Good Condition Data Plates.........Restore or Preserve?

[w30bob]

I had to remove the dash data plates in my A1 because the previous owner had installed them on the mounting plate with the plate upside down. After I took them all off yesterday I took a good look at them.........and they're in pretty good shape. I can post a pic later, but except for some small areas of the black background missing on all of them (the shift pattern indicator has about half of the background missing).......they look good. Nice patina (meaning not polished to within an inch of their lives) and not bent, with the black background faded to a dark brown. I can't match the faded patina of the background no matter how hard I try, but I'm thinking about leaving them alone. Restored would look nice, but that patina is priceless.

So what I'm wondering is what's the current thought on these plates.....restore or preserve? I know it's my jeep and I can do what I please, but I'm relatively new to the MV hobby and want to know what's the thinking on this.

thanks,
bob

[Kendall]

I left the original patina on two of my jeeps. On my 1951 M38 plates the background color was mostly gone, so I block polished the plates with 600(?) grit paper, painted the plates black and then went back with the sanding block to take off the upper layer of black. They look good, but not perfect.
Kendall

[w30bob]

Hi Kendall,

Thanks for the reply. I've read about how to restore the data plates and seen the pics on the web. They seem to look very good when done, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what I'd actually use to remove the black paint from the raised lettering. Some of the lettering is so small and on some plates there's lots of blank space between the writing.....not to mention that everything that's raised is just barely raised......so I think I'd really screw it up unless I could find something abrasive that's tiny and can be used like a pen. I think if I could find a sanding block that was perfectly flat it would work in the areas of the plates with a high density of lettering, but not sure about the open spaces. Really think I'm going to leave the plates as is.

regards,
bob

[RonD2]

I had the same dilemma with M100 data plates. The originals have zero paint on them and are barely readable at all except for the serial number and inspector stamps. They're also distorted (warped) so they don't sit flat against the trailer body. I'm by no means knowing how to restore brass data plates but seriously doubt these could be saved to any form of being serviceable.

As I'm into a "motor pool restoration" I figure if a data plate needed replacement while the trailer was in service, the Soldier would order a new one. So after a lot of searching (NOS brass plates for early Dunbar Kapple M100's are pricey and even harder to come by) I found a gentleman in Poland with a great reputation for faithful reproduction, including stamping the marks, for a reasonable price. I haven't received them yet so can't report on this, but my plan is to rivet them on, wrap the originals in VCI (Vapor Corrosion Inhibiting) paper, and stick them in the lid of the cable box for posterity. The next guy can tackle restoring them.

Hoping I don't get my chops busted for talking M100's outside the proper forum?.......

[4x4M38]

Duck and cover Ron!

[wesk]

No worries Ron, I only bust deserving chops that make wrong choices!