hoffman912

yeah, if youre interested in going historical and want to have original (ie plate of the same year as your car), you can buy them on ebay. it does not have to be the original plate to the car, but of the same year, unlike california which requires it to be the original issued plate to the car to run black or yellow plates.

Tony K

What I want to know is if that will continue for cars after the mid-1970s, when Ohio stopped stamping the year on the plate . . . (?) i.e., in 2010, will you be able to put a plate from 1985 on an 85 944, and what will the guide lines be as far as the expiration stickers, county, etc. go?

hoffman912

you should be able to. i see no reason why not. basically it just has to be the correct plate for the car, year or not.

iirc they still had tear specific plates into the early 80s -i think my dad had one on his mercedes when i was little for like 83 or somthing.

Tony K

The red-on-white plates that started in the mid-late 70s (I don't know what year) do not have the year stamped on them, and were used for multiple years on cars.

Around 1980-81 or so they went to blue on white, AAA 999 style, with annual stickers, for 4-5 years.

In the mid-80s they then went to green on white, 999 AAA style, stickers . . .

I think they went back to blue on white, AAA 999 around 1990 or so
Then added the gold bottoms several years later
Then added 4-digit numbers in the late 90s . . . IIRC



What year was your Dad's Mercedes? It could have been wearing the same older plate for a long time..

Tony K

Top - early 80s
Mid - late 80s
Bot - early 90s

I think the earliest blue on white early 80s plates had a dash instead of the Ohio shape . . . . can't quite remember.

I had a decent collection of plates and my old man threw them out, along with all of my road signs, hub caps, etc. . . .

hoffman912

my 68 plate is red on white



69 was blue on white.

not sure about the rest..


my dads was a mid 70s. i thought it had 1980 on the plate. i may have been wrong.