a 1955 Chevy runs collector plates, they can change to YOM plates at a later date and back again, though they have to pay a processing fee of some kind.

If Wisconsin follows policies enacted by Minnesota and other states, Wisconsin hobbyists with low numbers can keep and continue to use their collector plates, or they can register their car to YOM plates. Just not both.

I also think that, if we're going to start messing with collector plates in Wisconsin, the DMV should change the color of the collector plates to something legible. I don’t know the color wheel very well, but I do know red and blue do not mix. And whey the colors are mixed on a license plate, making out the numbers is impossible. Why not the old yellow-and-black again? Nothing says "dairyland" like yellow. Am I right?

If I learn of any traction to YOM plates in Wisconsin, I'll keep you posted right here on my blog.

Not too long ago, I told you about the trailer exhibit leaving the Petersen Automotive Museum. Well, officials at the museum came through with some wild photos of a mid-air Airstream and a hanging Hunt House Car.
Enjoy!

Trailers Take Flight After Museum Closes Exhibit

(Los Angeles, CA February 13, 2009) Eight pre-1940 camping vehicles took a road less traveled on Tuesday during the move out of the From Autocamps to Airstreams: The Early Road to Vacationland exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum. This six-month exhibition was one of many themed temporary exhibits that the museum uses to capture the imagination of its visitors in order to educate them. These vehicles were arranged in chronological order in an illustrative campsite setting.

To get these large recreational vehicles in and out of the Grand Salon on the second floor was no easy feat. The spiral ramps at the ends of the attached parking structure are too confined to use for anything that large, so a crane from Specialty Crane and Rigging was brought in to assist. One by one, the vehicles were loaded on to an adjustable purpose-built platform and gently took a 30-second flight down to Fairfax Avenue where they were off loaded.

Ironically, one of the campers that took flight was custom-built for Charles Lindberg, who was the first person to fly non-stop from New York to Paris in 1927, and another was a 1935 Curtiss Aerocar built by the company of the same name founded by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss.

The Grand Salon is currently being prepared for the next exhibit, What Were They Thinking? The Misfits of Motordom, which opens February 28th. This new exhibit will explore vehicle ideas where "thinking outside of the box" didn't live up to the success that it may have promised.

The Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity. The Museum is located at 6060 Wilshire Boulevard (at Fairfax) in Los Angeles.  Admission prices are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and students with ID, and $3 for children ages 5 to 12. Museum members and children under five are admitted free. Covered parking is available for $8.00 per car. Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 10am to 6pm. For general Museum information, call 323/930-CARS or visit the Museum’s Web site address at www.petersen.org.

This week’s issue of Old Cars Weekly is packed with how-to stories to inspire you to head into the garage, whether you’re in warm or cold climes. Gerald Perschbacher covers the replacement of a leather top on his 1937 Packard Formal Sedan, while John Gunnell shows you some tips on replacing the heat duct work on postwar Pontiacs. You’ll also be able to follow the procedure for replacing floor pans in a finned Chrysler Corp. products, although the process is the same for nearly every type of car.

For collectors living in areas where winter means sub-zero temperatures and several inches or feet of snow, this time of year is often looked upon as an opportunity to catch up on improvements and maintenance of an old car. For those who are even braver, this down time is seen as a chance to dive wrench first into a complete restoration.

With my Cadillac engine at the machine shop this winter, I hoped to proceed with several small projects around the engine compartment. There is a bundle of wires that need replacement, correct hoses and clamps to order and some engine decals to search out. My progress has been slow, but here are some things I have done during the cold to help my project move along that may also help you with your project:

Order catalogs and check Web sites: Now is a good time to make a list of all the parts your vehicle needs and perhaps even those you might want. While searching through catalogs, you may find parts you didn’t know your vehicle even needed.

Research: To the benefit of its members, the Cadillac & LaSalle Club offers authenticity manuals for several eras of the cars it represents. Perhaps your club offers a similar product. Use factory photos and literature and compare the pictured features with questionable items on your car. Unanswered questions may be directed to a club technician.

Used parts hunting: Even in northern climates, winter weather lets up every once in a while, providing great opportunities for hitting the local salvage yard.

Restore components: If you have the appropriate space and ventilation indoors, sand and paint the parts to your vehicle and re-install them when the weather warms.

Perhaps these ideas will get you started or help you complete a few projects so your vehicle is ready for the road on the first, nice spring day.

The Petersen Automotive Museum's popular “From Autocamps to Airstreams” exhibit will close February 8, and if you hang around Los Angeles for a couple days after the exhibit closes, you might get to catch a few of the trailers hanging, literally, from the top of the museum. The exhibit is in the second floor and requires craning 9 of the pre-1940 trailers down to street level, because they are too large to go through the curved ramps of the parking structure. It will be quite a spectacle on Fairfax Avenue on Tuesday, February 10th. If you missed the installation craning last June, this will be a good time to experience and record something that you are not likely to see again.
 

Here's my near-perfect, first-generation Riv: a 1965, with the clamshell headlamps and the tail lamps in the rear bumper. I'll take a GS model with a dual-quad 425-cid V-8.

Last night, former Old Cars Weekly staffer Chad Elmore pointed me to an eBay Motors auction offering a ca.-2004 Chrysler 300 once owned by prez-elect Obama. The bidding? $99.5 million as of last night. The seller was also quick to point out that a piece of Obama's half-eaten food fetched $20K and that Bo Duke's General Lee was bid up to an insane amount of money. So, naturally, the Chrysler was worth the big bids.

The eBay bidding was by registered bidder only, though I still highly doubt that bidding was legitimately up to $99.5 million (in fact, the auction has been pulled). Was it a PR stunt timed with the Arizona auction action? I don't know, but as a former seller on eBay who occasionally sold Hot Wheels cars, and one who is among many that is not happy with eBay/Pay Pal's growing fees, I suspected it might be a way for the company to get some attention during the live auction action in Arizona.

Thanks, but I'll do all my car bidding live or in-person where I know who I'm dealing with...

Here's a link to the original auction:
Auction

 

Unless you were a subscriber to the now-defunct Toy Cars & Models magazine, you probably don't  know I'm also a toy car collector (when you run out of garage to store your favorite cars, you have to go smaller -- with the cars, that is). As a result of this interest, I have written already written a Hot Wheels book timed with the brand's 40th anniversary and am now working on a second book of the redline era. To illustrate the book, our photographer, Kris Kandler, and I drove to Tennessee last weekend to take photographs of an insane redline collection. Nearly all of my favorite redlines were in the collection: Custom Camaros, Custom Cougars, Custom Mustangs and my favorite of all, Olds 442s in every color but purple. Best of all, they were absolutely mint.

But, my interest in full-size cars always takes a front seat to other hobbies, and during our drive, I kept an eye out for interesting cars hiding in backyards, along the side of the road and anywhere else old tin lurks. And I was disappointed.

The area we traveled to was near Bristol, Tenn., and I hoped the spotting would be good. Alas, I spotted a "Bullet Bird" beneath a tarp and a primered '80s Monte Carlo Aerocoupe on blocks in a backyard. But not one other car.

So, where is all the good metal in Tennessee? I'm hoping to go back there to cover the Forge muscle car show later this year and am looking for any good leads. I suspect there are lots of good Fords and MoPars in the area to check out, so I'm relying on you to tell me where the hunting is good!