Hazzard License Plates

[DB537]

My old profile DB_537 doesn't work anymore so I had to register again. Probably because I didn't post for years. Some of you might remember me from CGLFC when it was still up.

I've been working on replicas of the different prop license plates from the Dukes for a long time. At least 8 years. 

I have got the process perfected and found enough reference to make an accurate replica of any license plates seen on the show. I have a bunch of old prop plates from Earl Hays Press, which was the prop house used to make the plates, newspapers, sheriff car decals, and all printed paper props and labels for the show. The plates in my collection have the same style of lettering as the Dukes plates at exactly the same scale. I copied them to make some screen accurate vector graphics and cut the finished designs from vinyl.

These are made in a similar way to the originals. The flat plates are primered and painted. The graphics are cut and applied to a flat license plate with a raised border.  The plates are then clear coated to protect the finish.

I'm looking to sell some of these to help cover some personal expenses. I can make any custom plate/number in either Dukes of Hazzard style or any other style of tv/movie prop license plate. 

I've got lots of reference material for many different styles of plates. I just made an A-Team van plate with one of the less common numbers, and a Buford T. Justice plate from Smokey and the Bandit.

I could also make a motorcycle plate if enough people wanted one.

Selling them for $30 each with free priority shipping anywhere in the US. To ensure that the plate you want is the plate you get, I will make and finish the plates prior to accepting payment if I can get a solid commitment that you intend to buy.

Thanks for looking. 

Daniel B.

 

Season 2 General Lee plate. I have some custom professionally printed vinyl adhesive decals for the 1978 and 79 registration decals. For the other years 1980-82, I have standard decals.

 

The A-Team Van plate with alternate number

 

Buford T. Justice painted with custom vinyl mask:

Edited November 8, 2017 by DB537

[Hobie Hartkins]

Looks good! Too bad you don't have Cooter's!

[RogerDuke]

Welcome back to Hazzard County Daniel. These plates are awesome. Do you know how many different versions of the General's plate there were? I forgot about the 76 on some of them. Keep up the good work. By the way, how long has the Confederate General Lee Fan Club been gone? If you can contact any of them invite them here. Those folks were true fans. 

Edited November 21, 2017 by RogerDuke

[Roth Potter]

Looks good! No shipping for us Europeans?  

About the different plates. Beside the first Reunion movie using a different plate with the same letters, I don't think there is a difference.

There seems to be a small difference in placement though. In the series the plate seems to only be on the back of the car with sometimes a redded out (I hope that's a word) plate on the front, but then in the second Reunion movie the plate is also on the front.

[DB537]

On 11/20/2017 at 7:56 PM, RogerDuke said:

Welcome back to Hazzard County Daniel. These plates are awesome. Do you know how many different versions of the General's plate there were? I forgot about the 76 on some of them. Keep up the good work. By the way, how long has the Confederate General Lee Fan Club been gone? If you can contact any of them invite them here. Those folks were true fans. 

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this. There were 3 main types of plate. Season 1 'HAZZARD', Season 2-5 'HAZZARD COUNTY', & the green 1983 plate from S. 6&7.

There were a few variants for nearby counties and at least one 'Atlanta' plate.

Most all of the S1-S5 plates had the 76. All of the metal ones had slight variations from one to the next, because the graphics were all die-cut and applied by hand.  Earl Hays still uses the same method to make plates for TV or movies even today. The graphics were made of a thick cardstock type of material in whatever colors they needed. I think they use a spray adhesive to attach them. They seal the finished plates with a really durable clear coat. If the graphics for a plate are too complex for die-cut pieces, (like something with a color fade or a really busy design) they will color print those portions of the design onto a clear vinyl sticker material and put that on the plate. The actual plate number is always a die-cut graphic so that it has extra thickness to look raised like a real stamped plate. Their metal plates also always have a raised/embossed border and it's the only embossed area on the prop. For California prop plates, sometimes they will flip them and use the opposite side of the plate because real Cal. plates have a border that is sunken in or debossed.

There were a lot of plates that were made from 'Crescent' brand mat board, the same stuff you'd use for a mat border in a picture or poster frame. Most of the time they would use these for background vehicles, but every car had at least one of these at some point. They liked to use these for jump cars because they were cheaper to replace. (I think the metal ones were about $25 a pair back then. Now they cost $80.) The mat-board blanks are machine-cut by EHP from the sheets of mat board. They would then use a lithograph process to print the graphics on them. When they were present, both metal and mat-board plates used the same type of registration decal stickers. The metal plates sometimes (but not always) will have these clear-coated over along with the rest of the plate.

CGLFC has been gone at least a couple of years. It was really active about 10 years back but interest in the page just sort of faded out sometime around 2011-2012 and people stopped posting as regularly. I never understood why, but the page was a really great resource for fans in the time it was active. 

 

On 11/23/2017 at 3:59 PM, Roth Potter said:

Looks good! No shipping for us Europeans?  

About the different plates. Beside the first Reunion movie using a different plate with the same letters, I don't think there is a difference.

There seems to be a small difference in placement though. In the series the plate seems to only be on the back of the car with sometimes a redded out (I hope that's a word) plate on the front, but then in the second Reunion movie the plate is also on the front.

I can ship anywhere, it just costs me more to send to Europe so I'd have to calculate the actual cost.

I think someone in the WB prop department threw the Reunion plates together at the last minute. They were vacuformed plastic and have no detail at all. The second reunion had better detailed plates. I've got a file for those 2nd reunion plates saved and can make them as well. 

The red part on the front that looks like a plate is actually an optional part for a 1969 Charger. It's the attachment bracket (don't know the official name for it) for a front license plate. Most U.S. states don't use front plates, so a lot of Chargers don't have this part. Most of the time the car builders for Dukes would just spray it orange along with the rest of the car, and didn't really take the time to remove them.

[RogerDuke]

Very informative. Thanks for all the information. 

[Boss JD Hogg]

Thanks for all this great information about the plates.  It's amazing how good a mat-board plate looks on a back ground car.

A couple of years ago I tried joining the CGLFC but they weren't taking any new registrations.  There was some good information there.  I think Facebook has taken people away from regular forums.  Facebook is good for immediacy but I like a standard forum like this one.  You can start a thread and they are easy to navigate and find stuff.  With Facebook the threads or rather posts just keep getting buried.  You post something and then have to start a new post on the same topic to show an update.  A lot of people like the immediacy of Facebook.  I'm on Facebook but don't post much.  There is too much going on on that site.  

[Roth Potter]

That with the front plate mounting makes a lot of sense. I used to think the front plates would only be mounted by the upper tabs, but a full bracket makes sense. 

[dukesonline]

Are you still making these replica plates? I am looking for a replica green CNH 320 plate...

[RogerDuke]

Hey there dukesonline! We hope to be hearing a lot more from you. 

[dukesonline]

On 4/9/2019 at 7:34 PM, RogerDuke said:

Hey there dukesonline! We hope to be hearing a lot more from you. 

Sounds good! It’s been a few years since I posted! 

[Meadowmufn]

Yeah, it's nice to have you back here, dukesonline! We hope you stick around a while.

[DB537]

On 4/9/2019 at 12:40 AM, dukesonline said:

Are you still making these replica plates? I am looking for a replica green CNH 320 plate...

Yes. I've been away from the forums for a while, but still doing the plates by request.

I'll be working on them again in about a week, including some of the green plates.

Here are a few that I recently completed: https://imgur.com/a/X9W63Cq

3 red CNH 320 plates, 1 Rosco, and the switched General plate from 'Big Daddy'.

[Hobie Hartkins]

I love those plates! How do I order one ?

Edited June 18, 2019 by Hobie Harkins

[dukesonline]

Thanks for following up! I would definitely love to put in an order. I’d like to get prices and info on what plates / colors you’ll be making!

Thanks!

[RogerDuke]

Cool stuff!

[DB537]

On 6/17/2019 at 9:15 PM, Hobie Harkins said:

I love those plates! How do I order one ?

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You can request a specific plate here, and I'll add it to my eBay or Etsy listings and send you the link.

I will also have full-size Re-Elect Rosco posters as seen in the first episode available in a few weeks.

On 6/17/2019 at 9:50 PM, dukesonline said:

Thanks for following up! I would definitely love to put in an order. I’d like to get prices and info on what plates / colors you’ll be making!

Thanks!

Plates will be $30 each, which includes priority mail shipping in the U.S.

If anyone wants the Atlanta switched plate, those will be $40 because the aging process takes more time to finish.

I can make any of the plates. I have graphics ready to go for all of the red Season 2-5 and green Season 6-7 plates.

I can do custom plate numbers if it fits on the plate. I also have the files done for the 2nd reunion movie plate, but haven't had a request for that one yet.

Right now I'm working on a full set of the 7 different main character plates from the show, and will post some photos Tuesday when they are all done.

Edited June 23, 2019 by DB537

[DB537]

Almost finished set of 7 plates (+ the Atlanta plate)

[RogerDuke]

You are an artist. Which vehicle was the Atlanta plate on? 

[DB537]

On 6/26/2019 at 8:26 PM, RogerDuke said:

You are an artist. Which vehicle was the Atlanta plate on? 

From S5E6 'Big Daddy'. It's the stolen plate used on a truck in a robbery. The guy makes a deal with Boss to get a clean plate for his truck, and Rosco swaps plates with the General. The 'Atlanta' is a little bit too big on mine. I'll fix that for the next one.

Edited July 1, 2019 by DB537

[RogerDuke]

Interesting! I did not know that. Learning something new about the show always makes it feel fresh and new. Thanks. 

[dukesonline]

I would second that artist comment. I purchased a few of these plates from DB537 and they are incredible. They are the closest thing I have found to the original hand made plates used during the original production. Excellent stuff and I cant wait to pickup more for the collection!

[DB537]

I was finally able to get some prop license plates from the same Los Angeles prop house that made all the real ones for the show.

These are all hand made, exactly the same way that they made the actual props for Dukes back in the 80s. The lettering is an exact match for several surviving original plates, so they did use the original dies to cut them. They had a few slightly different sets of dies that were approximately the same size/type. The plates are almost identical to the real ones. The only exception is that they are made using better quality blanks now. As I have already done with the 79 plate, I will be updating the 81 and 82 plates with slightly larger more accurate sized decals. Those were made slightly too small due to a minor miscommunication.

1979 / Season 2 plate:

The next 2 are the same color as the 79, just in different lighting.

1981 / Season 3-4:

 

1982 / Season 5:

 

1984 / Season 7: This plate has printed decals (green on clear vinyl) for the year and the Hazzard County text, just like the real ones.

Edited March 18, 2020 by DB537

[RogerDuke]

There was a General Lee plate from season 7 with green letters? 

[DB537]

8 hours ago, RogerDuke said:

There was a General Lee plate from season 7 with green letters? 

Yes. Georgia changed their real plates in 1983 and all of the prop plates were updated at the beginning of season 6 based on those changes.

The only time red plates are seen in the last two seasons are on some background vehicles in early season 6, in reused stock shots, and for the flashbacks from 'Happy Birthday, General Lee'.

In season 6, there is no registration sticker on the plates. In season 7 they added the 'W 84' sticker which was similar to the ones on real Georgia plates at the time.

Here is the photo of my season 7 plate. The photo didn't upload correctly in the previous post.

Edited March 19, 2020 by DB537