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Thread: Italian miata imported from Florida, help needed!

  1. #1
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Antonio's Avatar
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    Italian miata imported from Florida, help needed!

    Good morning miata mates, I recently bought a sunburst yellow miata which was imported from Florida in 1995, this is the car



    Unfortunately the previous owner who had the car from 1995 since this year, didn't have the original Florida plate anymore (or maybe he just wanted to keep it as a memory, I'll never know), so I started my search with a Carfax report, I hoped to know the plate numbers this way but all I got were some information about the car status during the period in the US, including a smog test in St. Petersburg (so I guess it comes from Pinellas county). My search contiunued and in some ways I was able to have the original plate numbers from italian DMV archives, ant it's BCN155
    Now I have all the informations I need to get a perfect reproduction of original plate, and I guess it's this one (with correct numbers)



    How can I ask for a perfect repro? Can I ask it to Florida DMV? When I was in California I remember it was super easy to have a copy of a plate, but I don't remember anymore if the car must be registered in the state.

    Any help will be appreciated, even an advice about shops that make plates reproductions!

  2. #2
    Idling - Listen to it purr...
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    Unfortunately, Florida will only make custom plates from among their current production catalog. These selections do not include past year standard plate images.
    Also to obtain an authentic Florida plate, the car would have to be titled in Florida.

    I do not know of any other facility that makes historic plate recreations. Perhaps a Google search may be in order, looking for historic license plate recreations.

  3. #3
    Ninja Messiah kung fu jesus's Avatar
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    I don't know about FL specifically, but some states require the owners to return the plates to the state when the car is sold or transfers ownership. North Carolina is this way.

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    Individual-1 ☚ ☻ ☛ Agent☣Orange's Avatar
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    In Florida, only one plate issued and it stays with the owner. If I trade my car in, my old plate goes onto my new car. If I sell my car, I keep the plate because even a couple years later, I can use it again on a new car and not pay the $250 new registration fee. In other states, the plate(s) stays with the car.

    I think after many years (not sure how many exactly), the physical plate has to be retired and the state issues a new one. There is no way the state will manufacture a reproduction for vanity use. I know because I tried to get a reproduction of my Space Shuttle Challenger plate and it was impossible.

    You can have a reproduction made from an ebay seller but it won’t be embossed like the prison-made plate: https://www.ebay.com/itm/FLORIDA-Per...c8408f66797751


    No todo que es oro brilla.

  5. #5
    Admin / Pit Boss / Miataholic Phatmiata's Avatar
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    just buy a used FL state licence plate off ebay

  6. #6
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Antonio's Avatar
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    Thanks mate, now I know there's no way to have the original one back. Neither to have an official repro from DMV.
    The point is that I want an exact repro, so it should be embossed, not flat. I hope there's someone who makes perfect reproductions.

  7. #7
    2,000 rpm - light wheelspin, no bog here! Antonio's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phatmiata View Post
    just buy a used FL state licence plate off ebay
    Did it (the one in the pic), but it's not the same as the original one

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