Bootblack  Vorgeschlagen von donshottype 

Source?
Is this an old auto nameplate?

Yes this is an old auto name plate , it comes from a pictures of a vin plate.

It was probably not a transcription of a specific font, but rather designed in the tradition of the reverse contrast style sometimes called French Clarendon, Barnum, Wild West Wanted Poster etc. that was popular in the second half of the 19th century.There are various fonts in this style but none are an exact match to the VIN letters.

The closest I could find is Bootblack JNL

This font is similar, thanks you for your help !!!

just for the fun of it I made some letters from scratch.

Feel free to use them if it helps your project.