page_title: Vehicle registration plates of California
section_title: Year-of-manufacture plates
hierarchical_section_title: Vehicle registration plates of California / Year-of-manufacture plates
caption_attribution_description: Audi automobile with the license plate "ANRCHST". Photo taken in San Francisco on March 18, 2006.
context_page_description: The U.S. state of California first required its residents to register their motor vehicles in 1905. Registrants provided their own license plates for display until 1914, when the state began to issue plates. Plates are currently issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
  Front and rear plates are required on most types of vehicle in California, including all passenger vehicles. On motorcycles and some other non-passenger types, only rear plates are required. On all vehicle types, registration validation stickers are also required, to be displayed on the rear plate.
context_section_description: The use of year-of-manufacture (YOM) plates is authorized by Section 5004.1 of the California Motor Vehicle Code. It is a law that allows vintage cars to be registered to use vintage license plates. Any officially manufactured California license plates which were produced prior to 1963 can be used on a currently registered vehicle or trailer of a corresponding model year. If used on the original plate, a sticker or metal tab that corresponds to the year of the vehicle is required.
  In July 2009, California extended its YOM program to include passenger vehicles from 1963 to 1969, and commercial vehicles (pick-ups, etc.) through 1972. Any black-and-gold plate from this era may be used on these vehicles, as long as they are "clear" with the DMV (i.e., not used, reported stolen, or any records found, for the last 10 years). A valid sticker must be attached to the plate corresponding to the year of the vehicle that is to be registered.
  As of January 2014, in very rare cases, California has extended custom license plates to allow more than seven digits, but not to exceed nine characters. However, most plates are limited to seven-and-a-half characters (the half-character is a half-space).
  In August 2016, California extended the year-of-manufacture license plate program to include vehicles through the 1980 model year.
caption: A California car license plate saying ANRCHST (a vanity plate–speak form of anarchist) from 2006
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