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Motor Vehicle License Plate Refurbishing | Before and After

August 9, 2012 By Laura 180 Comments

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Many of you probably already know that my husband, Michael, letters company trucks, does vehicle graphics and makes business signs. If you’re curious to see some of the kind of work he does, you can click on ‘Photography & Lettering’ in the menu above, and look to the bottom of that drop down menu, for ‘Truck Lettering’ and ‘Vehicle Graphics.’

Well, an interesting sideline that he has gotten into over the years, is refurbishing older green Massachusetts license plates.

Our own state of Massachusetts here, is actually the very first state in the United States, to issue motor vehicle license plates.  It used to be that the plates only needed to be displayed on the back of the vehicle. Over the years, the state has been proactive in enacting laws regarding the registration and inspection of motor vehicles.  The vehicle’s license plate(s) are assessed as part of the required vehicle inspections, and if the plates are old and/or damaged and are deemed unreadable by at least 60 feet, the vehicle owner is required to get new plates, before it receives a passed inspection sticker.

If a motor vehicle has been issued front and rear license plates, which is typical, the vehicle must display both license plates issued by the Registry of Motor Vehicles on the front and rear of the vehicle.  Older plates that have the green lettering, which were the former standard and issued as a single plate, must only be displayed as that one plate on the back of the vehicles.  In 1988, Massachusetts began issuing red-lettered plates, which are issued as a set of two. If the newer red-letter plates are issued to the vehicle registrar, both must be displayed on both the front and back of the vehicle.  However, the single green-lettered plate is acceptable by law, for as long as it is readable.

It is for this reason, that Michael has refurbished an increasing amount of green-lettered plates. There are a host of reasons why some vehicle owners want to keep their older plate, for as long as possible. For some, it is just a somewhat sentimental reason. One 50-something year old man told Michael that he has had the same license plate since he was 18 years old, and he just doesn’t want to give it up.  Others own hot rods, antique vehicles, or other show cars, and there is no place for a front plate, nor do they want it to ‘blemish’ the look of their car.  Whatever the reason, if the plate is indeed salvageable, Michael is happy and capable of restoring them to their former beauty, if hired to do so.

Because it is a service he provides to aid in providing income for his family, he asked that I not show the whole step-by-step process.  Still, I thought it might be an interesting little post, to share with you all the before and after of just one of his green-lettered Massachusetts license plate restoration jobs.

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The condition of this particular plate when he received it, was a hot mess.

So the first thing he needs to do is strip the plate to bare metal and start from scratch.

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004 Here it is, stripped. It’s still a little beat up and whatnot, but a good new place to start.

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007_massachusetts-license-plate-refurbishing All restored.  It is 100% reflective as needed as well, just as they were originally.

What do you think?

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I am aware and amused, that he is often needing to clean things up and make them look like new, while I spend some of my days working to make things look old, beaten up and quite used.

009_restoration-massachusetts-motor-vehicle-license-plate-before-after Have you ever had license plates that meant something to you? Have you ever been sad for the to need to get new ones, or was it exciting? And what I’d really love to know, is do you like the look of your state’s plates?  I’m not going to name names (of states, that is), but I’ve seen some ugly ones!  I can’t much complain about ours.  You?
. . . . . .
UPDATE: Since the creation of this post, and as a direct result of it on the internet as well as constant referrals, Michael has refurbished thousands of plates to date.  Every one has expressed great satisfaction with their finished plate, upon return, and of course, every one has gone on to pass inspection.

Because this unique service he provides is in very high demand,
Michael was previously booked up for months ahead. However, due to being able to increase the number of plates he restores per week, the wait is no longer that long. If you are looking to have your license plate restored to it’s former beauty, and would like to know the current booking time, please contact Michael at his e-mail address: Alphbtman@aol.com

for further details and instructions.

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Filed Under: Photography & Lettering, Refinishing, truck lettering, vehicle graphics Tagged With: green-Massachusetts-licence-plate-restoring, license-plate-refinishing, massachusetts-license-plate-refurbishing-services, massachusetts-motor-vehicle-license-plates, vehicle-license-plate-refurbishing

Some Recent Vehicle Lettering & Graphics | Plymouth, MA

April 11, 2011 By Laura 7 Comments

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Sharing in this post here, just some of Michael’s vehicle lettering and graphics work for his Michael P. Richard Truck Lettering, Etc., clients from within the past several months.

While most of his work is commercial jobs for small and large businesses require standard and conservative lettering jobs on their vehicles, once in awhile he gets a cool job a client wants just for their personal vehicles, and he has the fun of designing something more out of the box.  This XTERRA below was such a case, and he enjoyed getting a little more free-style with it.  I think it came out rather cool. Take a look-see for yourself:

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How would you like to drive that bad boy around town?
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With the 4 door/extended cab trucks being a popular vehicle for tradesman, Michael has been making use of the extra space for their business branding, as seen  in the next couple of trucks, as opposed to keeping it all confined to the front door.

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I say, bigger is better, when it comes to company branding.
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Here below is a more standard can truck lettering job, with front door lettering only.

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Still sharp looking, and eye catching though, with the black & white on red.

Earthshaping.  I like that word!

vehicle-truck-lettering-graphics-plymouth-ma-10 Burkhardt Brothers…….Michael’s Dad lettered this company’s fleet of 40 foot trailers and box trucks for many, many, MANY years.  But guess what?  HE lettered it all IN PAINT, BY HAND!   Michael helped for a few years, with his father.  It’s Michael’s account now, but it is done in all cut vinyl these days.  A whole lot faster for sure.  But more impressive execution, back in the day. Think about it.  Those capital B’s on a trailer are like 30 inches tall!

I miss that man.  <sigh>

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This is Michael’s brother-in-law’s roofing company.  Michael does all of his vehicle and sign work of course.
Michael’s father designed the logo.   I think its super sleek, and extra-so in gold.
– vehicle-truck-lettering-graphics-plymouth-ma-13 This a trailer for a la crosse team, all in vinyl.  Michael did this in our driveway.  The kids love to watch him work, and help sometimes, too.

These next 2 jobs are vehicle wraps.  Have you noticed them around?  It’s basically a very large one piece vinyl print, that is shrink-wrapped onto the vehicle.

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Here just the bed of the truck is wrapped.

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Here, the entire trailer was done.

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Wrapping takes some real practice and skill to apply, for sure.

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But I think it is eye-catching, and effective marketing/branding for one’s business.
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Hope you enjoyed seeing some of Michael’s latest work.

We just wanted to share some of it with you.  Let him know what you think of this or that, in the comments!  He’ll be glad to read your feedback.



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Filed Under: Photography & Lettering, truck lettering, vehicle graphics Tagged With: business-branding, truck-lettering-graphics-Plymouth-MA, vehicle-lettering-graphics-Plymouth-MA

Plymouth Tire & Auto Service | Truck Lettering

November 30, 2009 By Michael 2 Comments

Michael here. Here is one of the most recent truck lettering jobs I have done. Plymouth Tire & Auto Service has been a customer of mine for about eight years now. I have lettered several trucks and did some signs for Steve over that time period. On this job Steve wanted me to design something different. Something that would catch the eye a bit more than the traditional door lettering that he had used in the past. So this is what I came up with.

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This is a four color job with each color as an overlay on top of the red base color.

Below is closer look to show you the surface I had to work on with the second half of the name.

This took a bit more time to do as you can imagine.

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Steve and his kids got a real kick out of  “Bib” (the Michelin Man) in the back seat with his arm out the window.

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Yup, both sides match. ; )

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I think the back speaks for itself.  Thanks for taking a look.

  • Michael

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Filed Under: Photography & Lettering, truck lettering, vehicle graphics Tagged With: Michael-P-Richard-Truck-Lettering-Etc, Plymouth-Tire-and-Auto-Service-Plymouth-MA, truck-graphics, truck-lettering, truck-lettering-Plymouth-MA

Lipsett Oil Truck Lettering

August 29, 2009 By Michael 5 Comments

Hi Folks. This is Michael. : )  As I am sure we’ve mentioned before, my father was in this trade of signs and truck lettering for 52 years or so.  Lipsett & Sons was a client of his for many, many years, until my father retired.  I’ve had a business of my own (Michael P. Richard – Truck Lettering, Etc.), so when my father retired, a lot of his clients naturally came to me. Lipsett & Sons has been one of those accounts.   Just since then, in late 2006, I have lettered for Lipsett, 3 service vans, 2 oil trucks, and 1 enclosed trailer.

The lettering for this truck I had already cut out.  For existing accounts, I have the layouts I have created at a prior time, in my computer, for the various size and style trucks.  But for new vehicles, I need to take measurements, and create a properly sized layout. Sometimes designing a logo in the process, for a new business.  Once that layout is approved by the owners, we arrange for the lettering to be done on the vehicles.

So here’s this one freshly painted and waiting, in my own driveway. I work from home whenever possible.

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To be brief, once the lettering is cut, weeded and taped, I hinge it with tape in place on the vehicle, measuring carefully to be sure everything is going to end up where it should. (I will explain the cutting, wedding and taping more in depth another time.)

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Then I cut the large pieces, just to make it easier to work with.

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I lift it up, peel off the backing, bring it down straight and tight, and squeegie it down.

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Then I remove the mask, and move on to the next.

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On this particular job, they also want box striping all over.

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The kids love to watch me work, and sometimes help!  I still had the side you can’t see, to do.

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The striping really adds a little something.  It looks sharp, as simple of a layout as it is.

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See 2 of my kids in there?  When I have to turn the truck around, to work on the shaded side, they love to take turns having a ride in the big trucks.  Here above, the job was complete, and I was just turning the truck around, so that when the owners came to pick it up, they could just drive it out straight.  But also, there were 2 kids who hadn’t had a ride yet.

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Calling this one done!
If you’re a local business and need any kind of vehicle lettering, you can contact me, Michael, at the following email address:
Alphbtman@aol.com

Thanks, Lipsett & Sons, for your continued business!

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Filed Under: Photography & Lettering, truck lettering, vehicle graphics Tagged With: Lipsett-Oil-and-Sons, Michael-P-Richard-Truck-Lettering-Etc, truck-lettering, truck-lettering-Plymouth-MA, vehicle-lettering

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