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Started by Alex, February 04, 2010, 10:38:53 AM

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bugo

Quote from: realjd on April 04, 2012, 09:04:59 PM
At least in Florida's case, the pro-choice groups (NOW I think it was) couldn't get the requisite 1,000 pre-sales to get the plate issued.

I have a hard time believing that, especially in a populous state like Florida.  I would get a pro-choice plate, except that I would be concerned that some Fundamentalist Christian would vandalize my car.  Everyone I know who has had Darwin fish on their car has had their car vandalized.  My, how "christian" of them.


realjd

Quote from: bugo on April 04, 2012, 09:20:32 PM
Quote from: realjd on April 04, 2012, 09:04:59 PM
At least in Florida's case, the pro-choice groups (NOW I think it was) couldn't get the requisite 1,000 pre-sales to get the plate issued.

I have a hard time believing that, especially in a populous state like Florida.  I would get a pro-choice plate, except that I would be concerned that some Fundamentalist Christian would vandalize my car.  Everyone I know who has had Darwin fish on their car has had their car vandalized.  My, how "christian" of them.

Liberal causes typically have a harder time getting awareness of their plates since they don't have the benefit of church congregations to help with marketing. Plus, the specialty plate market is mostly saturated. There are plenty of pro-choice people like myself who wouldn't necessarily care enough to switch from one of the many environmental plates.

There are a number of plates for conservative social causes (pro-life, anti-gay-marriage, etc.) already, but none of the Christian/Jesus plates with money going directly to churches have carried either for similar reasons. We do have an "In God We Trust" specialty plate, but funds go to local Police, Fire, EMS, and National Guard rather than a religious organization.

The High Plains Traveler

Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 07:53:03 PM
Quote from: The High Plains Traveler on April 04, 2012, 07:08:05 PM(AB-1234, then ABC-123 and finally ABC1234).

how did Colorado manage to exhaust ABC1234?  California has 1ABC234 (same number of combinations) and is still only on 6Vxx or so, despite starting that pattern in the late 70s and having a lot more vehicles.

Did Colorado skip a lot of the available ABC1234 space?
I think the switch in 2000 was because police didn't like the 7-digit plates (no space between the letter and number groups) and because there were different combinations for trucks, trailers, and other types of plates. They were nowhere close to exhausting combinations, but having letter combinations defined by county caused populous counties to run low on available combinations while the eastern plains counties had lots of combinations left. Doing away with the county-specific letter groups and putting all the plates on the same sequence simplified things. Midway through this plate issuance, the state did away with differentiating truck (TRK) registrations, and so pickups get the same plate without a stacked 3-letter code as any passenger vehicle.
"Tongue-tied and twisted; just an earth-bound misfit, I."

signalman

Beginning in 1992, when New Jersey switched to the yellow fade base (Gen I 3M sheeting) a 7 character format was tried.  It began at AAA1000 and ran to ADJ9999.  Issuance was stopped because police agencies complained that they were hard to read.  As with all plates issued by NJ from 1959 on, they are still allowed to be used, as long as the registration never lapsed.  I do admit the 7 character plates are a bit hard to read.  NJ uses a wide die and with no room for a dash, it is tough to make out, especially when the car is in motion.  After the 7 charcacter plates were recalled, the combo returned to where they were left when the blue plates stopped.  Blues ran to HZZ-99Z, so the yellow fade picked up at JAA-10A and ran to ZZZ-99Z, which was reached in 2010.  The format is now reversed to A10-AAA.  It progresses A10-AAA, A11...A99-AAA, B10-AAA...Z99-AAA, then A10-AAB, etc.  (Side note, highest on old series that I've seen was ZZZ-87Z, lowest on new format was A23-AAA)  New Jersey never issues leading D plates, they're reserved for dealer plates, leading O is for livery types, leading X plates are reserved for commercial, leading Q is for historic, T seems to be reserved for Transportation Dept (TD prefix, captioned State Govt) and Turnpike Authority plates (TPA prefix).  I and O and haven't been issued in any position for passenger types since the 1960s, as they can be too easily confused with ones and zeros.  Q was never used in any position except for historic and vanities.

realjd

Quote from: bugo on April 04, 2012, 08:42:22 PM
You would have to be an idiot to buy a Lexus.  All they are is Toyotas with some extra leather and maybe some wood in the interior.  And late model Toyotas are junk.  You're truly paying for that ugly "L" badge.  If you want a luxury car, get a real one like a Benzo or a BMW.  Or if you must have a Japanese luxury car, get an Infiniti which while having no real identity or image of its own, is a superior car to a Lexus.  Or, even better yet, buy a Caddy CTS-V.  Now THAT is a car.  Lincolns used to be nice but now they're just bland gussied up Fords with stupid names that start with "MK."  I have no idea which Lincoln is which.  Back in the day, nobody confused a Continental with a Town Car, but unless you're a Lincoln dealer who knows the difference between an MKS and an MKZ?

Saying that Lexus is just Toyota with leather is like saying Audi is just VW with leather or that Infiniti is just Nissan with leather. They may come from the same company but they're distinct models. I have a few friends who drive late 2010's IS and ES-350's. They're not as fast as my Infiniti, but they're much more "luxury" on the inside. Performance was more important to me so I went with Infiniti.

I'll agree that BMW and Mercedes are nice, but they run around $10k more than an Infiniti for comparable cars. In practical terms, I would have had to buy an older car since I was buying used.

I agree completely about the awesomeness of the CTS-V and the crappiness of anything from Lincoln. I've never ridden in a CTS-V, but the CTS is a very nice car. The Lincolns are nice on paper, but the interiors feel really cheap. I had the same experience with a Saab 9-3 turbo I had as a rental. It was a blast to drive, but the interior was already falling apart by 3,000 miles.

The Hyundai Genesis is another surprisingly nice entry level luxury car. Who would have thought that Hyundai would eventually start making nice cars?

(Sorry for continuing the OT discussion, I can't resist a car thread!)

tdindy88

Quote from: realjd on April 04, 2012, 09:47:21 PM
Quote from: bugo on April 04, 2012, 09:20:32 PM
Quote from: realjd on April 04, 2012, 09:04:59 PM
At least in Florida's case, the pro-choice groups (NOW I think it was) couldn't get the requisite 1,000 pre-sales to get the plate issued.

I have a hard time believing that, especially in a populous state like Florida.  I would get a pro-choice plate, except that I would be concerned that some Fundamentalist Christian would vandalize my car.  Everyone I know who has had Darwin fish on their car has had their car vandalized.  My, how "christian" of them.

Liberal causes typically have a harder time getting awareness of their plates since they don't have the benefit of church congregations to help with marketing. Plus, the specialty plate market is mostly saturated. There are plenty of pro-choice people like myself who wouldn't necessarily care enough to switch from one of the many environmental plates.

There are a number of plates for conservative social causes (pro-life, anti-gay-marriage, etc.) already, but none of the Christian/Jesus plates with money going directly to churches have carried either for similar reasons. We do have an "In God We Trust" specialty plate, but funds go to local Police, Fire, EMS, and National Guard rather than a religious organization.

Indiana's "In God We Trust" plates are viewed as standard plates as opposed to specialty plates. Along with the standard blue plate and the white truck plate, one only has to pay the regular fee for the IGWT plates as if it were standard, which has caused the main controversy with the plates, after all you DON'T have to get one. As for speciality plates themselves, some Republican lawmakers in Indiana's General Assembly this year tried to pass a law to curb the number of speciality plates after, supposedly, the Indiana Youth Group, a youth group that benefits gay/lesbian youths who are bullied for being gay/lesbian, got their plate approved. The bill didn't pass, but they were able to get the plate taken off the BMV becuase they didn't make the requisite number of plates, supposedly. Of course, I see some "Choose life" plates around. I don't personally care what plate gets included or not, but if they are going to play this game, they might as well have the first question on the application for the speciality plates be: Will Jesus (or my version) approve of this plate? If the answer is no, you might as well skip the rest of the application.

realjd

Quote from: tdindy88 on April 05, 2012, 10:21:43 AM
Indiana's "In God We Trust" plates are viewed as standard plates as opposed to specialty plates. Along with the standard blue plate and the white truck plate, one only has to pay the regular fee for the IGWT plates as if it were standard, which has caused the main controversy with the plates, after all you DON'T have to get one. As for speciality plates themselves, some Republican lawmakers in Indiana's General Assembly this year tried to pass a law to curb the number of speciality plates after, supposedly, the Indiana Youth Group, a youth group that benefits gay/lesbian youths who are bullied for being gay/lesbian, got their plate approved. The bill didn't pass, but they were able to get the plate taken off the BMV becuase they didn't make the requisite number of plates, supposedly. Of course, I see some "Choose life" plates around. I don't personally care what plate gets included or not, but if they are going to play this game, they might as well have the first question on the application for the speciality plates be: Will Jesus (or my version) approve of this plate? If the answer is no, you might as well skip the rest of the application.

We have two types of In God We Trust plates, actually. One is a standard Florida plate (no fee) with IGWT in place of the county name, the other is a specialty plate that looks a lot like the Indiana one that helps fund emergency services.

kphoger

Quote from: bugo on April 04, 2012, 09:20:32 PM
Quote from: realjd on April 04, 2012, 09:04:59 PM
At least in Florida's case, the pro-choice groups (NOW I think it was) couldn't get the requisite 1,000 pre-sales to get the plate issued.

I have a hard time believing that, especially in a populous state like Florida.  I would get a pro-choice plate, except that I would be concerned that some Fundamentalist Christian would vandalize my car.  Everyone I know who has had Darwin fish on their car has had their car vandalized.  My, how "christian" of them.

FWIW, Christians aren't the only ones who are not pro-choice.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

agentsteel53

Quote from: kphoger on April 05, 2012, 02:18:42 PM

FWIW, Christians aren't the only ones who are not pro-choice.

no, but you generally don't see the atheists, Jews, Rastafarians, Wiccans and Jedi making asses of themselves in front of the local Planned Parenthood.
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

kphoger

I've had my car keyed, and it has a breast cancer awareness license plate.  What group should I smear in the dirt for that?
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

agentsteel53

Quote from: kphoger on April 05, 2012, 03:43:15 PM
I've had my car keyed, and it has a breast cancer awareness license plate.  What group should I smear in the dirt for that?

I'm sure the Westboro Baptist Church would be happy to step up.
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

realjd

Quote from: kphoger on April 05, 2012, 03:43:15 PM
I've had my car keyed, and it has a breast cancer awareness license plate.  What group should I smear in the dirt for that?

Scientologists. They're always a good backup choice if you can't find another group to blame for something.

DaBigE

Wisconsin decided to add one more to their menu:

Quotehttp://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/opencms/export/nr/modules/news/news_3256.html_786229440.html
April 5, 2012

New plates available to women who served in any of the U.S. military branches

Wisconsin women who have served in any branch of the U.S. military are eligible to apply for one of the new "Woman Veteran"  license plates available through the state Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV). All currently-issued Wisconsin military plates feature blue numbers on a red, white and blue background. Along with the word "Wisconsin"  across the top of the plate, the new plates feature "Woman Veteran"  at the bottom. A decal representing the person's specific military branch is displayed on the left side of the plate. See the new plate here.

"We have declared 2012 to be the Year of the Veteran in Wisconsin to show our respect and appreciation for the contributions of our military veterans," said Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. "Wisconsin's servicewomen have made our country stronger through their military service and we wish to commemorate their courage and thank them for defending our freedoms."

With addition of the Woman Veteran plate, the Wisconsin DMV now offers 56 different military plate options for veterans and recipients of certain military medals and honors. Military plates are available to active, reserve or retired U.S. military personnel, military academy students or alumni who submit proof of eligibility.
"We gotta find this road, it's like Bob's road!" - Rabbit, Twister

mightyace

Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 05, 2012, 03:36:47 PM
Quote from: kphoger on April 05, 2012, 02:18:42 PM

FWIW, Christians aren't the only ones who are not pro-choice.

no, but you generally don't see the atheists, Jews, Rastafarians, Wiccans and Jedi making asses of themselves in front of the local Planned Parenthood.

Yes, we WASPS are responsible for everything that is wrong in the world today!
My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyace

I'm out of this F***KING PLACE!

agentsteel53

Quote from: mightyace on April 06, 2012, 12:41:11 AM
Yes, we WASPS are responsible for everything that is wrong in the world today!

nothing wrong with them...

live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

Alex

Found this on licenseplates.cc about the mandate for all specialty NC plates to use a white base.

Solution in search of a problem
Quote
Using the often-questionable wisdom of government, the North Carolina Legislature put the kybosh on those colorful license plates so many Tar Heels sport on their vehicles. You know, the ones that proclaim a vehicle owner's fancy of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smokey Mountains National Park and other beauty spots around this God-blessed state.

Lawmakers say the color must go so that all specialty tags come from common stock – the plain white variety which shows a driver's pride in a college or university, loyalty to a branch of the military, membership in a civic club and the like.

There must have been a good reason for lawmakers to do what they did, right?

Well, no.

The law mandating the change from multi-color to all-white background says that by 2015, all license plates must be easily read by toll-road cameras.

But Barry Mickle, operations director of the state's turnpike authority, says colorful plates aren't a problem because technology has quickly advanced to the point that cameras on the first N.C. toll road read the specialty plates just fine.


thenetwork

Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 07:53:03 PM
Quote from: The High Plains Traveler on April 04, 2012, 07:08:05 PM(AB-1234, then ABC-123 and finally ABC1234).

how did Colorado manage to exhaust ABC1234?  California has 1ABC234 (same number of combinations) and is still only on 6Vxx or so, despite starting that pattern in the late 70s and having a lot more vehicles.

Did Colorado skip a lot of the available ABC1234 space?

Actually, Colorado has only used the ABC 123 format for it's standard-issue plates.  Actually, its currently 123 ABC, (it was the other way around for the green mountains/white sky plates) and it's true that we are nearing the end of the xxx-Wxx plates.  I was tempted in the past few months to post on what the state planned to do in the next few years.  Thankx for the info.


Crazy Volvo Guy

Quote from: realjd on April 05, 2012, 08:20:02 AMSaying that Lexus is just Toyota with leather is like saying Audi is just VW with leather or that Infiniti is just Nissan with leather. They may come from the same company but they're distinct models.

VW and Audi are separate worldwide.  As for the Japanese brand splits, they are distinct models here in North America.  In the rest of the world, not so much.

For instance, the first-generation Lexus IS300; it was the Toyota Altezza outside NorAm. (Where do you think the term 'Altezza Taillights' came from?).  The Lexus SC?  Toyota Soarer outside NorAm.  The Acura Integra/RSX?  Honda Integra outside NorAm.  Acura TSX?  Honda Accord outside NorAm.  I could keep going, but I'm tired.
I hate Clearview, because it looks like a cheap Chinese ripoff.

I'm for the Red Sox and whoever's playing against the Yankees.

SidS1045

Quote from: Crazy Volvo Guy on April 08, 2012, 10:57:05 PM
VW and Audi are separate worldwide.

Marketed separately, yes, but there are several VWs and Audis which share common engines, transmissions and other components, and they share a common parts system.
"A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves." - Edward R. Murrow

bugo

Quote from: realjd on April 05, 2012, 08:20:02 AM
Quote from: bugo on April 04, 2012, 08:42:22 PM
You would have to be an idiot to buy a Lexus.  All they are is Toyotas with some extra leather and maybe some wood in the interior.  And late model Toyotas are junk.  You're truly paying for that ugly "L" badge.  If you want a luxury car, get a real one like a Benzo or a BMW.  Or if you must have a Japanese luxury car, get an Infiniti which while having no real identity or image of its own, is a superior car to a Lexus.  Or, even better yet, buy a Caddy CTS-V.  Now THAT is a car.  Lincolns used to be nice but now they're just bland gussied up Fords with stupid names that start with "MK."  I have no idea which Lincoln is which.  Back in the day, nobody confused a Continental with a Town Car, but unless you're a Lincoln dealer who knows the difference between an MKS and an MKZ?

Saying that Lexus is just Toyota with leather is like saying Audi is just VW with leather or that Infiniti is just Nissan with leather. They may come from the same company but they're distinct models. I have a few friends who drive late 2010's IS and ES-350's. They're not as fast as my Infiniti, but they're much more "luxury" on the inside. Performance was more important to me so I went with Infiniti.

The Infiniti is just a gussied-up Nissan.  I believe there are one or two unique models, but most of them are just luxury Nissans.

Takumi

#195
A few more:

North American Honda Accord -  Japanese Honda Inspire (this name was also used for the first and second generations of the Acura TL); the 1998-2002 version had a Japanese variant called the Torneo as well
Honda Del Sol - Honda CRX Del Sol/Honda CRX
Acura RL - Honda Legend
Infiniti G35/G37 - Nissan Skyline (the GT-R is its own model now worldwide)
Scion FR-S - Toyota 86?
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.

realjd

Quote from: Crazy Volvo Guy on April 08, 2012, 10:57:05 PM
VW and Audi are separate worldwide.  As for the Japanese brand splits, they are distinct models here in North America.  In the rest of the world, not so much.

For instance, the first-generation Lexus IS300; it was the Toyota Altezza outside NorAm. (Where do you think the term 'Altezza Taillights' came from?).  The Lexus SC?  Toyota Soarer outside NorAm.  The Acura Integra/RSX?  Honda Integra outside NorAm.  Acura TSX?  Honda Accord outside NorAm.  I could keep going, but I'm tired.

Inifiniti is Nissan's luxury brand in pretty much every country in the world except Japan itself. Lexus is worldwide, recently including Japan itself.

As for VW and Audi, they're marketed separately but they're just as much the same company as Toyota and Lexus, or Nissan and Infiniti. Take their SUV lineup for example. The VW Touareg, the Audi Q7, and the Porsche Cayenne are essentially the same car just with varying feature sets.

Quote from: bugo on April 08, 2012, 11:13:37 PM
The Infiniti is just a gussied-up Nissan.  I believe there are one or two unique models, but most of them are just luxury Nissans.

They're not gussied up Nissan's; they're all distinct models. It's not like they put leather into a Altima and call it an Infiniti. The G's are all sold as Nissan Skylines in Japan. The M's are sold as Nissan Fuga in Japan. The FX and QX aren't sold in Japan at all. They take what would be the more expensive models in Japan and sell them under the luxury brand in the rest of the world. The features are pretty much the same in both markets, the only difference is the name. The fact that they're sold as a Nissan in Japan doesn't make it any less nice of a car.

CentralCAroadgeek

Earlier this morning, I heard on the radio that California is proposing a spay and neuter plate. It's a pretty nice design in my opinion. It currently has about 4,000 preorders of the required 7,500 to be issued.

Here's the website for the plate.

Scott5114

Quote from: CentralCAroadgeek on April 09, 2012, 12:27:07 PM
Earlier this morning, I heard on the radio that California is proposing a spay and neuter plate. It's a pretty nice design in my opinion. It currently has about 4,000 preorders of the required 7,500 to be issued.

Here's the website for the plate.


Something tells me Bob Barker was involved in this.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

formulanone

Quote from: bugo on April 04, 2012, 08:42:22 PM
Quote from: thenetwork on June 18, 2011, 02:54:47 PM
Here is the ultimate "gag me with a spoon" license plate story:

To preface, (IMHO) people who drive a Lexus are made to think they are above everyone else, like they are exempt from using turn signals (most don't).  Even their commercials with the stuffy snobbish spokesmen give that feel. 

Anyhoo, about 8-9 years ago, a local car dealership in Cleveland (Metro Lexus) somehow got the rights to a series of 1,000 "regular issue" Ohio state plates for those who bought Lexuses from them.  Each brand-new Lexus owner would then receive a license plate with XXX-LEX (the x's being numbers).

So these "holier than thou" luxury drivers (IMHO) pretty much got a "vanity" plate with a Metro Lexus plate frame surrounding it. 

From then on, I have always referred to those cars as Lexsuxes.

You would have to be an idiot to buy a Lexus.  All they are is Toyotas with some extra leather and maybe some wood in the interior.  And late model Toyotas are junk.  You're truly paying for that ugly "L" badge.  If you want a luxury car, get a real one like a Benzo or a BMW.  Or if you must have a Japanese luxury car, get an Infiniti which while having no real identity or image of its own, is a superior car to a Lexus.  Or, even better yet, buy a Caddy CTS-V.  Now THAT is a car.  Lincolns used to be nice but now they're just bland gussied up Fords with stupid names that start with "MK."  I have no idea which Lincoln is which.  Back in the day, nobody confused a Continental with a Town Car, but unless you're a Lincoln dealer who knows the difference between an MKS and an MKZ?

Try working with Lexus customers. They're either happily wealthy or downright miserable bunch of wanna-be-snobs or old folks who wanted to save some money on a luxury car. But it isn't just a Toyota in frock; there's very few shared parts between a Camry and an ES 350, and even when equipped with the same motor, they sure as heck don't handle nor respond the same.

When it's all said and done, the fact is Toyota did their homework and understood the typical American luxury car buyer didn't want a stuffy Cadillac or a Mercedes that leaked oil and wallets regularly, and priced it less than both of them. Worked like a charm, and then they sat on their laurels for 10 years and forgot that BMW, Audi, and Infiniti existed (to be fair, until around 1995 or so, their total luxury share of the sales market was tiny), but catered to their customer base instead of refining their products to a younger audience. They're clawing it back a little at a time.

Their customers will pay for anything that sets themselves apart; that license plate thing doesn't shock me one bit. Their dealers will do whatever it takes to keep them as customers, too. And the dealerships and service departments are simply the best, bar none. I go to dealers of all brands, and they make the customer feel like a guest in their own home...of course, that doesn't stop some customers from thinking it's their home, and the manager ought to be kicked out for charging them for new tires on a car under warranty.

Their cars are built to last; some have issues (IS 250 valve jobs, come on down!), but you won't find as many long-lasting examples (10-20 years old) still coming back to the dealerships, rather than the independents. I used to have a ten-year-old example that had nary a rattle nor a drop of oil leak from it.



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