Vintage Number Plates

Traditional black and silver plates for classics, in the style your car wore when it left the factory. Legal for eligible historic vehicles - and we'll help you check yours qualifies.

Build a Vintage Plate

Classic black & silver style
Cars, bikes & commercials
Modern durability, period looks

Silver characters on gloss black - the pre-1973 look.

Can your vehicle wear black and silver?

The DVLA tightened the rules in 2021, and there are now two tests - your vehicle needs to pass both:

Built before 1 January 1980

The vehicle must have been constructed before 1 January 1980. This is now a fixed cut-off - it no longer rolls forward each year.
Registered in the historic vehicles tax class

The vehicle must be recorded with the DVLA in the historic tax class. If your classic qualifies for free historic vehicle tax, you can apply through the DVLA - and once registered, traditional plates are legal to display.

Not eligible? Vehicles that don't meet both tests must display standard white and yellow reflective plates. Our full road-legal range covers every modern style. See road-legal plates.

Check the historic vehicle rules on gov.uk.

How UK plates got their look

1903 - plates arrive

The Motor Car Act makes registration compulsory. White or silver characters on black become the standard for the next seventy years.

1973 - reflective era

Retroreflective white fronts and yellow rears become mandatory on new vehicles, ending black and silver as the road standard.

Today - heritage protected

Eligible historic vehicles may still display traditional plates - keeping pre-1980 classics looking exactly as they should.

Period looks, modern manufacture

Classic cars

Standard oblong and square rear plates with silver characters on a deep gloss black face.

Vintage motorcycles

Rear plates for pre-1980 bikes, sized and laid out to suit classic machines.

Commercials & tractors

Historic vans, lorries, and agricultural vehicles restored to their period appearance.

Vintage plate questions, answered

Are black and silver number plates legal?

Yes - but only on eligible vehicles. Your vehicle must have been built before 1 January 1980 and be registered with the DVLA in the historic vehicles tax class. On any other vehicle, traditional plates are for display use only.

My classic was built in 1982 - can it have vintage plates?

Not for road use. The construction cut-off is fixed at 1 January 1980, so a 1982 vehicle must display standard reflective plates.

How do I register my vehicle as historic?

You apply to the DVLA to change the tax class to historic, typically at a Post Office that deals with vehicle tax, using your V5C. Once the historic class shows on your log book, you can legally display traditional plates if the vehicle was built before 1980.

Do vintage plates need the BS AU 145e markings?

Traditional plates on eligible historic vehicles are exempt from the reflective requirement that applies to modern plates. We manufacture ours to display the registration clearly and legally in the traditional style, with durable modern materials.

Do I still need documents to order?

Yes - vintage plates for road use are still registration plates, so the standard identity and entitlement checks apply. You can upload your documents securely at checkout.

PLEASE NOTE: Only available for pre 1974 vehicles.

Vehicles manufactured before April 1980 were legally allowed to show a classic black and silver number plate as of April 1 2020. Registrations ending with ‘T’ or older registrations before T are included. The date of the 40-year tax exemption rolls forward automatically on April 1 every year. In 2021, vehicles hitting the 40-year-old mark will also be able to get a vintage number plate from April 1 2021.

What Is It About Classic, Vintage Vehicles That Make Them So Attractive?

If you took a modern car back to the bare basics and drove it like you would have a Ferrari 250 GT or a Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing, it wouldn’t compare, not even near. Maybe that’s why they’re coming with 7 + price tags. You can look back at these vehicles, knowing that the work, time and effort that went into making them was like no other period. And without the iconic black and silver antique number plates, they wouldn’t have looked the same.
In order to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for new cars, manufacturers had to take a different approach to designing their vehicles. For several businesses, the use of smart technology and equipment is vital to the production of the number of cars they sell every day. This implies, however, that their goods lose their uniqueness and some of the cutting edge that came with the design and development of a now ‘classic’ vehicle.
These popular, old-fashioned techniques still have a strong value. It displays the large sums of money raised by companies including Bentley and Rolls Royce for the sale of their 150,000 + creations. Hand-stitched leather seats and hand-woven flooring fabrics, Rolls Royce argues that the only thing on their production line that is completely automated is paint, strictly for quality, fair? One day, these cars are going to be worthy when showing retro antique number plates.

Are Classic Black and Silver Number Plates Legal?

are black and silver vintage number plates legal
In order to legally display this type of registration plate, the vehicle must have been produced and registered before 1980. Vehicles produced previous to 1980 are listed in the vintage category, and while they may not have originally shown this form of plate, they will be approved under DVLA and UK law.

Do You Sell Motorcycle Vintage Plates?

vintage motorbike number plates
Yes, we most definitely do sell vintage plates for motorcycles. YOu can design your own vintage motorcycle number plates on our number plate designer.
The same goes for motorbikes, with a lot of the current age of bikes being built on the foundations of bikes ridden by James Dean and Steve McQueen. Some of the coolest men in history have been known to love riding bikes.
And if you’re fortunate enough to own a motorcycle that’s vintage, then you’ll know that regular number plates don’t do them much justice.
Luckily, we’ve got you covered with all your classic number plate needs and even sell retro number plate sizes plates for motorbikes!

Can I Put Vintage Number Plates On My New Car?

A lot of people come to us to ask if we can supply our antique number plates for their new car. Unfortunately, that is not legal.
Vintage number plates can only be placed on cars that were manufactured before 1978, although this is likely to change since it is a rolling law, meaning that the car must be over 40 years old from the current year to legally display black and silver plates.
You can make your own using our classic car number plate creator and if you aren’t sure if your car is old enough yet then do an online search of your reg or take a look at your documents before purchasing one.