CUSTOMIZED and MODIFIED PLAQUES
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Some clubs had their plaques cast with numbers, initials or nicknames. This
required some additional work on the pattern by adding foundry letters before
the pattern was set into the sand. This was a good way to discourage thieves
from stealing the plaques as they were now personalized and could be traced to
the original owners.
The Albata dry lakes racing club was first organized in 1937 and took it's
name from one of the very oldest racing fraternities that dates to the Coliseum
in Rome. They were one of the first clubs to cast plaques with numbers and here
are two examples of their plaque.
The Elegants from Gardena, CA also cast their member's number
in the plaque.
As did the Gear Gamblers from Downey, CA
The Gear Gamblers also had a special plaque cast for their
"Honorary Members".
Stu Roberts was a founder and the first President of the
Southern California Rod Rockers. When they had plaques made, Stu received the
plaque with the Number 1 on it. When his term was up, he traded his Number 1
plaque with the new President for the Number 11 plaque. The Number 12 plaque
belonged to his brother, Richard Roberts.
When the San Francisco Road Tramps had their plaques cast, they
added a "pad" on the lower right corner that would be used to add the
member's number. Not sure if they were cast in because it looks like some kind
of brass colored numbers were used for the two plaques on the right.
The Slowpokes from Peoria, IL added a topper to their plaque
for their Honorary Members.
The Timers in the San Gabriel Valley of Southern California
also had plaques made for Honorary Members.
The Drag Wagons from Maywood, CA used numbers and names. On
this version of their plaques, Maywood was abbreviated to provide enough room on
the right side for the member's info. There was also a version with Maywood
spelled out and you can view both versions on the Maywood
page.
Note how the designs for the Gear Gamblers and Drag Wagons are
similar. These clubs were from the same general area east of Los Angeles. There
were other clubs from this area who used the same type of design with the
letters standing above the plaque. The Downey
page has several examples.
Another club that added their member's name to the plaque was
the Saints from Scotia, a small town in Northern California. Bill & Herb
were members.
Other clubs just stamped the member's number on the plaque.
This Knucklebusters plaque belonged to Charter Member Number 6.
The Southern Nevada Street Rod Association had a different
idea. They added the year and make of their member's car inside the map of
Nevada.
Maybe this member of the Pomona Shortimers thought this was a
good idea so he added the Ford Deluxe script to his plaque.
There have been clubs that folded, then started up again. The
new clubs often would put the year the club was originally founded on the
plaques. Here are some examples from the Eagle Rock Trompers. What may be the
original plaque, then one with 1945 added and another with 1948 added. Not
sure which is correct.
The Pick-Ups Limited club of Orange County in Southern
California was formed in 1968. In 1978 they had special plaques made for their
members who belonged to the club for 10 years. When the club was 15 years old,
they added a "topper" to the plaque and have continued to acknowledge
their long time members in 5 year increments. Their special plaque for 40 year
members is on the right. I'm still missing the 30, 35 and 50 year versions, if
those were also made.
In 2004, the Four Ever Four Cylinder club had this special
plaque made to celebrate their 50th Anniversary.
O'Brien Truckers made these special plaques for the 50th
Anniversary of the Ty-Rods of Rockville, CT. Below is their original plaque and
the chromed aluminum commemorative that also has a polished bronze tie rod end
that replicates their logo.
In 2009, this club from Hamilton, New Zealand had special 50th
Anniversary plaques made to let everyone know their club was established in
1959.
This long time Los Angeles car club had special plaques made
for their 50th Anniversary in 2012. The Dukes have evolved into a well known and
respected lowrider club. In 2020 I received the 60th Anniversary plaque photo
but the dates don't correspond with the 50th plaque. Maybe these were two
different clubs.
In 1998, the Franklin Syndicate Auto Club from Stockton, CA had
special plaques made to commemorate their 50th Anniversary.
The Stick Shifts from Jamaica Plain, MA had these cast toppers
made up for their 40th Anniversary.
In 1986, the Mid-Century Mercury Car Club had special plaques
cast to celebrate their 10th Anniversary.
This club from Koolsville had special plaques cast to let
everyone know they've been around for 20 years.
The Prowlers of San Diego, CA had a special topper made in 2017
to let everyone know they have been around for 70 years. Club historian Andy
Bekech says he has the minutes from their club meetings all the way back to
1948. He mentionded that in those early years, their club plaques were called
"Bumper Plates". I don't remember ever hearing them called that.
The Wilmington Road Kings had a reunion of old club members in
1985 and had special plaques cast to commemorate their event.
This Rollin Wheels AC "plaque" was photographed by
Dean Court at the Redwood Empire Early Ford V-8 Club's 36th Annual Swap Meet in
Petaluma, CA. It looks like someone took an aluminum plaque and glued on the
emblem from their jacket. The plaque was displayed on the front of a track nosed
T Roadster and Dean said "It looked like an embroidered emblem that may
have been shellacked; it was hard but rough to the feel".
The plaque below is for the High Desert Roadsters in
Victorville, CA and Norm Jones said everyone in this club was
"President".
Someone took the time to make their High Desert Roadsters
plaque unique by trimming the edges off the plaque on the left. The owner of the
plaque on the right went one step further by removing
"President".
The Street Angels of Santa Rosa, CA had a special plaque made
for their President.
Lehigh Valley's Wheels of Time club added Senior Member to
their plaques for long standing members.
Dennis O'Brien (O'Brien Truckers) has the original pattern for
the Port Arthur, TX Highway Prowlers plaque shown below on the left. When
Beverly Craine wrote about the plaque she found in a Galveston, TX thrift store,
she wanted to know if we had any info about who, or where, "OV" was.
She said it looked like something else had been across the bottom at one time
but it had the Chicago Metal Craft stamp on the reverse side. Probably another
unsolved mystery.
Here are some examples of plaques that were probably modified
by their owners. The plaque on the right has been trimmed down for some reason.
Maybe the plaque was dropped and a corner was broken or maybe the owner just
wanted to be different.
The owners of the Bacardi Boys, American Streetrodders and Rif
Raf plaques also modified their plaques by removing some of the extra metal.
A member of the Outlaws Rod & Drag club in England had the
same idea and trimmed off the excess aluminum to make a smaller plaque.
The owner of this plaque on the right ground off Tulsa and
added NSRA with what may be stick-on letters.
Here is another example of a plaque that was modified. Someone
removed SCTA from the plaque on the right and added RTA. If you look closely at
the RTA example, you can still see where SCTA had been.
There are numerous examples of plaques with and without
locations on them. It's unknown if the owners of these plaques removed the
location for some unknown reason or if there were actually two different
versions made for these clubs.
Here someone took a what looks like a "Stock" Wild Cats plaque and
added SCTA and CALIF to it. It appears that the letters were cast into the
plaque but the "club" probably never existed. These stock plaques were
sold from catalogs and could be ordered by mail or through a local speed shop. Click
Here to read more about Stock Plaques.
Here is another example of someone who took a "Stock"
plaque and added Moose Jaw to it. It looks like the city name may have been
taken from something like a license plate frame.
The plaque for the West Side Auto Club on the right had a spark
plug added, or was it removed from the plaque on the left? Which was first?
What do you do after you quit the Road Knights? You remove the
S from your plaque and become a Road Knight.
Someone who may have been a member of the Obsoletes in Downey
removed the club's name from the top of their plaque.
Jus' Another Car Club from Puyallup, WA had some small castings
made that can be attached to their plaques to indicate that the owner is a
charter member of this club.
Did the Lakesters from Fairmont, MN drop out of the NHRA and
have new plaques cast with MINN?
The person from Janesville, WI that owned this stock plaque for
the Road Knights painted the location on with reflective paint.
I'm guessing the person who had this "Pharoahs"
plaque also did the same thing by painting SLC on it. There were several clubs
that misspelled Pharaohs.
The Auto Butchers were a well known custom car club in the East
Los Angeles area in the early 50's. There are several examples of plaques that
have been made for this club but it's unknown which is the original one. Someone
took one of these plaques and ground off the bottom of the E and it now says
FLA. I'm guessing the car or truck it's on has Florida license plates.
On the left below is a (Pontiac) Powered plaque with Pontiac's
Indian Head logo. Someone added GMC and V-8 to one of these plaques with crude
looking letters. Wonder if their engine was a Pontiac or a GMC truck engine.
Not sure if this Drag-Ons plaque was modified or if it came
this way from the foundry.
The "wings" on the top of this Century Toppers plaque
may have been cast with a part cut from another club's plaque.
It looks like someone took this Gearlords plaque on the left
and removed Longview and Kelso from it and added a part of a gear where the city
names were.
