When did OTT LeMans stripes become a thing?

[mark p]

I'm not sure I see New Jersey spelled there, maybe on the bottom...
dz

Not virginia
Here's a set I have from 67

Looks like NJ tags in the 70's did not "spell out"  New Jersey at the top - just "NJ" (checked an old photo of car/tags I got in '75, photo from '78).
My photo shows the 3-number/3-letter format, with a "dash" between them per that photo.
(The blue tags - instituted later in the 70's - did have New Jersey spelled out at the top)

Where is "Bill" If it was NJ... he probably knew the cars and the guys 

[Side-Oilers]

Does anyone other then me see what looks like four letters (the state?) on the top of the plate?

Iowa? 

I agree with 2112 that it looks like mid-70s. 1973-76 seems about right to me. 

[2112]

My Story line for the pic is two buddies trying to spruce up and hot rod their used Shelbys on a budget. After all, they were only making $1.70/hour at the gas/pizza station.

[JD]

Does anyone other then me see what looks like four letters (the state?) on the top of the plate?

Iowa? 

I agree with 2112 that it looks like mid-70s. 1973-76 seems about right to me. 

I too saw the four letters and thought it might be Ohio, but the only Ohio plate from 1967 to current, that was yellow, was 1971 and it does not match the plate in the photo (see attached).

[oldcanuck]

Late '60s to early '70s "TENN" tags were white with black letters/numbers ?

[2112]

I couldn't get the little N.J. state logo to come up in the middle.

[68krrrr]

That looks like it right there to me  2112 & i checked back in the comments of the original pic which i found on IG & there's no clues .But was thinking  my 1st thought was that  the one with the black stripes is lime green ,but  now i'm thinking it also could be brittany blue ? & the hood on the night mist blue one in the back ground  looks like a solid stripe to me, even though the deck lid does look like it has a slight gap.

[2112]

I am pretty sure it is lime gold.

Maybe they were doing their own stripes and had to guess on spacing. One ended up being too tight and the other too far apart?

[mark p]

FWIW... here's the photo of  the tag that I got in '75.
I also checked the blue tag (from '79), and it did have the shape of NJ instead of a dash between the letters and numbers.

[Side-Oilers]

Late '60s to early '70s "TENN" tags were white with black letters/numbers ?

I haven't looked it up, but I seem to remember that all the old time Tenn plates had a black outline of the state's shape.  I can't see that on the car.

Others might know more...

[2112]

you can look up plates here. Each state has most of the past years loaded on here;

https://www.licenseplates.tv/usa-state-plates.html

[oldcanuck]

Late '60s to early '70s "TENN" tags were white with black letters/numbers ?

I haven't looked it up, but I seem to remember that all the old time Tenn plates had a black outline of the state's shape.  I can't see that on the car.

Others might know more...

I believe you are correct.... I forgot about that. I run a 1966 Tenn commercial plate on my car because its black.

[roddster]

   Just a comment: seems we can't stop morphing any topic.  Wasn't this thread started about the OTT
A page and a half about license plates???

[oldcanuck]

   Just a comment: seems we can't stop morphing any topic.  Wasn't this thread started about the OTT
A page and a half about license plates???

You are correct.... I apologize for my part of getting caught up in all the majesty of that vintage stripes picture.

[Side-Oilers]

Not looking to get in any sort of disagreement with anyone, but I think if one reads the entirety of this thread, the discussion about what state plates are on that Shelby could be helpful in identifying the car, and then possibly connecting a VIN and/or history to it...which would be valuable to SAAC, or possibly to a previous or current owner.

If that photo hadn't been found and posted because of searching for old pix of cars with OTT stripes, we'd possibly have never seen those two Shelbys at all.

As this is a historical Shelby site, the reasoning of "morphing" the thread to discuss the plates on the Shelby with OTT stripes sounds reasonable to me.

Other thoughts?