Restored Original Texas License Plates

[Clark K.]

The following is a courtesy recommendation from a fellow NCRS member. For any Texas owner of a vintage Corvette, there are original plates available for your car. I bought a completely restored set of two 1965 Texas passenger car plates for my '65 coupe (see attached photo of the partial front plate). Today, at the La Grave Field Swap Meet in Fort Worth, I bought some original, unrestored Texas plates for my '75 Chevy Cosworth for only $30. The older the plates and the more work required to restore them causes the price to increase.

The guy who sells the vintage plates lives in Farmer's Branch (outside Dallas). He goes to many of the Texas swap meets, but not all. His specialty is completely restoring old Texas plates. You can contact Mike Schmidt: 972-4068021 or pl8doc@gmail.com . Mr. Schmidt guarantees that his plates will pass the Tx DOT inspection. If they do not, or another Texas resident has the same number, he will refund your money or exchange the plates. -Clark

[Joseph K.]

Re: Restored Original Texas License Plates

Clark......Do you happen to know if you can have your original texas plate number re-manufactured? I know the original number for my caars plate but do not have the plates themselves............Kirby

[Clark K.]

Re: Restored Original Texas License Plates

I want to be sure to tell everyone that I am NOT a Texas license plate expert. The guy I recommended to our members only restores vintage plates that he buys from his sources. He can also restore plates that you supply to him for such a purpose. However, I do not believe that it is legal for anyone but the state of Texas to reproduce Texas license plates. But, I encourage you to contact Mr. Schmidt to find out for sure. -Clark

[Larry C.]

Re: Restored Original Texas License Plates

Joseph,

Go to www.licenseplates.tv and click on USA/State plates, then on the particular State you want. You can create whatever number you want, see it as it will look and the plates appear very original, except that they're stamped from aluminum stock. Unless you pick it up, you probably wouldn't know the difference. I have seen one set of Texas plates in person and they looked great.

Few years ago, I checked out these plates on the website (not exactly cheap) and after deciding to order two, I found that when you click on Texas, you get only the Eurostyle plate, not the normal USA/State plate. It seems that all the other State plates look original but not sure why the Texas plate is only in Eurostyle. Might try contacting the website to see what the deal is on the Texas plate. Larry

[Larry C.]

Re: Restored Original Texas License Plates

I emailed the website www.licenseplates.tv today and got a response on the question of reproductions Texas plates. Seems that the State of Texas has requested/or demanded that this company not reproduce Texas plates.

Earlier I had inquired at a county vehicle licensing dept and learned that they won't register anything other than an originally manufactured Texas plate. Fail to see the harm in using a reproduction plate on a display car, though. But, guess you can't do that either. Larry