MGB & GT Forum

I'm currently investigating the possibility of moving to Crestview FL. My son lives in Niceville (just across the bay from Destin), but property there is out of my price range - so I'm looking at Crestview. I've looked at the DMV site and it isn't very informative when it comes to Antique tags. Apparently I'll need to first title the car in FL (about $125) and, once that title is obtained, pay a few $ to change to an antique tag. It also mentions having insurance through a registered Florida agent.

First question (regarding insurance): My car is insured through Hagerty directly - not through a local agent. Is that OK in Florida?

Driving restrictions?: The DMV site mentions driving the car to car shows, etc. being permissible, but says little else - except that it can't be used for regular transportation. I've had Tennessee Antique tags since my car was 25 years old (the requirement here). Although the law states that the car can be used for traveling to shows, for repairs, etc, and for unlimited use on weekends and holidays, the reality is that I've only one time known someone to get stopped during the week. Truth is, police here have bigger issues to deal with . I don't drive that much during the week, but sometimes take a nice drive on a beautiful day. I've had police cars follow me, stop behind me a traffic lights, etc., and have never been pulled over or ticketed. What is your experience in this regard in Florida - especially in the area around Destin, Crestview, and FWB in the panhandle? Would I be better off to just keep regular plates on the car and just pay the annual renewal? Here in TN it was an advantage since the antique tag was, I think, a one time fee of about $25, and never has to be renewed - compared to about $100 annual for a regular plate. Plus, at that time cars here had to pass annual inspection (including emissions) for renewal - not required for antiques.

Thanks in advance for your advice! Don't know yet if I'll be making the move, but need to know what I'm getting into...

JOE: NOT a complaint or a RANT, but just being inquisitive: $148.00 a year to register my NGBGT, which I hardly ever drive any more, BUT when I was driving it a LOT, I could drive wherever, whenever to go wherever, to do whatever, I wanted as much as I wanted and as often as I wanted. ??? I would HATE to have to worry about, OH crap, I am going for a DONUT, IS that considered Work, Soc=ial, Medical, or what. ??? Just pay for regular registration, and enjoy the car whenever you want. Otherwise, what's the purpose? Thanks, Just my thoughts. Cheers.

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IN ALL SUBJECTS.: For those who believe, no proof is needed. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.

"Strive for perfection in everything. Take the best that exists and make it better. If it doesn't exist, create it. Accept nothing nearly right or good enough"
Sir Henry Royce
co-founder of Rolls-Royce .

"I take no credit for my own, of another man's fame".
Joe Baba 2021

None of that is my experience. I have three cars and insuring them is not that complicated. The only driving restrictions I’ve ever experienced were from the insurance company (Hagerty) and not tye DMV. I have also bought several cars from out of state and registered them here.

There are different types of antique tags with the most common being the blue antique tag. They don’t cost anything extra (I pay less than $30 a year), they have no driving restrictions and every car older than 25 years can have one.

Another version is the Year of Manufacture tag. You just need a good quality tag from the year the car was made. You have to send it to Tallahassee for approval and you pay the annual registration fee plus a personalized tag fee. The last time I did it it cost around $70 a year.

There’s a “Horseless Carriage” tag I’ve seen on very old cars but I have no experience with that one. I’ve only seen them on a few cars. Never on an MG.

You’ll find Florida taxes and restrictions to be very lenient and we have no inspections other than a VIN check when you first register your car in Florida.

Pictured is the common blue tag that I have.

Joe,

Welcome to the free Republic of Florida! There are no restriction on the tags just insurance. They have a restriction on mileage but they have never asked but the mileage. I have Hagerty as well. I would look for a year of manufacture tag. The antique tags are just butt ugly. I looked until I found one that was the right county (Okaloosa is 43) It would be followed by a letter that denotes weight of the car. Once you find the tag, you send it to Tallahassee for validation and send it back with the sticker. It really looks cool on the car.

Keith

Joe,

I just noticed your car is a 78. The year of manufacture will not work for your car. The last year that had year plate specific plates was 1974. I had a 76 Porsche and I just wnet with a Paratrooper Tag cause the antique in bright blue did not look right.

Top of the morning, Joe.,
I have tagged each of my antique vehicles with authentic tags from the correct year of the car and the county and weight numbers of each one.
The county will be the first number before the dash and will be a letter representing the weight of said vehicle. If the car is under 2500# (I think), The weight letter will be 'D'. No letter would be more than 2500 but less than 3800#.
There is no requirement for either of these details, but it winds my clock to see an MG (or any antique car) with a tag that was originally assigned to a mobile home, Cadilac, Lincoln or simi-truck. The correct tags are usually found at car show flea markets. After acquiring a tag, It must be sent to Tallahassee for verification in its original state (not re-painted).
This is all from memory and I cannot attest to its accuracy.
Larry Meadows
Marcos chassis no. 3v5536

Joe the biggest incentive for me to get an antique tag where I live wasn't the $100 annual savings but to avoid the emissions testing. My car has all the factory emissions stuff removed and has a DCOE carb. No way that would have passed the annual inspection. Since that time the local inspection has gone away, but I haven't had any need to switch back to the normal license.

10-4 My MGBGT also is de-smogged and has a 45 DCOE weber, but it is a 72. CA, is SMOG compliant, 76 0n. Apologizes, 1978, which would require emissions testing here as well. I thought you had an earlier model. Not sure about Florida. Good luck.

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IN ALL SUBJECTS.: For those who believe, no proof is needed. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.

"Strive for perfection in everything. Take the best that exists and make it better. If it doesn't exist, create it. Accept nothing nearly right or good enough"
Sir Henry Royce
co-founder of Rolls-Royce .

"I take no credit for my own, of another man's fame".
Joe Baba 2021

COUNTY ?? or COUNTRY ???? No disrespect intended, but I have "Absolutely" no idea, what you are talking about. This is the first time I have ever heard of this. I had to get a "Certified Weight" for my Racecar for class and category certification. Racecars, still carry the OEM Vin number, but are classified as "Off Road Use Only." Cheers.

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IN ALL SUBJECTS.: For those who believe, no proof is needed. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.

"Strive for perfection in everything. Take the best that exists and make it better. If it doesn't exist, create it. Accept nothing nearly right or good enough"
Sir Henry Royce
co-founder of Rolls-Royce .

"I take no credit for my own, of another man's fame".
Joe Baba 2021

Joe....he's talking about the format of the license plate numbers. County number is 1st. Used to be that way in TN. Shelby County plates started with "1" since it was the largest county, and so on. FL has different costs based on vehicle weight. Pretty sure my car is under 2500 pounds, so it would get the cheapest rate. One site online shows it as 2339 pounds. I'm sure FL has a database they use. Next step up is 2500-3800...and those cost just a few $ more.

Tags? - When I hear that term,I think it's for the Month/Year stickers.
Never heard license plates referred to that way before.Must be a "Southern Thing".

Again: Totally baffled by this. I have owned ???? Probably 50 cars or so in my lifetime. ALL here in California. The only time I ran into a 'WEIGHT REQUIREMENT" was when I wanted to register my Toyota Pickup[. NON-Comercial, so I could put on Amateur Call Sign Plates. (They can't go on commercial vehicles), so I had to get a certified, weight. Since I had converted it to a small flatbed, I came in under the requirement by 175 lbs, and it became non-commercial Every state is different. CA is pretty easy.

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IN ALL SUBJECTS.: For those who believe, no proof is needed. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.

"Strive for perfection in everything. Take the best that exists and make it better. If it doesn't exist, create it. Accept nothing nearly right or good enough"
Sir Henry Royce
co-founder of Rolls-Royce .

"I take no credit for my own, of another man's fame".
Joe Baba 2021

Just to be clear we are talking about finding the right year of manufacture plate for the car. You can put what every year of manufacture plate on the car you want but it might not be "correct" for the car.

County 9 for Escambia.....that would have based on population
Next the weight indicator.......no letter under 2500 like and MG or VW.....W over 2500 up to 3800.....so Mustang, Chevelle, WW over 3800 full size Impala Delta 88 etc.
Then can the plate number 33078 in my case

In my case 1967-68 plate 9-33078. Car, Escambia Co, under 2500 and the plate number.

There were thinks that denoted trucks.

A new metal plate was issued each year so most folks just collected the plates. I have a set from 1966-1974. They went to stickers in 1975.

And yes Doug it is a southern thing. I still say I have to go the "Tag" office.

INTERESTING: In CA, yu go to the DMV, Pay the fees as required, request new plates, (The seller, lost one), and they hand you new plates off the top of the stack behind the girl's desk. The number you get is a 'RANDOM NUMBER" it says NOTHING about the car as far as Who, What or Where. Just a Number.

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IN ALL SUBJECTS.: For those who believe, no proof is needed. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.

"Strive for perfection in everything. Take the best that exists and make it better. If it doesn't exist, create it. Accept nothing nearly right or good enough"
Sir Henry Royce
co-founder of Rolls-Royce .

"I take no credit for my own, of another man's fame".
Joe Baba 2021

That is how it is now.........you get what you get. However, back in the day it was different. We have umpteen specialty plates on top of the just regular plates. All things considered I think the year of manufacture plate is by far the coolest. I like to go to car shows and see a really nicely restored car with a truck plate or a trailer plate on the car. It's hard to get the county and weight right. It's fun to look....I found the one for mine on ebay. It was in Connecticut!

I do have the black plates for my car thanks to Doug. I would love to have run them but no way in Florida.

BTW no emission checks or inspections on cars in Florida unless the county requires it.

We use to have safety inspections. I remember going with my dad when I was a kid. They stopped it in the 1970's.