[jwd]

I would avoid going to the DOL and go to a sub agent instead. I've done several YOM (year of model) plate transactions and it only takes a couple of mins. All they do is photo copy the plate, fill out the form and off you go. They don't care what it looks like. I restore mine before I go in.
One thing I should mention is that when you get a YOM plate, that plate number will not show up in any records. If you get pulled over and they run the plate, it will come back as "not assigned". They have to look at your registration to confirm that plate belongs on the car. A friend who's a police officer was telling me that if you have a pair of old plates, you can put them on two different vehicles. I went to the DOL and asked them and they said "no way". I asked them if I had a plate that said AXC 911 (which was the plate on my Cobra) could I register it. She ran a check and said "that plate is not assigned so if you have that plate, you can put it on your car". You should have seen the look on her face when I told her it was already on my car and she's the one that registered it.
The nice thing about YOM plates is you don't have to run one on the front.

Jim