Need to repair a license plate
Thread Starter
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 765
Likes: 4
From: Fairmount, Georgia
Need to repair a license plate
All right ladies and gents. I have a 1949 Georgia license plate that I would like to run on my truck. The problem is, I'm not happy with the condition. Now the paint is not a problem. The problem is, there are six holes in it that are not supposed to be there. They look like the right size for a .22 caliber rifle. Anybody got an idea on a good way to fill these? One is on the side of one of the raised numbers so I have to be able to follow the contour. Any suggestions? Pics are in the gallery in the album labeled ideas.
Post Fiend
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 7,641
Likes: 21
From: Poway, Ca.
There are lots of folks who reapir and restore license plates - I loked on line and found a place in Pennsylvania.
The guy told me it would take 6 weeks and cost $400 (three plates and two plastic casts). I sent him the plates and he billed my credit card right away. A year later I had to file a consumer complaint with the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office to get my plates back.
He did a great job on them but it was a nightmare.
The business name is "Darryls" and I would definately avoid doing business with him - if he's still in business.
There are a number of other places that could probably fix the plate or cast it (if that's legal in your state) OR, make a reproduction of it.
Good luck
The guy told me it would take 6 weeks and cost $400 (three plates and two plastic casts). I sent him the plates and he billed my credit card right away. A year later I had to file a consumer complaint with the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office to get my plates back.
He did a great job on them but it was a nightmare.
The business name is "Darryls" and I would definately avoid doing business with him - if he's still in business.
There are a number of other places that could probably fix the plate or cast it (if that's legal in your state) OR, make a reproduction of it.
Good luck
Thread Starter
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 765
Likes: 4
From: Fairmount, Georgia
There is a guy here that restores plates but he charges $70 - $100 depending on the shape it is in. That just seems like a lot of money to me and besides, I want to try it on my own.
Thread Starter
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 765
Likes: 4
From: Fairmount, Georgia
Hey Melissa. Nice to hear from you again. Been a long time since the f100 show. The only thing I am afraid of with welding is this thing is super thin and I am afraid I would make the holes bigger. That may be my only choice though.
Ah, what the hell. I will try it. Thanks to everybody for their help and if anyone else has a suggestion please feel free to pass it along.
FTE Legend
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 283,694
Likes: 8,276
From: northwestern Ontario
Is the metal curled in the back? Should be. I would try and staighten those curled metal out smooth, glass in the back side and just use filler on the front and paint. The welding process might bite you and make you wish you tried something else, the plate looks to be in pretty good condition other than the holes. I think if you took your time you could make it look fairly flawless, keep us posted. I remember my dad hanging all the out dated licence plates on the garage wall when I was a kid and think they were still there when he sold the place, they always looked new and couldn't figure out why he always needed new ones
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Trailering
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
From: Live Oak, California
Greetings!
I used this on-line business in Florida for a duplicate of a black and yellow California license plate.
https://www.licenseplates.tv/index.php
The web site has a feature that allows you to generate an image of the plate you need, so you can see it before ordering. These are likely be considered NOT legal for road use in many states, and they do NOT ship to California. The one I got for a vintage Ford (for show purposes...) was on stamped aluminum (the original is steel), the correct color paints, and a spot-on duplicate of the original rear license plate assigned by DMV. The only difference besides the aluminum base metal was an apostrophe in the right tab well ('63) where the original has none. They are considered concourse correct, they say.
Take a look. I would guess if you replaced the "holy" one with a duplicate, it would look pretty nice...
I used this on-line business in Florida for a duplicate of a black and yellow California license plate.
https://www.licenseplates.tv/index.php
The web site has a feature that allows you to generate an image of the plate you need, so you can see it before ordering. These are likely be considered NOT legal for road use in many states, and they do NOT ship to California. The one I got for a vintage Ford (for show purposes...) was on stamped aluminum (the original is steel), the correct color paints, and a spot-on duplicate of the original rear license plate assigned by DMV. The only difference besides the aluminum base metal was an apostrophe in the right tab well ('63) where the original has none. They are considered concourse correct, they say.
Take a look. I would guess if you replaced the "holy" one with a duplicate, it would look pretty nice...
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Trailering
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
From: Live Oak, California
Oh, I did not think $80 was too cheap, either, but the product is worth every dime, considering what they are asking for vintage, clean license plates at swap meets lately. Add to that the hassle of getting those swap meet nuggets past the DMV for a license number re-assignment on your old iron...
Lead Driver
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 7,669
Likes: 13
From: San Jose, CA
Greetings!
I used this on-line business in Florida for a duplicate of a black and yellow California license plate.
https://www.licenseplates.tv/index.php
The web site has a feature that allows you to generate an image of the plate you need, so you can see it before ordering. These are likely be considered NOT legal for road use in many states, and they do NOT ship to California. The one I got for a vintage Ford (for show purposes...) was on stamped aluminum (the original is steel), the correct color paints, and a spot-on duplicate of the original rear license plate assigned by DMV. The only difference besides the aluminum base metal was an apostrophe in the right tab well ('63) where the original has none. They are considered concourse correct, they say.
Take a look. I would guess if you replaced the "holy" one with a duplicate, it would look pretty nice...
I used this on-line business in Florida for a duplicate of a black and yellow California license plate.
https://www.licenseplates.tv/index.php
The web site has a feature that allows you to generate an image of the plate you need, so you can see it before ordering. These are likely be considered NOT legal for road use in many states, and they do NOT ship to California. The one I got for a vintage Ford (for show purposes...) was on stamped aluminum (the original is steel), the correct color paints, and a spot-on duplicate of the original rear license plate assigned by DMV. The only difference besides the aluminum base metal was an apostrophe in the right tab well ('63) where the original has none. They are considered concourse correct, they say.
Take a look. I would guess if you replaced the "holy" one with a duplicate, it would look pretty nice...
Might place an order for the second plate for each. This way it's on the front and back.
Senior User
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 208
Likes: 0
From: West of Ad-lanna, Jaw-ja
Ha, leave it to me to forget something important like that...it is a little thin to be welding. I dunno much about welding, but I imagine it wouldn't take much heat and if you go reeeeeeeeally slow with it, you might could pull it off. *shrug*
Post Fiend
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 7,641
Likes: 21
From: Poway, Ca.
Hey Melissa. Nice to hear from you again. Been a long time since the f100 show. The only thing I am afraid of with welding is this thing is super thin and I am afraid I would make the holes bigger. That may be my only choice though.
Ah, what the hell. I will try it. Thanks to everybody for their help and if anyone else has a suggestion please feel free to pass it along.
Ah, what the hell. I will try it. Thanks to everybody for their help and if anyone else has a suggestion please feel free to pass it along.