How a Model Year Plate almost got me arrested.

In Ohio (where I used to live) you can get a Historical plate with a one time fee that lasts forever. It's good for a vehicle over 25 years old that isn't a daily driver. Once you get the Historical plate you can then take a Model Year plate to the BMV and they will register it to your car. My wife bought me a very nice set of 1970 Ohio plates. I registered them at the BMV as required and had them on my car for years. One night as I was driving home from a local cruise I got pulled over by a young small town Cop.(we'll call him Cop#1) He wanted to know why I had Government plates on my old car. 1970 Ohio plates were red letters on white background and so are all Ohio Government plates. I tried to explain Model Year plates and he wasn't buying it. Never heard of such a thing. The plates literally say 1970 on them in the same place as Government plates would say Government. He said that just meant they where 1970 Government plates. By this time his Backup arrived (Cop#2). I could tell that cop#2 wasn't so sure that cop#1 was right but he wouldn't say anything. Cop#1 wanted to cuff me and call a wrecker. Finally another Cop shows up (Cop#3) and he is a Sgt. Cop#3 listens to Cop#1 rant. Then listens to my explanation. Cop#3 tells Cop#1 and Cop#2 they can leave. He tells me to go straight home and come back to the station tomorrow with all the paper work for the previous normal plate, the Historical plate and the model Year plate as well as the copy of the applicable laws that I told him I had and he would straighten this all out with Cop#1.

I went home and immediatly took the Model Year plate off and hung it on the wall.

Now I live in Tennessee and they have Antique plates but their law clearly states that you can not have any modifications to the engine or body. Not going to work for me. There are plenty of modified cars running around here with antique plates but I don't intend to stand on side of the road with another rookie cop for 45 minutes so no Antique plate or Model Year plate for me,

Never heard what happened to Cop#1. I imagine he got a lot of ribbing and then they all went down the road to Dunkin Donuts.