Old Cars Weekly – 22 August 2019

http://www.oldcarsweekly.com August22, 2019 ❘ 17

Q.

During World War II there was

a metal shortage and every-

one was asked to donate metal to the

government to build war materiel.

Starting in 1943 and ending in 1948,

Illinois made its license plates out of

soybean fi berboard. One of my pic-

tures shows a 1946 fi berboard plate.

The other picture shows a pair of metal

Illinois 1946 plates. To my knowledge

Illinois never made metal 1946 plates.

Can someone do some research and let

me know about these unusual plates?

— Guy Buswell, Fort Worth, Texas

A.

The license plate experts tend

tocongregateintheAutomobile

License Plate Collectors Association

(www.alpca.org), of which I’ve long

been a member. I don’t collect so much

as accumulate, but that’s another story.

Indeed the ALPCA archives hold the

answer to your question. As you say,

Illinois passenger plates were made

of a soy-based fi berboard from 1943

to 1948. A persistent legend says they

were susceptible to being eaten by

animals, primarily goats, but eyewit-

ness accounts are lacking. Your steel

pair, however, are truck plates, although

they are not identifi ed as such. The “B”

signifi es they’re for a

truck of 8,000 to 10,000

lbs. GVW. The reason for

labeling them as FRONT

and REAR is unclear, ex-

cept that it may be to in-

dicate to law enforcement

that they were issued

in pairs and the vehicle

should have two plates.

The rationale for steel

may have been simply

that trucks were expected

to endure conditions

where fi berboard plates

would be damaged (ex-

posure to goats, maybe?).

That said, apparently a

few fi berboard 1946 truck

plates have turned up in

collectors’ hands.

Q.

In the July 25

Q&A, you made

the statement: “Regarding

the tax benefi ts of non-

cash donations, in order

to qualify, a deduction

of $500 or more must be

substantiated by an appraisal which is

theresponsibilityofthedonor.”This

is not correct. Maybe it wasa typo,

but the amount should be $5,000. Not

$500.

According to the IRS: “A donor who

claims a charitable deduction of $5,000

or more for a single item or for multiple

similar items of personal or real prop-

erty must obtain a qualifi ed appraisal of

the item’s or group of items’ combined

value.”

— Frank Scheidt, Communications

Director, Early Ford V8 Foundation,

Auburn, Ind.

A.

Thanks for catching that error.

It’s a confl ation of two separate

limits on my part, not a typo. Charitable

donations are recorded on Schedule A

of Form 1040. Schedule A instructs that

property donations worth $500 or more

require fi ling Form 8283, which in turn

instructs that gifts of $5,000 or more

must be substantiated with an appraisal.

As with all such legal matters, you

should not act solely on advice in this

column, but consult your tax advisor or

attorney.

Q.

Regarding that police cruiser

door (July 4 Q&A); having at-

tended college in Potsdam, N.Y., from

1964 to ’69, I can attest that the Pots-

dam police did use MoPar police cars.

I can’t recall whether they were Dodges

or Plymouths, but I can recall the times

they pulled me over.

— Pete Hallock, via e-mail

A.

Thanks for that. I was pretty

sure I was on the right track, but

it’s nice to have confi rmation. I hope

theyletyouofflightly.

Q&A WITH KIT FOSTER

To submit questions to this column: E-mail

[email protected] or mail to: Q&A, Old Cars,

5225 Joerns Drive, Suite 2, Stevens Point, WI 54481.

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