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crazy price for vintage dealer license plate frames

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vich57

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I was watching these on ebay, since I believe my car was originally sold by Ellis Brooks Chevrolet.
In my fantasy, I’d swoop in at the last minute and pick them up.
But it got out of control at $460 early on. I had no idea they’d go for the astronomical sum of $787 – just for a pair of license plate frames!
Oh well, I wanted one with a blue background anyway, to match the one I picked up earlier for a song and a dance (relatively).
Vic
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#7 ·
License plate frames have been going nuts for years now. I tried finding any old Chevy dealer frames from the old dealerships in my area, and they just go more than I'm willing to pay.
I ended up finding a vintage custom frame that looks like it's maybe 50's or 60's, with no name on it. Not what I want, but better than a modern frame until I can stumble upon what I do want at a swap meet maybe.
 
#9 ·
Another thing you run into is some of the older vintage plates are not as big as current plates since they did not have as many numbers. I have YOM 1954 plates on my 54 Olds and they are smaller. I found a set of vintage Olds license frames. They have nothing on them but are two piece and adjustable for different size plates. They weren't cheap but were affordable.
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
Old Man said:
How can someone find out what dealer they’re car was purchased from?
Click to expand...
In my case, there was a dealer badge attached to the trunk, so I assume that's who sold the car originally.
It's also possible it passed through the dealer's hands as a used car, but I have no way to tell.
If you don't have any information from the previous or original owner, and the car didn't come with any documentation, there's no source of data I know of that could help identify the original dealer.
Some states might allow querying their records, but I expect older DMV records might have been on paper and may have been discarded by now.
Privacy laws might also block records queries.
 
#11 ·
A lot of the dealer plate frames from that era look like they're out of a common mold with the lettering changed. I'm a little surprised nobody is reproducing them, it seems like it would be a relatively easy custom product to offer.
 
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#14 ·
SLIM said:
Usually copy rights apply
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Who holds the copyright for the name of a dealer that probably went out of business 50 years ago? If they are still in business, it's a stroke of luck for the entrepreneur as they can strike a deal selling 'vintage' plate frames right to / through the dealer parts department.
 
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#15 ·
Carson Blocks said:
Who holds the copyright for the name of a dealer that probably went out of business 50 years ago? If they are still in business, it's a stroke of luck for the entrepreneur as they can strike a deal selling 'vintage' plate frames right to / through the dealer parts department.
Click to expand...
You'd be surprised how many "old names" are still protected. That becomes your responsibility to investigate that no such copy right exists
 
#16 ·
I think the main reason license plate frames for old dealers aren't repopped is demand, and numbers of dealers. I might want a frame from Lyman Slack Chevrolet that went out of business decades ago. But how many others would they really sell? And this would be the same for every town in the US today. Just not enough demand for the time it would take to build good copies. And if they aren't good copies nobody will want them.
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
I did find a second one for a reasonable price a year or two later, so I now have matching dealer frames front and rear.
They're a bit faded, but not bad. Matches the faded paint patina on the rest of the car...
 
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vich57
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