Texas Year of Manufacture License Plates

[Bambi_Bandit]

Oh no!

Just purchased a 1960 Texas Trailer license plate for the 1960 Overlander and just found out that Texas has revised the laws regarding Year of Manufacture (YOM) licesne plates!

Previosuly, if you had a classic or antque (travel trailer or vehicle) you could register it with a Texas plate that was originally issued in that manufacturing year.

Now it seems that As of Sep 1, 2011, this will no longer be allowed:

TRANSPORTATION CODE**CHAPTER 504. SPECIALTY LICENSE PLATES

I haven't tried to register mine with the YOM plates yet, but will as soon as I get the paperwork!

My worry is the wording of "if the plates are approved for the vehicle before January 1, 2011"

I wonder if my local Tax Assessor's office will give grief on this since I have not registered my trailer yet at all (not even a Texas title yet)...

Anyone process a new registration for their vintage (aka Classic by Texas' definition of 25 years or older) trailer with a YOM plate recently? What was your result?

Note that I'm not referring to the "antique" registration status that limits where you can drive for specific purposes...

[TxBubba]

If you look closely at the wording of the statute, you quoted a portion of the statute that becomes effective September 1, 2011. Directly below is the wording of the current statute that is effective until September 1, 2011. The wording that becomes effective 9/1/2011 has no fee, the current wording effective until 9/1/2011 has a $15 fee for YOM plates. No mention in the current wording of plates having to be approved before 1/1/2011.

[bjp53]

You can read more about this at, www.TexasYOM.com

[Bambi_Bandit]

Went to the local Tax Assessor's office today to do an out of state title transfer, Texas registration, and a YOM plate for my trailer. Brought the 1960 Trailer plate with me.

Everything was fine except the YOM plate. The person I was working with was stating that it needed the words "travel trailer". Took me calling the TX DMV to talk to someone to prove that "trailer" was correct since Texas did not issue plates to travel trailers with words "travel trailer" on them till 1975...

Finally got it done. Everyone else who hasn't registered theirs will want to do in before Sept 1....

[whitsend]

I've been wanting to re-plate my 1954 Cruiser with 1954 Trailer plates. My DMV was so helpful in my effort to change the date of manufacture on the title from 1956 or '57 (I forget by now) to the actual manufacture date of 1954. She said a 1954 plate would be fine, as long as it clearly stated "trailer".

So far, I have not been able to locate a 1954 trailer plate. I've been to all sorts of antique shops & "fairs" with no luck. Have tried the few dealers I could find on the internet, and still no luck. Bummer.

[bwaysteve]

Originally Posted by Bambi_Bandit

Went to the local Tax Assessor's office today to do an out of state title transfer, Texas registration, and a YOM plate for my trailer. Brought the 1960 Trailer plate with me.

Everything was fine except the YOM plate. The person I was working with was stating that it needed the words "travel trailer". Took me calling the TX DMV to talk to someone to prove that "trailer" was correct since Texas did not issue plates to travel trailers with words "travel trailer" on them till 1975...

Finally got it done. Everyone else who hasn't registered theirs will want to do in before Sept 1....

I registered my 65 last year.After looking for months for a plate that just said trailer I finally found one that said house trailer.
They insisted also it had to say travel trailer however a travel trailer plate was not issued back then.They finally called up the line and got it ok'ed.I just told them it was a trailer and it was my house!
The advantage of titling in a small county tax office.

[Lance M]

I took my newly acquired "House Trailer" plate to the Ft. Hood vehicle registration office this morning. The lady called the Waco regional office and talked with Debbie. Debbie said that it was not possible to register a travel trailer with YOM plates. When I got home I looked up the code cited above and called to speak with Debbie in Waco. She was out to lunch. I'll let y'all know how it turns out for me.

[wmarsha]

please go to: CR8APL8 - Replica License Plates for Your Vehicles! they should be able to fix ya up. ol' bill edit: the forum software is changing what I wrote: it should be "http://www.cr8-one.com there is a "dash" between the "8" and the word "one".

[exthemius]

I posted this on the other thread as well, but here's the official stuff from the state:

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.u...htm/TN.504.htm

Then go down to 501:

Text of section effective on September 01, 2011

Sec. 504.501. CLASSIC MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAVEL TRAILERS. (a) The department shall issue specialty license plates for a motor vehicle that is at least 25 years old. The license plates must include the word "Classic" or a similar designation, as appropriate.
(b) A person eligible for the license plates may instead use license plates that were issued by this state in the same year as the model year of the vehicle and are approved by the department if the plates are approved for the vehicle before January 1, 2011. The department may require the attachment of a registration insignia to the license plate in a manner that does not affect the display of information originally on the license plate.
(c) There is no fee for issuance or approval of license plates under this section.

Added by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1320, Sec. 6, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
Amended by:
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1136, Sec. 32, eff. September 1, 2011.



Text of section effective until September 01, 2011

Sec. 504.5011. CLASSIC TRAVEL TRAILERS. (a) In this section, "travel trailer" has the meaning assigned by Section 502.166.
(b) The department shall issue specialty license plates for a travel trailer that is at least 25 years old. The license plates must include the words "Classic Travel Trailer" or a similar designation.
(c) A person eligible for the license plates may instead use license plates that were issued by this state in the same year as the model year of the travel trailer and are approved by the department. The department may require the attachment of a registration insignia to the license plate in a manner that does not affect the display of information originally on the license plate.
(d) The fee for issuance or approval of license plates under this section is $15.

Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 1045, Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2005.

[Bambi_Bandit]

Originally Posted by Top

I took my newly acquired "House Trailer" plate to the Ft. Hood vehicle registration office this morning. The lady called the Waco regional office and talked with Debbie. Debbie said that it was not possible to register a travel trailer with YOM plates. When I got home I looked up the code cited above and called to speak with Debbie in Waco. She was out to lunch. I'll let y'all know how it turns out for me.

Top,

House Trailer is different than travel trailer, and in your case, the word "travel trailer" didn't show up on TX plates till 1975. You need to get a plate that says "trailer" only.

[Lance M]

Thanks Shawn.

I just got a call back from Debbie in Waco. It seems that after a bunch of calls to the proper people, she and her colleagues decided that it is possible to register vintage trailers with a year of manufacture plate. She did tell me it must say "House Trailer". I have a house trailer plate, so I'm not going to argue about that. She also said that she could not guarantee that I would be able to renew it next year because of the wording that reads "if the plates are approved for the vehicle before January 1, 2011." Well, we'll see. Thanks for all the help guys!

[Lance M]

Today I went back to the Ft Hood office of the Bell county tax assessor. After a few phone calls and some grimacing by the clerk, I was issued the new registration with the 1972 YOM "House Trailer" plates I bought from Ebay. It is always a good feeling to get things my way sometimes!

[exthemius]

Awesome! I have the 1971 version of those plates on my trailer, although the only controversy with ours was the clerk trying to figure out if the plates had 1's or I's on them!

[whitsend]

Congrats Top!!! That's gonna be cool.

[Lance M]

Thanks Shawn and Jim! Here's a pic of Abby's new "old" plate.

[Bambi_Bandit]

Looks good! I'm still shocked they did it with a "house trailer" plate as that is the wrong category, but who cares. You got your YOM plate done! Congrats!