The License Plate

Again yesterday someone commented on our license plate.  It isn't a fancy one or a vanity one with a witty message... just three little numbers... 536 on the pretty green plate.  But there is a story here.
Many years ago, before my time, (and that is a long time ago !), the powers that be in our state capitol, in Montpelier, decided it was time to have an official Dept. of Motor Vehicles, as we know it today.  They would require the registration of all motor vehicles in the state.  This was in 1927.
There were getting to be quite a few of these get-you-there-quick motorcars around. Henry Ford had come out with a better one than his Model T and called it a Model A.  This was offered in a few different styles and offered colors...  black, black or black, and was priced so dreamers could afford one.  Lots of other auto making folks were cranking out (and cranking up) production as well. I don't remember what make or model my dad had at the time but he and my uncle and their friend all decided it was time to send for the new license plate from the new DMV.
I can just imagine the scene now.  A very cold January day after a snowstorm.  The guys in the Village gathered around the old Round Oak wood stove in the General Store.  Perched on chairs, and crates near the cracker barrel and pickle barrel, warming their hands and maybe smoking their pipe.  I can almost hear the jingle of the buckles on their open overshoes as they thaw out their cold feet!  They proceed to discuss all the important stuff of the day.  The three friends decide they will send for their new license plates.  They fill out the form, if there was one, or simply send their requests to the new DMV.  They sent all three in the same envelope.  The price of a first class stamp was around $.03 so they realized a savings of $.06 by using one envelope.  Yankee frugality at work here!  They get the letter ready in time for it to go out on the 'stage' that brings the mail twice a day.  I know all this because my dad used to tell the story.
I guess this new DMV was a bit frugal too because they sent the shiny new plates back in the same package.  They were numbered in sequence, 536... 537... and 538.  My dad got 536.  This nice little number has been in my family ever since. The object of many conversations with strangers everywhere we go.   My dad went to be with the Lord in 1963 and at that time Dennis and I took over the license plate and we still have it, 85 years later.  My cousin had the 537 that his grandfather received in 1927 but gave it up when he moved in the '60's and their friend's granddaughter's car still sports the 538 and she still lives in our little village.
I thought to tell you this story after looking through some photos I had scanned into my computer this summer and running across this one.  I have an earlier one at home of my dad and me standing by the back of a car with 536 on it when I was only  year and a half old.  He always took such good care of his vehicle!  They always looked like brand new ones even though they weren't .  He was always washing and polishing and keeping them tinkered up to perfection.
So have a nice day and take a ride today and as you do, if you are up north, just imagine that snowy January day long ago and the old motorcar sliding around on the 'road' (and I use the term lightly) and landing in a snowbank, shoveling it out and cranking her up to continue on their way.  Or if you are in a sunny and warmer place, as you zing along down a 6 lane turnpike on your way shopping, or to the beach, pause to think just how far these motorcars have come.

This is 1949  The car, a 1936 Buick

I came zinging down the highway last month in a modern SUV and we
spotted this old Model A in the parking lot so my friend snapped
a photo.