Palo Duro HS Class of 70: Doug’s ’70 Chevelle

Doug’s ’70 Chevelle

This is the license plate to my 1970 Chevrolet SS 396 Chevelle. It’s engine was technically rated at 402 cubic inches but Chevrolet still labeled the car with a 396 emblem. 396 was (is) a popular number associated with Chevys. My car was black over red, black vinyl roof, Turbo Hydro-matic 3 speed. All car enthusiasts know that a 396 Chevy is hot and mine zoomed. It was my answer to Bobby T’s baby blue Buick Stage III. Well, it came time to get new license plates and I wanted a plate whose numbers matched my car’s engine size.

One day, I was at a bank on Taylor street that I frequented often. Dianne W_ worked there. If you remember, Dianne also worked at the Jean’s Warehouse… another shop I frequented often. It just so happened that one of Dianne’s bank duties was to issue license plates. I went up to her counter and asked her if she had a ”396” plate available and explained a little bit about why I wanted that number. She glanced through her plates and yes, there’s one in the stack, but she said her instructions were to issue the plates in strict sequential order. She thought for a while then told me she would continue issuing the plates and when the 396 came available she’d set it aside for me. “Fantastic” I said. I smiled and left the bank glowing in anticipation of a cool tag going on my cool car.

Well, wouldn’t you know, I got real busy the remainder of the day. The next day I was snowed under too. So, I didn’t get back to the bank for 2 days. Finally, I went over to the bank, walked up to Dianne and her stare could have killed me. She was furious. She barked at me and told me I put her job in jeopardy… but she had the plates. I grimaced, finished the plate transaction with her, then slithered away, but once I got back to my car with the plates, I was ecstatic! I drove around for a whole year with a cool plate on my car and got several shout outs about it.

PS - I love my 1972 green numbered TX license plates; they bring back a lot of fond memories. One day several years ago, in my love for them, I wanted to preserve them. So one day I got the bright idea of sanding off all the rust, straightening the bent corners and priming the entire plate in a white paint. That ought to keep them in good shape... forever.

Well months/years later, after strolling through an antique shop that had lots of old car license plates, I noticed that what made the plates cool was their rust, bent corners and old age look... patina. Like a dummy, I had inadvertently devalued and really ruined my plates. I tried to hand paint the green back on the numbers, but that didn't turn out. So, awhile back I took a photo image of the plate, then used Photoshop to fill in the green around the numbers. At the time I was pretty new to Photoshop and could probably do a better job today, but then again the crudeness of my paint job just adds to the story.

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