Painting Letters on Vintage Plates for Model A?

[29spcoupe]

I took my plates to a vinyl sign maker. For $10 per plate he applied the vinyl letters to the plate after I painted the background. Plates came out perfect.

[rotorwrench]

A lot of old license plates were made by stamping machines at a local state penitentiary. They likely had a fixture to hold the plates under a paint screen to just apply the final color to the raised embossed characters. This would speed the process up a good bit since thousands of these plates had to be supplied to the public each year. They had to be manufactured fast and cheap to save the taxpayers as much as possible. The process would be a lot like the silk screening process except it wouldn't need a stencil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jb8IvCaGdc

Modern plates are vinyl covered much like a wrap is now days. Many are still made in local penitentiaries.

[Ray in La Mesa]

John, I've been a vender at many swap meets and know the ins & its of them. Just played by his rules. Don't know why he didn't sort through his plates & find the pairs.

[Jim M]

I took mine to a professional - NO regrets. Get as many comments on the plate as i do the car....lol

[old31]

Dean, you did an outstanding job with your plate. Very nice work.

I have a friend that sent out 2 plates to be done at the cost of $650.00

[John Dayhuff]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Originally Posted by old31

I have a friend that sent out 2 plates to be done at the cost of $650.00

Holy Smokes!! I'm in the wrong business.....!!

[McMimmcs]

I sent two plates three months ago and they were very professionally refinished for a cost of $157 including return shipping. Wayne

[mfarley]

I restored my 1928 ND license plates myself. Fortunately for me, the background color was black, while the "raised" color was white. I blasted the plates and then primed them with Rustoleum automotive gray primer. Then I sprayed the entire plate white. I masked the large numbers with blue painters tape, and used 1/8" pinstriping to "mask" the outer ring. Then sprayed the plate black. I came back and did the smaller "ND" and "1928" with a paint brush. After removing the masking, I sprayed the plates with several clear coats and then baked them in the oven for good measure.

[Dean Lemoine]

Same process as in post number 12, except the colors are reversed

[JoeCB]

In a production operation, my guess is that after background color, the plates were run between firm rollers, one a backing the other with paint. This process was enabled by having the figures raised. Not much reason to go through the trouble and expense of die forming the raised letters except to facilitate a production painting process.
Just a guess...

Joe B

[BillCNC]

Originally Posted by Chris Haynes

I have watched a professional do it. They used a very small diameter foam roller. Rolled the roller on a sheet of glass to get the right amount of paint on the roller.

An old guy back in the 90's showed me how he did it. Almost the same method you have, but he made a jig to fit into a drill press that presses the plate into paint soaked fine textured foam. He pressed it in about an 1/8th of an inch, then flipped it over to let the paint level off and dry. His first attempt was to mask it off which he said was a total disaster. The paint he used was a specialized sign paint if I remember correctly.

Regards
Bill

[rotorwrench]

I believe you are correct on that Joe B. From further information that I've read on the historical manufacture of painted license plates, they did use rollers. The likely had a dual roller set that would insure that the roller that applied the paint would have a specific amount of paint applied between the two rollers. All that was necessary was to feed the plates under the applicator roller that was adjusted to the specific thickness of the finished plates. The applicator roller would draw each plate through at is met the roller at inlet of the feed.

The flocking of plates with light reflective material came in the 1960s. This would have been done while the roller coat was still wet.

[TerryO]

I watched a vintage b/w video a few years ago that showed prisoners painting license plates. They were hand feeding plates into a jig and a roller would roll across and back then they would lift the plate out and pop in another one. They must have been doing it a while because they had a pretty good rhythm going.


TOB

[Kevin in NJ]

Spending many years at the flea markets I watched and talked to on of the restorers of plates. Keep in mind I am going back like 30 years now.

You need a flat glass plate and a rubber roller. With a blob of paint at one end of the glass you pull it out with the rubber roller and get a thin coating on the roller and roll it out with gental pressure. This is analogus to how a printer loads ink onto the surface of the negative back when they were type set.

This was how they were also done when new.

There was some technique in how it was all done. I played with it as a kid for fun. I am sure I am forgetting details.

[Terry, NJ]

I've done them too. For my 1930 Pa plates, I use Caterpillar yellow. and a black paint pen for the lettering. See my profile and album for pictures and a better description. Terry NJ

[Afordman31]

This person restored one for me and one for my brother. Fast turnaround, very satisfied. Reasonable.

[Dick M]

I am not sure if this license plate restorer is still in business. He restored my 31 California plates about 20 years ago. If I remember correctly, he is in Central California. He did a very good job and was quite reasonable. You can give him a try.

License plate restoration: Dan Cox 559-299-5220 [email protected]

[Y-Blockhead]

Originally Posted by Dean Lemoine

Same process as in post number 12, except the colors are reversed

Nice job Dean.

[31 Woody]

Originally Posted by Kevin in NJ

Spending many years at the flea markets I watched and talked to on of the restorers of plates. Keep in mind I am going back like 30 years now.

You need a flat glass plate and a rubber roller. With a blob of paint at one end of the glass you pull it out with the rubber roller and get a thin coating on the roller and roll it out with gental pressure. This is analogus to how a printer loads ink onto the surface of the negative back when they were type set.

This was how they were also done when new.

There was some technique in how it was all done. I played with it as a kid for fun. I am sure I am forgetting details.

This is exactly the process I was thinking—you just described it much better than I did. I also like the idea of vinyl letters applied, but I already have the OneShot paint and the plates are ready for lettering. So sending them out at this point is not going to happen. Thanks everyone, interesting reads and ideas.

[JRrev]

I tried three processes. Hand brushing was the least successful as it was difficult to maintain a even line. Next was the roller method. It was a small diameter and fairly dense rubber. Somewhat better. Lastly, I painted the letter/number color in lacquer then the background color in enamel. With a block wrapped tightly in flannel, damped with reducer, I wiped off the raised letters/numbers enamel. For me in all cases the used plates' letters and numbers were not crisp even with restoring. The undulations made for misses and re-do's. Eventually, I found a local guy who did them professionally.