California To Offer Legacy License Plates

Legal retro license plates coming from California DMV

With retro-styled bikes like the Triumph Bonneville, Royal Enfields, old-school skinny-tire choppers and cafe-racers growing in popularity with both veteran riders and style-conscious hipsters, the market for retro accessories is booming, too. Even the state of California is getting in on the trend. Starting on January 1, 2013, advance orders will be taken for license plates that harken back to those issued in the 1950s through the 1970s, when the lines at California DMV offices were backed up just to the door and not all the way to the adjacent area code.

The so-called “legacy plates” will come with yellow, black, or blue backgrounds, just like the ones you find hanging on the wall of grampa’s tool shed next to the girlie calendars from the buggy-whip manufacturer. The plates will cost $50, and the state needs 7500 orders by January 1, 2015, to cover the $385,000 cost of starting up the program. If the order threshold isn’t met by then, the application fees will be refunded. Just fill out this form, go to window B, and someone will help you sometime before you die.