Licence plate artist takes craft seriously
Many people hardly think about the rectangular pieces of galvanized steel they bolt onto the back and front of their cars. Though it occupies some prime real estate on our prized cars, most of us pay little attention to what licence plates look like or how they’re made. Modern Ontario plates display a seven-digit alphanumeric sequence with a reflective face. But it wasn’t always that way.
Licence plates have been around nearly as long as the automobile itself. And Eric Vettoretti is a licence plate artist. He’s amassed a truly i mpressive collection of Canadian licence plates dating back to 1905 when the plates were made of rubber. In addition to many novel plates, such as the one from Pope Saint John Paul II’s motorcade when he visited in 1984, Vettoretti has an Ontario plate from every year.
Ontario’s Year of Manufacture licence plate program ( YOM) allows owners of classic pre-1974 cars to legally use a vintage license plate matching their car’s year of manufacture. For example, if you own a 1957 Chevy, you can legally plate it with a 1957 Ontario plate. The caveats are that the number sequence on the old plate has to be available and the condition of the plate has to be very good. That’s where Vettoretti comes in.
He sources old plates, checks the availability of their sequences, and restores them for use on classic cars. On his website, YOMplates. ca, you can browse plates for sale or request a year not listed on the site.
The process for making a rusty old plate new again is a lot like restoring a classic car. First, Vettoretti has to find a matching set of plates ( front and back), and some of them have become quite scarce. After the plates have been found, he grinds away the rust and remnants of the original paint until the plate is stripped to bare metal. From there he uses body filler to repair holes, straightens any bends and flattens out any dents.
The plates sold on YOMplates. ca guarantee accuracy to the original finishes, and to do this perfectly, he matches paint from one of his many original unrestored vintage plates.
The base coat is applied in a straightforward manner, but getting the contrasting colour to apply perfectly to the raised letters, numbers and border of the plate is a secret Vettoretti is keeping safe.
“It took me the first five years of business to really fine tune the process and many pairs later, I think I really put out a quality product,” he says.