One other little nuance, that tickled me when I noticed.
Dad had made a little display for me of the '65 GTO: a framed felt background with a couple photos, a new unused set of original keys, a time slip from Lapeer (International! Dragway), repop window sticker, and the original title.
I was looking at the display and noticed the license plate on the title: HW-1031. I thought "geez, that plate looks familiar".
Sure enough, I dug out the photo of the '64 and - same plate. Dad had transferred the plate off the '64 and it became the original plate for the '65.
Note - back then plates were due on Jan 1st of every year. That meant every person in the state had to renew their plate prior to the same day. In a shocking display of project management, the Michigan Secretary of State later changed the process so that plates became due on the registrant's birthday, thereby leveling the workload across the whole calendar year, which is how it is still done today.
