Things often associated with black-and-yellow: bumblebees, the jerseys of Pittsburgh’s three professional sports teams, and California license plates between 1963 and 1969.
Thanks to the Dept. of Motor Vehicle’s (DMV) legacy license plate program, the black-and-yellow license plates used during a majority of the 1960s will soon be made available for class car owners.
The return of the black-and-yellow plates was part of a campaign by the DMV to offer replicas of license plates previously assigned to automobiles registered in California over a four-decade period between the 1950s and 1980s.
As part of the campaign, a class of replica license plates had to achieve at least 7,500 orders before Jan. 1, 2015, which is about six months away.
The black plates with yellow lettering, often associated with classic 1960s American muscle cars such as the Ford Mustang or Chevrolet Corvette, had 7,549 orders as of June 5, far outpacing a yellow plates with black lettering that existed in the 1950s.
According to the DMV, only 1,820 orders were placed for the plates with yellow background and black lettering.
A blue plate with yellow lettering that debuted in the 1970s and remained in use before California switched to white-background plates with blue lettering in the 1980s only received 1,473 orders as of June 5.
If neither of those plates receives at least 7,500 orders before Jan. 1, 2015, the replicas of both styles will not be made by the DMV.
Those interested in pre-ordering the special replicas must pay a $50 fee.
The DMV instituted the legacy license plate program as part of a piece of legislation that passed in Sacramento about two years ago. In 2012, a bill introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto was signed into law and opened the door for owners of classic automobiles to be nostalgic.
To pre-order any one of the three license replicas, visit the California DMV page here.
