For decades, travelers have played the "License Plate Game," especially on those longer than usual roadtrips. Sound off! Which ones do you like? :love: Which ones can't you stand to look at?? :ded:
My top 5 are:
1. Maine (best)
2. Colorado
3. Minnesota
4. Rhode Island
5. Alaska
My bottom 5 are:
1. Pennsylvania (worst)
2. Indiana
3. Michigan
4. Georgia
5. Ohio
Quote from: papaT10932 on January 20, 2010, 10:43:03 AM
For decades, travelers have played the "License Plate Game," especially on those longer than usual roadtrips. Sound off! Which ones do you like? :love: Which ones can't you stand to look at?? :ded:
My top 5 are:
1. Maine (best)
2. Colorado
3. Minnesota
4. Rhode Island
5. Alaska
My bottom 5 are:
1. Pennsylvania (worst)
2. Indiana
3. Michigan
4. Georgia
5. Ohio
The basic Michigan isn't quite so great, IMHO, but the one with the Great Lakes on it is excellent (IIRC, it's a couple of bucks more).
My top 5 (no order):
Arizona (nice desert scene)
Florida (what California should aspire to)
Hawai'i (simple, elegant, pretty, unique)
Iowa (easy to read, nice background)
Utah (Delicate Arch is always a nice touch)
My bottom 5 (again, no order):
California (can it be more bland?) (maybe the worst plate out there, IMHO)
Delaware (again, bland, but at least it has color)
Massachusetts (almost as bad as California)
Pennsylvania (could be worse - see California)
West Virginia (again, bland, but could be worse - see California)
The new Ohio plate is butt ugly in my opinion. Not only does it not incorporate the Red, White, and Blue colors from the distinctive Ohio burgee-shaped flag, but it's nearly impossible to determine that it's actually FROM Ohio on the road. PLATE FAIL!
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh6.ggpht.com%2F_vV2-Fg-7T40%2FS1crYxLbFxI%2FAAAAAAAABWU%2FCZAJfxjvr-8%2Fs912%2FBeautifulOhio.jpg&hash=01162d559bec8e73ce62c4b70a39fb3a9c77f008)
Two things, in my opinion, make for a TERRIBLE looking plate. First, 3M flat plate technology. Second, a state website. Keep them embossed and lets stick with state nicknames!!
In the case of Ohio's new plate, I agree. There is too much going on in that scene. Newer plate technologies are making it possible to create more elaborate background designs, but some of them are becoming too elaborate. I say, keep them simple... and keep those websites off!!!! :banghead:
Quote from: shoptb1 on January 20, 2010, 11:14:00 AM
The new Ohio plate is butt ugly in my opinion. Not only does it not incorporate the Red, White, and Blue colors from the distinctive Ohio burgee-shaped flag, but it's nearly impossible to determine that it's actually FROM Ohio on the road. PLATE FAIL!
Well at least its not a general reissue. They decided to make it an optional issue. From http://www.licenseplates.cc/highs.php?where=OH
QuoteA new general issue base plate for Ohio that was tentatively proposed for release in April 2009 was scrapped, at least in that form, due to the recession. At least one million of the graphic sheeting blanks were produced. These plates became available on an optional basis for an additional $7.50 beginning November 23, 2009. They were produced from ERA 1000 through EUH 7299. Only regular issue plates are available. Initial and Personalized plates will not be available on the "Beautiful Ohio" plates, although that could change
Montana has a new general issue (http://www.licenseplates.cc/story.php?id=409) that looks very 1970's.
My picks:
Top 5:
Wyoming (best)
Minnesota
Alabama
Idaho
Colorado
Bottom 5:
Delaware (worst)
Indiana
Massachusetts
Virginia
West Virginia
Idaho had great plates until they switched to the direct print- rather than embossing blue dyes they're directly printing black, which looks retarded.
It's been a rough year for license plates- the new Montana, Nebraska, New York, and Ohio plates are all butt ugly.
As far as ranking goes
Best:
1. Wyoming (I especially like the new plates without the Devil's Tower)
2. Utah arches
3. California- it's simple, but it's a classic design and very legible
4. Colorado standard issue
5. Rhode Island
Worst (going off soon to be issued designs) (edited because the new NY plate isn't bottom 5 worthy):
1. Delaware
2. Nebraska
3. Montana
4. Arkansas
5. District of Columbia
Quote from: corco on January 20, 2010, 01:18:43 PM
Idaho had great plates until they switched to the direct print- rather than embossing blue dyes they're directly printing black, which looks retarded.
It's been a rough year for license plates- the new Montana, Nebraska, New York, and Ohio plates are all butt ugly.
As far as ranking goes
I don't think there are many of the flat screened license plates that look decent. The fonts often look too generic IMO and it makes the plates "fake looking"...
Just looked up the Nebraska reissue, and found a good read (http://www.dmv.state.ne.us/admin/newsRelease/PressRelease5-22-09.pdf) on how the online survey was compromised to push plate design #2 (which is terrible). Images of both tag designs (I agree with Corco, the one selected is unappealing as well) can be found here (http://blogs.suntimes.com/shinyobjects/2009/05/collegehumor-pwns-the-state-of-nebraska-license-plate-but-not-so-fast-funny-guys-2.html).
I think that's a large part of what makes the Wyoming plate so nifty- it's really one of the only decent looking direct print plates (Iowa isn't so bad either).
That said, the pre-2011 Nebraska plate wasn't so bad either; I was disappointed to see them take a step back.
Quote from: corco on January 20, 2010, 01:18:43 PM
It's been a rough year for license plates- the new Montana, Nebraska, New York, and Ohio plates are all butt ugly.
Fortunately, the new NY plates aren't going to be seen, since Paterson killed that stupid proposal thanks to massive public opposition...
I'm just thankful nobody's tried to put Clearview numbers on plates yet! :pan:
What I don't understand concerning the NY plates was that their main plug for needing new plates was safety. They commented on how the old plates lose their luster and visibility over time and how these new ones were primarily for safety purposes.
I don't think the outcry was because of the new plates... it was for the mandatory cost attached to them. If the issuing of new plates was indeed for safety, why not issue them for free without the added $25??
Best license plates?
I'm partial to Connecticut, personally. What can I say? I like blue. Besides, it's what I'm most used to....
Worse license plates?
Any vanity plate. Especially ones whose meaning is indecipherable to anyone outside of your circle of buddies.
Quote from: papaT10932 on January 20, 2010, 02:21:56 PM
I don't think the outcry was because of the new plates... it was for the mandatory cost attached to them. If the issuing of new plates was indeed for safety, why not issue them for free without the added $25??
That cost would have only been incurred if the owner wanted to keep his/her plate number. Remakes of previously issued series are quite common in NY. General replating was to be free.
As for my top and bottom 5...
Top:
1. Wyoming, the state that got me started collecting license plates
2. Utah Arch
3. Minnesota
4. Vermont (I like how they deboss)
5. Oregon
Bottom:
1. Current Pennsylvania base (I really don't like the bold color changes, I prefered the former fading colors. The web addresses don't bother me personally)
2. Nebraska's new issue
3. Michigan standard issue
4. New Jersey (It's my home state, but we've always had drab color schemes. I have an extensive Jersey plate collection, but not for aesthetic reasons)
5. Delaware (Like Jersey, I collect them, but not for their appearance)
Quote from: signalman on January 20, 2010, 03:47:08 PM
Quote from: papaT10932 on January 20, 2010, 02:21:56 PM
I don't think the outcry was because of the new plates... it was for the mandatory cost attached to them. If the issuing of new plates was indeed for safety, why not issue them for free without the added $25??
That cost would have only been incurred if the owner wanted to keep his/her plate number. Remakes of previously issued series are quite common in NY. General replating was free.
It was my understanding that the $25 fee applied to everyone in the state. An additional $20 would be charged on top of that if a motorist reused a plate number. That was my impression, but I could be wrong.
Top 5:
Minnesota has a fine default image but also a series of gorgeous conservation plates.
Wyoming
Hawaii
Washington
North Dakota sesquicentennial
OK, so it's been a while since I saw a lot of them.
Worst:
Any plate where I can't tell what state it's from by looking at it (Kansas comes to mind).
Any plate with a url. Just, no.
I also love local plates for kitsch value, like the Green Bay Packers plates. This photo was taken on a camera phone in 2007, because it sure doesn't make sense in January 2010.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm5.static.flickr.com%2F4025%2F4291489236_03c37d014f.jpg&hash=f5a2378aa4b35d17ee067218cdd288e20d046ca6) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wandering_drive/4291489236/)
Oklahoma did a general reissue over the past year. The new design is a flat plate but it isn't so bad.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Factiverain.com%2Fimage_store%2Fuploads%2F1%2F7%2F3%2F1%2F9%2Far124593188491371.gif&hash=1506f14605d12e3faf1804fd4526d7b1f336a551)
It replaced this one.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.netstate.com%2Fstates%2Flinks%2Fimages%2Fok_license_plate.jpg&hash=b9f307e56f3d922816cb618735a59238d645ec7b)
I see that California makes the best and worst list for some of you. You'll love/hate Louisiana's for the exact same reason: You can't tell the two plates apart.
My top 5:
Oregon
Minnesota
Northwest Territories (have yet to see one in the wild, though...)
Utah
Idaho
Kill-it-with-fire-list:
California
Louisiana. Seriously. If these plates weren't stylistically identical, I wouldn't care.
Meh to any others, though I'm not a fan of Oregon's new share-the-road plates for its lack luster design.
I am quite partial to the early '60s California: black background, yellow legend.
IMHO.
BEST:
Oklahoma. Interesting, relatated to the unique history of the state, pretty.
Hawaii. Pretty. Related to a state feature.
Washington.
New Mexico.
Puerto Rico.
WORST:
District of Columbia. Keep your politics off my plate. Insulting, inaccurate, childish, wrong, disloyal.
Ohio. Cannot read "Ohio" on the darn thing from more than 5 feet away.
North Carolina. Same basic plate since 1981? Give it up and do something new. "First In Flight" is OK, but this is one of the major states, with lots of things to be proud of. Move on.
South Carolina. Has been a great plate state, but just misses with the current one. No websites on plates.
Arkansas. "The Natural State". WTF does that even mean?
I'm surprised to see that I'm the only one throughout this entire thread so far to mention Maine's plate. I think its the best one. Attractive, easy to read, its simple and at the same time creative. EMBOSSED AND NO WEB ADDRESS!! :colorful: I just thought someone else would like it too. Hmmm...
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/images/me-3081-jd_01.jpg)
I'm surprised to see the hate for California's plate. I've always like it, as well as Louisiana's almost identical design. It's simple and easy to read, but not ugly like the old blue Michigan plates were, or the hideous brown Missouri "Show Me State" plates.
The older Texas plates were the flag were cool, but I'm not as big fan of the new ones with the blue cowboy at the bottom and the stars at the top. The newest ones seem much better:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.licenseplateinfo.com%2Fgrading%2Fm-Texas.jpg&hash=39aa9aea29ded0c7b5abd8e41ab21a23974d3f67)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whatsdrivingyoucrazy.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2008%2F02%2Fplatelg_my_texas.jpg&hash=a084c2248fea84eb9566552819bbcaba65eac16b)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dot.state.tx.us%2Fsite_images%2Fdrivers_vehicles%2Fnew_plate_hi_res.jpg&hash=c7426f45873b17dab930133fbd5f3fbec4711bbf)
North Carolina just changed theirs to use all red writing. I like them better when they had the blue writing.
Florida's would be good if it weren't for the fact that the state name was replaced by the URL. Instead of saying Florida on top and a URL at the bottom (which I don't mind as much), it just says myFLORIDA.com on top. I also wish more people in Florida would choose the plates with their county name rather than "Sunshine State" or "In God We Trust".
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2F9%2F9f%2FFlorida_license_plate_Sunshine_State.gif&hash=e9023189f07a92de19a85db6d4f27d6c681fbf7b)
We do have a great selection of specialty plates though. I particularly like the one with the shark:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flhsmv.gov%2Fdmv%2Fspecialtytags%2Fgraphics%2FSave_Our_Seas.jpg&hash=38eedbbbdc21182f3283c41023d42fdee2da1687)
And the new design for the manatee plates:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flhsmv.gov%2Fdmv%2Fspecialtytags%2Fgraphics%2Fmanatee.jpg&hash=6413dcdefd3eca2cd5b59502dcbfad8e6bf2ea00)
The complete list of specialty plates is here and has some more really interesting designs:
http://www.flhsmv.gov/dmv/specialtytags/
I'll leave you with this hilarious plate which is probably the reason they switched to a pair of oranges on the newer Florida plates:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.therepublica.com%2F2009%2F02%2F12%2Fflorida-license-plate.jpg&hash=be30fa78c2b336a2bba4c889d72c72407d56a37b)
all we need is for someone in Florida to get the vanity plate "B BS"! :sombrero:
Quote from: realjd on January 21, 2010, 08:14:27 AM
North Carolina just changed theirs to use all red writing. I like them better when they had the blue writing.
North Carolina switched back to all blue.
http://www.ricksplates.com/northcarolina/ncnews.htm
QuoteOctober 23, 2009 — Yesterday, for the first time since April 2007, I saw a newly-issued North Carolina standard passenger car plate with blue serial characters. I couldn't get a photo, but the plate number was ZNR-1146, and it had an October 2010 expiration, indicating that it was registered some time this month. As reported here earlier, the state has now discontinued making red-numbered plates, and has gone back to blue, mainly because the red characters are harder to read at a distance. However, any remaining red plates will continue to be issued until inventories are depleted.
License plates should be made so it is easiest to read at high speeds. ie: for police officers etc.
I believe white on blue backgrounds is the easiest. I think studies have been done saying white lettering on blue background is the easiest to read.
CT used to have that but stopped with a light sky blue and gray type lettering. hard to read and if somebody has a license plate plastic protector on...it's impossible to read.
I tend to favor my now-home state of Colorado as my favorite plate state, but I'm not to crazy on the current green-on-white or older white-on-green standard issue plates. But they do have a full-color plate which has the mountains in purple, but there is an extra $50 to buy and an extra $50 renewal fee for it.
Now the Columbine "Respect Life" Plate is real nice (purple/blue/white) and there's only a one time special plate fee you have to pay for that one. I got that one for my wife's car since she likes purple and it matched well with the dark blue Dodge Caravan.
I am surprised that no one has mentioned how ugly the New Mexico standard plates are -- Bright Red on Bright Yellow is just too loud!!!
My favorite classic plate is the old "Blue/Gold" California standard.
The most creative state plate of the past was the Kentucky "Cloud" plates.
Maybe it's just me, but I am partial to the New Jersey standard issue plates. I think they're easy to read, and I really like the black on transitional yellow color combo. I think California and Louisiana have the most boring ones.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shoplicenseplates.com%2Fbmz_cache%2F1%2F1520a6e95523c54928a010041daa3b3a.image.250x239.JPG&hash=fbf025f21ccd8fc0f1e21ff0c423bce5b84e45f1)
I noticed a few people put Minnesota on their "top five" lists. Is this taking into account that the newer Minnesota plates are no longer embossed?
Also noticed that Alex put Virginia on his "bottom five" list. I'm assuming you're referring to the standard plate and not in more general terms, since Virginia has numerous other plate designs available...the one I use is the Scenic (Mountains to Seashore) one.
Agree with Bickenden that it's almost impossible to tell the standard California and Louisiana plates apart.
One that hasn't been mentioned yet that I like is the new Mississippi plate with the purple background and the Biloxi Lighthouse in the center. Alex's image (https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/images/ms-rah-158.jpg) of it just doesn't do the purple hues justice...
Quote from: froggie on January 21, 2010, 01:11:46 PM
I noticed a few people put Minnesota on their "top five" lists. Is this taking into account that the newer Minnesota plates are no longer embossed?
Also noticed that Alex put Virginia on his "bottom five" list. I'm assuming you're referring to the standard plate and not in more general terms, since Virginia has numerous other plate designs available...the one I use is the Scenic (Mountains to Seashore) one.
I based that on the general issue. I like a lot of the specialty designs for Virginia, including the Friends of Chesapeake and Scenic Mountains designs.
Quote
Agree with Bickenden that it's almost impossible to tell the standard California and Louisiana plates apart.
The Pelican design changed all of that for Louisiana.
Quote
One that hasn't been mentioned yet that I like is the new Mississippi plate with the purple background and the Biloxi Lighthouse in the center. Alex's image (https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/images/ms-rah-158.jpg) of it just doesn't do the purple hues justice...
Images on that page that were not donated to me or done in 1999 were taken outdoors with a digital camera. Probably not the best way to do it, but effective time and effort wise. The colors on the MS tag are rich, and I do like that design, but most of their previous designs were appealing to me as well.
I forgot to mention what's currently my favorite design: the new South Carolina plates.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.palmettoscoop.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2007%2F08%2Fbilde.jpg&hash=f204c680f060993a6e24eba17deb40b03a3c4e92)
Quote from: realjd on January 21, 2010, 02:44:08 PM
I forgot to mention what's currently my favorite design: the new South Carolina plates.
I also like that plate except for that silly URL address. Even the URL itself if lame. Travel2SC?? No, no.
How much better would that plate be if it said "Palmetto State" on it instead??
why don't states just get simple URLs? South Carolina can be www.sc.gov or something - beats trying to remember if Florida wanted you to VisitFlorida, Travel2Fla, PooOnFLfromaGreatHeight, etc etc...
My favorite plates:
-California (it's simple, I like it)
-New York (great design)
-Colorado
-Utah
Worst:
-Delaware (ugh)
-Washington DC (ugh x2)
-Ohio
-North Carolina
Though it's been years since this was the standard design, I miss the 1980s California plate:
https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/images/ca-2flt842.jpg
Quote from: froggie on January 21, 2010, 01:11:46 PM
I noticed a few people put Minnesota on their "top five" lists. Is this taking into account that the newer Minnesota plates are no longer embossed?
That was the sound of thousands of roadgeeks everywhere suddenly being silenced.
Quote from: AARoads on January 21, 2010, 01:17:58 PMAgree with Bickenden that it's almost impossible to tell the standard California and Louisiana plates apart.
The Pelican design changed all of that for Louisiana.[/quote]All is well... save for the fact that many cars in LA will still have that design. Locational pun fully intended.
One of my favorite is the BicenTENNial plate that was issued here when I arrived in the state:
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/tn-313-lmx.jpg)
The "sounds good to me" plate is that replace it was OK.
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/tn-ftw-893.jpg)
I like the current one, it bears a passing resemblence to the Radnor Lake specialty plate:
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/tn-484-jll.jpg)
This Ohio design was simple yet effective:
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/oh-sbq-137.jpg) - very easy to read
The current plate and the bicentennial plate are prettier but a but busy.
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/oh-dfc9398.jpg)
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/oh-el46db.jpg)
I was also partial to the traditional PA plate design:
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/pa-afl-8229.jpg)
and its Liberty Bell cousin:
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/pa-7m9-398.jpg)
All plate images courtesy of AARoads.
Quote from: AARoads on January 21, 2010, 10:42:41 AM
North Carolina switched back to all blue.
All of the "its hard to read" stuff aside, the blue vs. red deal is a p***ing contest between alumni of the University of North Carolina and those of North Carolina State University.
New Mexico plates are probably my favorite followed by the newer Utah arches plates (though its "Life Elevated" counterpart is ridiculously cluttered).
California's plates are REALLY BORING.Nothing special, just a plain white plate that says California on the top.
We are the "Golden" state for crying out loud.We could have some awesome plates with a Golden theme.
I liked how Ohio had the county name as well. (Obviously other states do/did as well, but Ohio's are more prevalent here in Western PA.)
Quote from: Mr_Northside on January 22, 2010, 09:27:33 AM
I liked how Ohio had the county name as well. (Obviously other states do/did as well, but Ohio's are more prevalent here in Western PA.)
Yeah, that was on the older yellow-fade plates (which IMO were better looking than the current). I really appreciate having the county name on the plates. You can still tell where someone is from on the current plates based upon the county number on the registration sticker, but unless you have Superman's vision, you can't see on the highway.
I like the way Kansas has the little two-letter county codes on their plate. (WY=Wyandotte, JO=Johnson, SG=Sedgwick, SU=Sumner, etc)
Indiana used to have a cool number system, well actually they still do in a way, by having a one or two digit number represent the county (Similar to South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana I believe). It was always a fun game my dad and I played trying to figure out what county a particular vehicle was from. When they went to the new plate design last year they took the fun out of that game by putting a sticker up that had both the number and the county name up there, now they just tell you the county a car is from, you don't have to guess the code. At least the ever popular "In God We Trust" plates along with the other specialty plates still have stickers at the corner with only the number on them so you can still guess those plates. And for those who rank Indiana's plate at the bottom of their lists, I have to agree with those assesments, we've had some nice plates in the past, but the current ones have no character to them at all, and the list of plates we got to choose from to pick the plate all have roughly the same design, only different colors. That's why many people have the "In God We Trust" plates, it looks prettier.
Quote from: tdindy88 on January 22, 2010, 11:37:03 AM
Indiana used to have a cool number system, well actually they still do in a way, by having a one or two digit number represent the county (Similar to South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana I believe). It was always a fun game my dad and I played trying to figure out what county a particular vehicle was from. When they went to the new plate design last year they took the fun out of that game by putting a sticker up that had both the number and the county name up there, now they just tell you the county a car is from, you don't have to guess the code. At least the ever popular "In God We Trust" plates along with the other specialty plates still have stickers at the corner with only the number on them so you can still guess those plates. And for those who rank Indiana's plate at the bottom of their lists, I have to agree with those assesments, we've had some nice plates in the past, but the current ones have no character to them at all, and the list of plates we got to choose from to pick the plate all have roughly the same design, only different colors. That's why many people have the "In God We Trust" plates, it looks prettier.
Indiana had some nice designs before, one of my favorites was this one:
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/in-18-d-52.jpg)
Alabama still uses a county code on their tags. 1 is Jefferson, 2 is Mobile, 3 is Montgomery, 4 and up are based upon the alphabetical order of the county name, with 1-3 based upon population.
Quote from: tdindy88 on January 22, 2010, 11:37:03 AM
Indiana used to have a cool number system, well actually they still do in a way, by having a one or two digit number represent the county (Similar to South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana I believe).
They're merely numbered in alphabetical order from what I recall (so 1 would be Adams up through 92 for Whitley), although the BMV's website doesn't explicitly say so. I know the county numbers show up in other places (e.g., INDOT's reference post manuals), so it would seem to follow the BMV uses the same system.
Quote from: rawmustard on January 22, 2010, 12:31:52 PM
They're merely numbered in alphabetical order from what I recall (so 1 would be Adams up through 92 for Whitley), although the BMV's website doesn't explicitly say so. I know the county numbers show up in other places (e.g., INDOT's reference post manuals), so it would seem to follow the BMV uses the same system.
I still prefer the name of the county spelled out at the bottom of the plate, for those of us that haven't yet memorized the numerical value of the state's counties in alphabetical order. I think Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia still provide this information on their plates. It's nice to see Shelby County and know that the driver is from the Memphis area.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi174.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw102%2Farchitect77%2FBESTPLATES.jpg&hash=9b830349fac78b4b45741096715395f020d29ad0)
Quote from: architect77 on January 22, 2010, 02:30:32 PM
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi174.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw102%2Farchitect77%2FBESTPLATES.jpg&hash=9b830349fac78b4b45741096715395f020d29ad0)
So does Delaware rank up there because of it's unique size?
Quote from: architect77 on January 22, 2010, 02:30:32 PM
The state has kick-ass highway signage
nah, NC's signage is pretty boring. The plate isn't bad, though.
I love Delaware's smaller size, and the uncluttered white lettering on plain black looks quite good on the road...
As much as I love Oregon's standard design, for simplicity, I like the older yellow plates with blue text (and before that, reverse it).
And, in my room, I have a vintage white Washington plate with green text.
Favorite
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fy2k%2FLouisiana%2Fla2008.jpg&hash=ee40309239b205c646f53a8f89cc7c2c4267dfc7)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fpennsylvania%2Fpa2005new.jpg&hash=1179b33103964b64872bd8ba40e8a7724e445655)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scdmvonline.com%2FDMVNew%2Fimages%2FFinal%25203M%2520Plate%2520Design%25208-14-07.jpg&hash=efca72b26229ea5c24901404850a6fdcab8668bd)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi16.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fb10%2Fcmarlow%2FBlogger%2520Journal%2F2009%2520Entries%2FJune%252019th%2FTexas2009PlateCar.jpg&hash=e3ba2e7ffda9b82681fd90a3f1d21f1446d82ee2)
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(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/images/ar-991-lnj.jpg)
Am I the only one who doesn't like the new Texas plate? I liked the one with the horse and space shuttle better. The new one is just a photograph of X County, Texas, along with symbology that to me says something like "Our preschoolers try to color the sky orange until someone stops them".
Quote from: Scott5114 on January 22, 2010, 09:22:16 PM
Am I the only one who doesn't like the new Texas plate? I liked the one with the horse and space shuttle better. The new one is just a photograph of X County, Texas, along with symbology that to me says something like "Our preschoolers try to color the sky orange until someone stops them".
I don't much like the newer Texas plates either. But, in my opinion, it all went downhill when they moved away from the embossed plates. Embossing just makes for so much of a better plate.
On the subject of county IDs, Tennessee still embraces them.
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/tn-484-jll.jpg)
I really like that new Alabama plate:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2F3120%2F3302235591_61a63b10d1.jpg%3Fv%3D0&hash=186c78fbfcadc90a9e73b7d532915ae687567220)
It certainly beats the old one:
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/images/al-2a9043j.jpg)
I always wondered what the heck is that? Is it some obscure reference to the Space Program (Huntsville). But, someone I knew who was from Alabama said it was a song. Of course, the former is slightly better known. :sombrero:
I am a fan of dark blue license plates, so old Michigans, PA's, and Californias are cool. I even like the blue-on-yellow Californias for being super old. Growing up, I liked the NY Liberty plates. can't say there's anything out there now I go for.
Back in the days when spelled-out counties were the latest craze, Indiana had the plates with the word "Wander" at the bottom. We always joked that everyone who traveled outside the state of Indiana were those from Wander County.
And how ugly were those lime-green Indiana plates which (I think) the Wander (Co.) plates replaced.
QuoteOn the subject of county IDs, Tennessee still embraces them.
So does Alabama on non-vanity plates...the first two characters are the code showing where. 15 = Choctaw County, while the 2A = Mobile County.
Quote from: Scott5114 on January 22, 2010, 09:22:16 PM
Am I the only one who doesn't like the new Texas plate? I liked the one with the horse and space shuttle better. The new one is just a photograph of X County, Texas, along with symbology that to me says something like "Our preschoolers try to color the sky orange until someone stops them".
I don't like it either; the black text on blue background thing just doesn't work. It's a nice design in theory, but when you see an actual car with that license plate, the number is almost unreadable from a distance.
Quote from: Annunciation70130 on January 22, 2010, 08:47:41 PM
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fpennsylvania%2Fpa2005new.jpg&hash=1179b33103964b64872bd8ba40e8a7724e445655)
LOL. When I saw that Pennsylvania plate, the first thing that came to my mind was the Visa logo! :-D
I've seen B-10 on some Mississippi license plates. What does that stand for?
Be well,
Bryant
Quote from: froggie on January 23, 2010, 08:55:19 AM
QuoteOn the subject of county IDs, Tennessee still embraces them.
So does Alabama on non-vanity plates...the first two characters are the code showing where. 15 = Choctaw County, while the 2A = Mobile County.
No, I meant Tennessee still puts the county NAME on the plate.
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/tn-484-jll.jpg)
Counties:
- Leaving out the desire of motorists to simply announce the counties they are from, counties on plates, be they spelled out, in the number system or Ohio's idiot stickers; exist for law enforcement or tax enforcement issues. Many police will tell you that a car geographically out of place is "suspect". And in many states the tax structure between counties is such that there is an incentive to "move" to a more rural place (or a similar incentive to avoid the EPA and their emission tests). County names help with enforcement of this.
- I have never understood Florida, where apparently you have a choice of either the county name or "Sunshine State".
- Kentucky, which puts its counties on the plates, has an Ohio County, so a plate will read " KENTUCKY / ### ### / OHIO ". Easy to figure out today, but a few years ago both names were embossed and the plate was a generic two color.
I have a Union County sticker on my car, which I registered in New Mexico in September '09, but I have heard this is now non-standard and they gave me an old, left-over sticker. Not bad given that a) I registered the car in neighboring Colfax County (I live about 1/2 mile from the county line) and b) Union County is one of the least populated in the state, with around 7000 residents.
Pennsylvania used to have "You have a friend in Pennsylvania" on their plate. George Carlin said "anyone who has a friend in Pennsylvania lives in ******* Pennsylvania" (not always true though)
Quote from: SP Cook on January 24, 2010, 09:02:39 AM
- I have never understood Florida, where apparently you have a choice of either the county name or "Sunshine State".
There is a fee to have "Sunshine State" displayed on your license plate in place of the county.
Quote from: SP Cook on January 24, 2010, 09:02:39 AM
- I have never understood Florida, where apparently you have a choice of either the county name or "Sunshine State".
20 years or so ago, all Florida plates had the county name on them, except rental cars which said "Lease". In cities like Miami, they essentially became big "rob me" signs. As a result, they replaced "Lease" with "Sunshine State" on rentals and randomly started mixing "Sunshine State" plates in with the regular county plates so that some non-rentals would have them also. Miami-Dade county stopped issuing county plates entirely, but I believe that's the only county to do so. They've since added plates that say "In God We Trust" instead of "Sunshine State" or the county name as a 3rd option. Typically, when you go to the county tax collector to get your plates, they give you a choice of those 3, or a specialty plate for an extra fee.
Quote from: AARoads on January 24, 2010, 11:36:30 AM
There is a fee to have "Sunshine State" displayed on your license plate in place of the county.
This is not true, at least it wasn't 4 years or so ago when I last had to get new plates on my car. They gave me a choice of Sunshine State and Brevard County. There's only an extra fee if you want a specialty plate. I know the "In God We Trust" plates are no extra charge as well because the news said there's 2 versions: the regular FL plate with that stamped at the bottom, and then a specialty plate (extra charge) that resembles the Indiana IGWT plates.
LIKE:
South Dakota (the only flat-plate I like, but the font is custom, and is much better than anything else with the 3M tech)
Delaware - very traditional, you can't go wrong with simplicity.
Maine.
New Mexico - the optional/old base - its colors suit the state much so.
Dislike:
Maryland, California, Louisiana - an autistic sixth grader could make more interesting plates.
Pennsylvania - I never forgave PA for killing the 1990s base. It was iconic for PA.
New Hampshire - their fonts are AWFUL, but at least they're still stamped.
Quote
This is not true, at least it wasn't 4 years or so ago when I last had to get new plates on my car. They gave me a choice of Sunshine State and Brevard County. There's only an extra fee if you want a specialty plate. I know the "In God We Trust" plates are no extra charge as well because the news said there's 2 versions: the regular FL plate with that stamped at the bottom, and then a specialty plate (extra charge) that resembles the Indiana IGWT plates.
And that is no longer true. There is now a $12 fee for getting either the "Sunshine State" or the "In God We Trust" on your license plate instead of the county name. I had to pay the extra fee last year when I changed my license plate from Seminole County, and since I did not want the county name I had to pay the price...
^^ What about Miami-Dade County? I know that county does not issue the name on their plates. Sunshine State is standard, but is there still an extra charge for In God We Trust?
Quote from: froggie on January 23, 2010, 08:55:19 AM
QuoteOn the subject of county IDs, Tennessee still embraces them.
So does Alabama on non-vanity plates...the first two characters are the code showing where. 15 = Choctaw County, while the 2A = Mobile County.
Actually just the number 2 = Mobile County. There was talk a while back about changing the county code because a few counties (Shelby) were running out of possible plate combinations.
The old plate referenced a song called "Stars Fell On Alabama". I am not very familiar with it either and I live in Alabama. I hated the old plate. I also have to get a new plate but it will not be like the Alabama standard plates as everyone in my family has a specialty plate.
Quote from: Master son on January 24, 2010, 10:35:44 AMPennsylvania used to have "You have a friend in Pennsylvania" on their plate.
It was the grammatically incorrect "You've Got a Friend in...Pennsylvania" which was our old tourism slogan.
Quote from: PAHighways on February 04, 2010, 03:36:48 AM
It was the grammatically incorrect "You've Got a Friend in...Pennsylvania" which was our old tourism slogan.
I liked the slogan but the jingle that went with the TV spots was insipid! :ded:
Quote from: flaroadgeek on January 29, 2010, 12:00:20 AM
And that is no longer true. There is now a $12 fee for getting either the "Sunshine State" or the "In God We Trust" on your license plate instead of the county name. I had to pay the extra fee last year when I changed my license plate from Seminole County, and since I did not want the county name I had to pay the price...
That's lame. I have a standard Brevard plate, and my wife has the new design of the manatee plate.
Aren't they about due to issue new plates? I thought they were on a 5 year replacement cycle in Florida, and the current design has been here for about that long.
I know that PA changed their new plate cycle from 5 years to 10 years a while back. When is the 10 years up? I want "The Keystone State" back on the plate - its historical and interesting.
Quote from: LeftyJR on February 04, 2010, 01:00:19 PM
I know that PA changed their new plate cycle from 5 years to 10 years a while back. When is the 10 years up? I want "The Keystone State" back on the plate - its historical and interesting.
Actually, it was in the news a few months ago that they are now only going to replace license plates on an "as needed" basis now. I guess that means if you have a plate that stays in good shape for 15-20 years, you shouldn't need a replacement.
Quote from: Mr_Northside on February 05, 2010, 10:31:13 AM
Quote from: LeftyJR on February 04, 2010, 01:00:19 PM
I know that PA changed their new plate cycle from 5 years to 10 years a while back. When is the 10 years up? I want "The Keystone State" back on the plate - its historical and interesting.
Actually, it was in the news a few months ago that they are now only going to replace license plates on an "as needed" basis now. I guess that means if you have a plate that stays in good shape for 15-20 years, you shouldn't need a replacement.
That is how it used to be when the plates were the various versions were crafted with glass beads on paint. They incorporated all of the designs after the 1976 Liberty Bell tag until the switchover to the WWW.STATE.PA.US gradient design. Many of the yellow on blue tags stayed in service so long that they lost much of their paint. My mechanics back in PA and I used to talk about tags and they had one they kept in service on a Volvo that was completely devoid of all yellow paint thanks to the elements.
(https://www.aaroads.com/license_plates/thb/pa-224-050.jpg)
Part of the reasoning for the plate reissue was to replace all of those worn out yellow tags. In Florida they replace tags on a five-year cycle because the sun breaks down the reflectivity over time. Granted the sun isn't as strong in Pennsylvania, but won't this be the same case over 15-20 years on those newer visitPA.com tags?
QuoteActually just the number 2 = Mobile County.
Just the number 2 doesn't apply, as you also have Colbert, Dallas, and other counties in the C and D range that also start with 2. Hence why you need to look at the second character. A letter (such as "A" in the previous example) would mean Mobile County. A number means a different county.
Quote from: froggie on February 06, 2010, 12:02:18 PM
QuoteActually just the number 2 = Mobile County.
Just the number 2 doesn't apply, as you also have Colbert, Dallas, and other counties in the C and D range that also start with 2. Hence why you need to look at the second character. A letter (such as "A" in the previous example) would mean Mobile County. A number means a different county.
I probably should have said the number 2 followed by a letter = Mobile County.
New Mexico has just issued a new Centennial plate, turquoise background with yellow letters and a red Zia symbol. It s a nice change from those drab red and grey balloon plates, that always looked dirty to me. My favorite plates now are: Mississippi, South Carolina, and Oklahoma. Nebraska has a butt ugly plate now, as well as Pennsylvania and Missouri is too hard to read " the Show Me State". You need a magnifying glass for that. No more URL PLEASE!
The standard New Mexico yellow plate with red lettering was always a bit "dirty" to me as well... but what about the New Mexico plate with the hot air balloon and the fading background? I've always been fond for those. Were those special issue or what?
No, it wasn't an optional graphic. When registering a vehicle you had a choice between red on yellow or the hot air balloon.
IMO, the easier a plate is to read, the better design. It's not a matter of using the plate as artwork, but how easy they are to read - that's the typical European view on it, which is why their plates are wider, allowing the text to be more legible. Virginia's older design with a sans-serif fonts and 6 characters (ABC-123) was better than the current one because IMO, sans-serif fonts are easier to read, and fewer characters mean that the text can be bigger. (Current standard setup is ABC-1234 with a serif font, blue text on white background)
Quote from: corco on January 20, 2010, 01:18:43 PM
Best:
1. Wyoming (I especially like the new plates without the Devil's Tower)
I liked both of them, actually.
But what I didn't like was when Wyoming switched to the flat, non-embossed plates. I liked the old stamped numbers much better. The typeface used since then, just don't care for it. Before it was more like the similar-to-Highway Gothic numbers that many states used to have.
I thought I'd mention that now, in Wyoming, you can pay the state 50 dollars and get your plates re-issued in embossed. They contracted with the state of Colorado to stamp them out. I've had personalized plates on one of my VWs, and was lucky to get my first one just before they shut the prison down that made the old stamped plates. Last year I had to switch to the new style flat plates but my new embossed ones just came in. I was hoping they'd use a more traditional typeface for the numbers, but nope, same as the flat plates.
The background image on the plates though, I thought it was interesting that it extends all the way across the plate on the embossed plates. The printed plates have it with a white border. Here's a comparison, old-stamped, new-flat and new-stamped, plus a comparison of the emobssing as seen from behind:
-Andy
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmembers.trainorders.com%2Fandroid%2FVW10%2FWhiteyLicensePlateCompare.jpg&hash=cae2f991cb8eb5daade1a9512d0b5288e05e5256)
I do have to say that as far as direct print plates go, I think Wyoming is one of the only states to have made a reasonably attractive license plate. I find the flat plates to look pretty good, actually- even better then a lot of states embossed plates. I still prefer the embossed Wyoming plates, but Wyoming gets an A+ for their direct print efforts.
Compare Wyoming's to, say, Idaho's where a perfectly good plate now looks like total crap just because of the direct printing.
Also, how did you get a Converse XX11 plate? Albany and Laramie counties are going straight numeric with the new plates, and I thought that was the case with the rest of the state. That's a normal numbering for the Devil's Tower plate, but I've never seen that numbering scheme on the new plates.
Duh- I'm wrong on two counts- the old scheme was 11XX, and the plate is a custom one for your 62 Volkswagen
Quote from: corco on March 11, 2010, 08:10:12 PM
I'm wrong on two counts- the old scheme was 11XX, and the plate is a custom one for your 62 Volkswagen
:) Yep, you got it, personalized plate for my
62 Bug (http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/WhiteyMountains08a.jpg). My other two cars have the normal all-number plates.
Actually I messed up last year when I went in for the new plates on one of my cars, the number they gave me was less than three hundred below my exisiting old-plate number, I probably could have talked them into digging up that plate. :banghead:
WOW, very cool car!! More pictures??
Very nice shot too!! Looks like "her" sitting on a rise, longing to go for a ROAD TRIP!!!!
Quote from: allniter89 on March 11, 2010, 09:46:31 PM
WOW, very cool car!! More pictures??
Very nice shot too!! Looks like "her" sitting on a rise, longing to go for a ROAD TRIP!!!!
Thank you! - I've have taken hundreds of photos of that car over the years. I've restored that car twice in 21 years now, and have about 300K on it, many road trips! I chose that particular photo since it showed the license plate clearly on the car. Since this is sort of off-topic so I'll just keep them as links instead of making them display images, but I have these other pics available:
http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/169034.jpg
http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/343704.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/WhiteyFSTtrip1.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/Whitey-LIghtning-RMNP2009A.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/WhiteyMoon2.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/ANWRefugeOverlook3.JPG
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/WhiteyUtahShadow.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/cameronpassHalfsummer.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/VW09/WhiteyCoast.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/WhiteySunrise2.jpg
Quote from: Android on March 12, 2010, 12:03:27 AM
Thank you! - I've have taken hundreds of photos of that car over the years. I've restored that car twice in 21 years now, and have about 300K on it, many road trips! I chose that particular photo since it showed the license plate clearly on the car. Since this is sort of off-topic so I'll just keep them as links instead of making them display images, but I have these other pics available:
Beautiful restoration, and awesome pictures! It's such a treat to see the old Beetles in great shape...especially one with the fold-back sunroof :)
Quote from: Android on March 12, 2010, 12:03:27 AM
Quote from: allniter89 on March 11, 2010, 09:46:31 PM
WOW, very cool car!! More pictures??
Very nice shot too!! Looks like "her" sitting on a rise, longing to go for a ROAD TRIP!!!!
Thank you! - I've have taken hundreds of photos of that car over the years. I've restored that car twice in 21 years now, and have about 300K on it, many road trips! I chose that particular photo since it showed the license plate clearly on the car. Since this is sort of off-topic so I'll just keep them as links instead of making them display images, but I have these other pics available:
http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/169034.jpg
http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/343704.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/WhiteyFSTtrip1.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/Whitey-LIghtning-RMNP2009A.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/WhiteyMoon2.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/ANWRefugeOverlook3.JPG
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/WhiteyUtahShadow.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/cameronpassHalfsummer.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/VW09/WhiteyCoast.jpg
http://members.trainorders.com/android/vw2/WhiteySunrise2.jpg
Awesome pics, thanks for sharing!
Top 5:
Wyoming
Arizona (Until they stopped embossing their plates a couple years ago)
Mississippi (Their newer one is actually pretty nice)
South Carolina/Nevada (TIE)
Bottom 5:
Delaware
California
Michigan
Virginia
Wisconsin
the other day I saw the new blue New Mexico centennial plate. I like it a lot. Especially since it'll be a commemorative, and the regular yellow issue will be retained - a mix of yellow and blue plates will be good to look at on the road, methinks.
Quote from: TheArguer on March 16, 2010, 03:52:18 PM
Top 5:
...
South Carolina/Nevada (TIE)
Are you referring to the current standard issue Nevada plate, the "Sunset" (http://www.dmvnv.com/images/personalized.jpg) design?
I was not a fan of this design when it was introduced. I much prefer the "Bighorn Sheep" (http://www.dmvnv.com/images/bighorn.jpg), the previous standard plate issued from 1983-2000. (Note that on actual plates, all text was blue instead of the reddish color seen here.) I felt the older design was much more representative of the state, including symbols such as the state animal (bighorn sheep) and plant (sagebrush). The sunset design is very cartoony and plain.
I saw several of the new Montana "Treasure State" plates in the wild today. They look absolutely awful. That design does not work with direct print- it just looks really cheap. Montana is now in my bottom five, without question.
Quote from: shoptb1 on January 20, 2010, 11:14:00 AM
The new Ohio plate is butt ugly in my opinion. Not only does it not incorporate the Red, White, and Blue colors from the distinctive Ohio burgee-shaped flag, but it's nearly impossible to determine that it's actually FROM Ohio on the road. PLATE FAIL!
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flh6.ggpht.com%2F_vV2-Fg-7T40%2FS1crYxLbFxI%2FAAAAAAAABWU%2FCZAJfxjvr-8%2Fs912%2FBeautifulOhio.jpg&hash=01162d559bec8e73ce62c4b70a39fb3a9c77f008)
To mee it always seems like Ohio is in competion with NC on the first flight. Give it up, yeah the Wright Brothers were from OH but they flew in NC
Quote from: jwolfer on October 29, 2010, 05:47:47 PM
To mee it always seems like Ohio is in competion with NC on the first flight. Give it up, yeah the Wright Brothers were from OH but they flew in NC
They could've flown anywhere.
Oregon's released an old retro-style Pacific Wonderland plate -- yellow text on dark blue.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fy2k%2FOregon%2For2012pacwonder.jpg&hash=b1306d3aab8b8cb50ac604dc1ec3019e4113fffb)
Quote from: SP Cook on January 24, 2010, 09:02:39 AM
Counties:
- Leaving out the desire of motorists to simply announce the counties they are from, counties on plates, be they spelled out, in the number system or Ohio's idiot stickers; exist for law enforcement or tax enforcement issues. Many police will tell you that a car geographically out of place is "suspect". And in many states the tax structure between counties is such that there is an incentive to "move" to a more rural place (or a similar incentive to avoid the EPA and their emission tests). County names help with enforcement of this.
- I have never understood Florida, where apparently you have a choice of either the county name or "Sunshine State".
- Kentucky, which puts its counties on the plates, has an Ohio County, so a plate will read " KENTUCKY / ### ### / OHIO ". Easy to figure out today, but a few years ago both names were embossed and the plate was a generic two color.
In the 1990s the old folks in South Florida were all in an uproar becase the word in Boca was that is you went to Miami with non-Dade County tags you were targeted by criminals. So you now get to choose County name or Sunshine State, I dont like it. Damn old people from New York.
But for the girl who moves from rural panhandle to Orlando she doesnt need to show her redneck roots.
When I was real little... pre 1975. Florida had a number system for counties based on population in 1937. Dade was 1, Duval was 2, Alachua was 11, Clay was 48. you can find a complete list online somwhere. if you get a traffic ticket the police still use the code number. I wish Florida would at least go the way of OH with a number sticker on the tag, just so I or other roadgeeks types could know.
Here is my list...
Best 5:
-New Hampshire
-New York (the older style with the city skyline and Niagara Falls, not the new yellow one)
-Maine
-Northwest Terriroties (it's shaped like a bear, come on!)
-Texas (the old style with the space shuttle and stars)
Worst 5:
-Massachusetts
-Pennsylvania
-Delaware
-New York (the new yellow style)
-Connecticut
In my opinion, the perfect license plate design should be:
* Distinctive, with colors not likely to be confused with those of other states.
* Iconic, with a simple but effective graphic statement.
* Legible, with an easy-to-read serial format.
* Embossed.
Colorado, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, British Columbia, and Manitoba are amongst my favorite current designs. (I actually like the colors of the new Ohio plate, although I would make tweaks to the lettering and graphic composition before fully embracing it.)
Least favorite? Kansas, Maryland (The "War of 1812" plate looks like a bad 1976 leftover), Massachusetts, Michigan, Washington, and "Myflorida.com." Not to mention all the places that issue flat plates with the "Generic Ugly 3M Serial Font;" which I rank among the worst of the worst (D.C., Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Texas, Wyoming).
I hate California's, it's just so plain and generic. The older gold on yellow version was better because it was just as generic but at least had some color to it. The best CA license plate ever was the short-lived "sunset" one, which I think dates to either the 1970s or 80s.
I don't know why everyone complains about New York's new plates. The color combination is just fine, and I like how they're simple and free of clutter. Where exactly is the sense in cramming the plate full of all sorts of artwork that's too small to be made out by other motorists? I was never really a fan of the previous design, although the statue of liberty design from the 80's and 90's was nice.
To this end, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont also have nice plates.
New Jersey has the right idea by keeping it simple, but they have got to change their color scheme. As it stands, they look like piss stains. :ded:
Quote from: Quillz on October 30, 2010, 02:13:44 PM
I hate California's, it's just so plain and generic. The older gold on yellow version was better because it was just as generic but at least had some color to it. The best CA license plate ever was the short-lived "sunset" one, which I think dates to either the 1970s or 80s.
Said design debuted in December 1982 as an extra-fee issue, then was briefly shunted into place for all motorists in January 1987 after legislation dictated that all new license plates be reflectorized. Unfortunately, it didn't last very long after that: The state reverted to a comparably lame-looking embossed design in late 1987 to cut costs.
Quote from: Duke87 on October 30, 2010, 05:16:47 PM
I don't know why everyone complains about New York's new plates. The color combination is just fine, and I like how they're simple and free of clutter. Where exactly is the sense in cramming the plate full of all sorts of artwork that's too small to be made out by other motorists? I was never really a fan of the previous design, although the statue of liberty design from the 80's and 90's was nice.
From what I've seen, most of the negative sentiment is focused on the lower contrast of the blue-on-orange scheme (never mind that the previous issue's blue-on-white colors could be readily confused with literally dozens of other states, and if anything the state name is easier to read than it was before), or is residual non-design-related frustration at the expectation of paying a plate replacement fee (never mind that the new design wound up being issued to new registrants only). Personally, I think the design is a step up...and if it utilized the wider die set from the 1980s, it would be perfect.
The worst design licence plate I know is the one of Quebec, except some light changes, we got the same basic generic design since 1979 >_< http://www.worldlicenseplates.com/world/CN_QUEB.html http://canplates.com/quebec.html compared to it, the ones of Ontario and New Brunswick have more "pizzazz".
Quote from: jdb1234 on February 06, 2010, 08:23:55 PM
Quote from: froggie on February 06, 2010, 12:02:18 PM
QuoteActually just the number 2 = Mobile County.
Just the number 2 doesn't apply, as you also have Colbert, Dallas, and other counties in the C and D range that also start with 2. Hence why you need to look at the second character. A letter (such as "A" in the previous example) would mean Mobile County. A number means a different county.
I probably should have said the number 2 followed by a letter = Mobile County.
In Alabama all counties have a number followed by a letter followed by a sequential number. You start with 1A00000, and after 1A99999 you go to 1B00000. The counties are numbered pretty much alphabetical except for the three largest counties population wise. Jefferson County(Birmingham) is 1, Mobile is 2 and Montgomery is 3. The rest, 4 through 67, are numbered alphabetically, Autauga(4) through Winston(67). They gave the three large counties 1,2 and 3 so there was enough room for the extra digit in the sequential number so they wouldn't run out so quickly. I'm not sure why they didn't give Madison County(Huntsville) number 4 and go from there as they ran out of sequential numbers and started using 80 for the first number.
Quote from: Duke87 on October 30, 2010, 05:16:47 PM
I don't know why everyone complains about New York's new plates. The color combination is just fine, and I like how they're simple and free of clutter.
New Jersey has the right idea by keeping it simple, but they have got to change their color scheme. As it stands, they look like piss stains.
I agree. The new NY plates have a nice "retro" look and there's still a good mix on the roads for those who prefer the former design.
As for putting the county name (or code) on the plate, it may work in more "homogeneous" states but I'm pretty sure no one from upstate NY would want to park their car in NYC (not that they'd want to anyway).
And as for NJ plates, their chief asset is that they alert you to the presence of NJ drivers.
For the new New York plates, I guess I'm just used to the older design with the falls and the city skyline.
Quote from: Duke87 on October 30, 2010, 05:16:47 PM
I don't know why everyone complains about New York's new plates. The color combination is just fine, and I like how they're simple and free of clutter. Where exactly is the sense in cramming the plate full of all sorts of artwork that's too small to be made out by other motorists? I was never really a fan of the previous design, although the statue of liberty design from the 80's and 90's was nice.
My big complaint? Florida uses yellow tags for cop/government vehicles. NYers come to Florida in large numbers. Now if I'm coming upon an Impala with yellow plates driving down the road, it's much harder to tell if it's a cop trolling for speeders or just another NYer. It's obnoxious.
Quote from: realjd on November 02, 2010, 10:29:18 AM
Quote from: Duke87 on October 30, 2010, 05:16:47 PM
I don't know why everyone complains about New York's new plates. The color combination is just fine, and I like how they're simple and free of clutter. Where exactly is the sense in cramming the plate full of all sorts of artwork that's too small to be made out by other motorists? I was never really a fan of the previous design, although the statue of liberty design from the 80's and 90's was nice.
My big complaint? Florida uses yellow tags for cop/government vehicles. NYers come to Florida in large numbers. Now if I'm coming upon an Impala with yellow plates driving down the road, it's much harder to tell if it's a cop trolling for speeders or just another NYer. It's obnoxious.
I also hate the Impala with the Choose Life tags. But FHP has a bunch of ummarked charges w standard issue tags. They always fool me
I am suprized nobody brought up North Dakota. 1992-Now with the same exact plate design, only change is the sticker designs over the years.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.netstate.com%2Fstates%2Flinks%2Fimages%2Fnd_license_plate.jpg&hash=08597b118cc91874862d36dc142f07670c3e68a4)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.automobilelicenseplatestore.com%2Fimages%2Fzz-nd07pass.jpg&hash=a74af3b43c9ac6f37882213ed6dddf1ccb57bb28)
Only issue i have with it is the non-standard bottom placement for the state name, due to plate frames covering it up.
Also i like the Delaware license plate design, it is nice and retro.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Facimg.auctivacommerce.com%2Fimgdata%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F8%2F8%2F6%2Fwebimg%2F507547.jpg&hash=ef33b99a9b740ac5b732182b6c495c11640375f9)
Anybody else miss the old blue/off white NJ 1980s license plates, perfectly legible, all of it embossed.
Just got the new plates and up close and I am not really liking them :-/ Might just get the MD farm plates.
(https://files.me.com/parndt/nw07fb)
why do they have 2012 plates already? it's not even 2011! :ded:
^^^
Probably the same reason I got a BicenTENNial plate when I moved to Tennessee in 1995 even though the anniversary was in 1996, they changed to the bicentennial plate on the plate cycle closest to the event.
My favorite license plates are the 2 Michigan plates with the Mackinac Bridge on them, Kentucky, and Mississippi's Butterfly plates, and any plates with Old Glory on them.
These are 2 of my favorites:
http://www.whitworthfamily.org/images/2004-ProudToBeAmerican-01.jpg
http://users.exis.net/~moore/fl-vet.jpg :coffee:
I just saw the new New Mexico (Centennial???) plates on a passing car today. Gold-on-Turquoise Blue with some white lettering and their famous sun symbol in gold & red. It sure beats the hell out of those red-on-neon-yellow and balloon plates. I don't think I have ever seen any state plates with a turquoise blue background.
Best: New York gold plate. It's about damn time we get back to simple, solid-color backgrounds with complimentary opposite EMBOSSED text.
Worst: I don't have one particular worst. Any state that's gone to non-embossed plates gets tossed in my 'worst' catergory.
Quote from: thenetwork on November 23, 2010, 10:22:21 PM
I just saw the new New Mexico (Centennial???) plates on a passing car today. Gold-on-Turquoise Blue with some white lettering and their famous sun symbol in gold & red. It sure beats the hell out of those red-on-neon-yellow and balloon plates. I don't think I have ever seen any state plates with a turquoise blue background.
Here's (http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/New_Mexico/nm2010centennial.jpg) a picture of the New Mexico centennial plate. It's a very distinctive design, and I like that...but I saw several of these in use on a drive through the southwest earlier this year, and the contrast between the colors was so bad that the numbers were practically unreadable at a distance. This was in daylight, too: I'd hate to think of how they look at at night, when the dark non-reflective characters and light reflective background cancel each other out.
Interestingly, West Virginia dealer and motorcycle plates used to have the same unusual color scheme; give or take a shade:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.andrew-turnbull.net%2Fplates%2F3t-wv-wdd11117.jpg&hash=55c2ad9f5f6798654ee35991427d39da3f8d945e)
Quote from: US-43|72 on November 24, 2010, 11:28:39 AM
Mine.
Best: New York gold plate. It's about damn time we get back to simple, solid-color backgrounds with complimentary opposite EMBOSSED text.
Worst: I don't have one particular worst. Any state that's gone to non-embossed plates gets tossed in my 'worst' catergory.
Heartily agreed. Cutesy graphics have gotten way out of hand. With very rare exceptions like that greenish/grayish Tennessee one.
now available in Louisiana:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.vrvm.com%2Fmedia%2Frender.htm%3Fm%3D215324160%26amp%3Bwidth%3D320%26amp%3BkeepAspect%3Dtrue&hash=7cf9f8d3e2f86a51e4f1b94461624c864ad752c7)(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.nola.com%2Fpolitics%2Fphoto%2F8947863-large.jpg&hash=d4244e5b8edda7e2a4dad36bb44f15d0d741e5f4)
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/10/louisiana_bicentennial_license_1.html
Bicentennial plate will be issued to vehicles newly registered through December 31, 2012.
Sorry to be reviving, but I would like to share my thoughts about license plates. See, I'm a big license plate enthusiast and collect them for a hobby.
First of all, it's so hard to list my favorite plates, so I'm just going to randomly list the regular plates I like:
Best:
~ Arizona (nice desert scene)
~ current California (simple, elegant, looks nice with "dmv.ca.gov" at the bottom)
~ sunset California (just looks very California)
~ Colorado (classic)
~ Idaho (the flat makes it look even better in my opinion)
~ Nebraska (love the new plate)
~ New Mexico centennial (unique turquoise color)
~ New York (Empire Gold sure looks nice)
Worst:
~ pre-script California (late 2AAA000 series to early 3AAA000 series)
~ current Florida (don't like how the state name is written)
~ smiley face Kentucky (just looks plain ugly)
~ New Jersey (I call the color "pee yellow")
That's all I have for now.
As a Floridian, the standard-issue Florida plates just get uglier and uglier. Design peaked around 1990 or so, but someone had to get cute and inverse the state outline and embossing, and it all went downhill with the "peach" that never looked much like an orange; it looks even worse with vanity plates with more than three consecutive characters on them. I prefer the simple designs, although there's a few of the specialty plates that get the job done in a visually orderly fashion.
To be honest, I think the county stamp is useless; George Carlin had a comment on that which was spot on. I actually preferred the Sunshine State stamping instead, although using my Alachua county plate was something I enjoyed for a few years out of the area just because the numbering sequence was different and the county was something different. With all these recent don't-text-and-drive campaigns, hopefully all these website footers will become history.
I have a soft spot for Dealer and/or Transportation plates, because they're generally very simple.
Quote from: Al Cyone on October 31, 2010, 03:25:57 PM
As for putting the county name (or code) on the plate, it may work in more "homogeneous" states but I'm pretty sure no one from upstate NY would want to park their car in NYC (not that they'd want to anyway).
New York plates, until sometime in the mid-1970s, used codes for the issuing county. I've never seen a full list of which codes went with which counties, but I'm sure some LP maven has one somewhere. When they went over to three-numbers-three-letters in 1973, and phased out the earlier plates, that's when the county designations went away.
For example, a plate my grandfather had: 8K-4405. The "8K" was a code for Kings county.
as a New Jersey resident, i absolutely hate our license plates (and are stupid highway shields for that matter)...does anyone have any NJ license plates that they designed themselves? (trying to see some ideas)
I've never understood the idea of putting the county on the license plate because it seems inefficient to me, especially nowadays when the cops are going to run your plate through a computer anyway. I assume if you live in a state that issues county-specific plates and you move to another county it means you have to get the plate reissued and probably pay a fee, and I gather from some of the posts in this thread that in some states you would be required to get a new plate number (assuming you don't have a personalized plate) so as not to mess up their numbering schemes. That seems like a massive waste of money and of DMV workers' time.
With the rise of specialty plates and custom designs (Virginia alone has over 180 different plate designs) I find it impractical to try to consider all the ones I might like or dislike. But here are a few. I suppose the Canadian and Mexican ones violate the "U.S. license plates" theme, but I'm not the first there:
Best:
Virginia's original Jamestown plate honoring the town's 400th anniversary (the one with the ship on the right side)–I have this design on both of my cars
Hawaii current design (simple, distinctive, easy to read)
Alaska 2006 design with the printed "Alaska" and "The Last Frontier," both of which I think look cleaner than the embossed versions; I don't like the earlier version with the sticker wells.
Northwest Territories. The bear is just cool. I saw one "in the field" at the car park at the trailhead to Western Brook Pond in Newfoundland in August 1982. My parents have one they bought at an antique store somewhere. It's over the door in their kitchen.
Quintana Roo 2002 passenger issue that has a background showing El Castillo at Tulum. Never seen one on the road in the USA and doubt I ever will, but I've driven plenty of cars with this plate on trips to that part of Mexico.
Worst:
Virginia standard issue (boring)
Maryland standard issue (ditto)
Alaska Gold Rush Centennial because it's too busy. It's unclear what the line of people is unless you're viewing it from up close.
Florida plates that say "MyFlorida.com" because it's tacky
DC's plates, especially the "Taxation Without Representation" ones. You're not a state. Get over it. Also, the "See Window Sticker" decals are embarrassing.
Idaho, but only because of the words "Famous Potatoes." Otherwise I kind of like the current design, but I roll my eyes at that particular slogan.
New York's plates from the latter half of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s. I recall they had a box where you'd put an expiration decal, but then they never issued any decals, so it looked silly.
My all-time favorite plate has nothing to do with the design–because the Europeans have no choice in that matter–and everything to do with the letter combination. Picture taken at the Airbus car park in Bristol in April 2007. I know the guy parking the Porsche (his plate is a European-style way of displaying the letters G-BBDG, the registration for a preproduction Concorde on display at Brooklands). But that's not why I took the picture. Note the Nissan to the right. The second character on the plate is a "1," but it doesn't read that way.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi31.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fc378%2F1995hoo%2FBristol%25202007%2FHiFka.jpg&hash=96bdb55c788f36bb2d9aceedcd812d335d9e022b)
I remember seeing a "QR MEX" plate in New Mexico in 2006. Never seen a NWT outside of NWT, Alberta, Yukon, or BC ... but the other day I did see a Yukon plate down here in sunny San Diego!
a Nunavut plate would be quite the sighting.
I recently spotted a yellow German plate here in San Diego (something I never saw in Europe); my assumption is that the car was plated for export in Germany, and had not yet been registered in the US.
but by far the most out-of-place plate I've seen was a Florida plate in ... Poland!
I've seen a Puerto Rico plate several times on I-395 in Virginia and DC, but the weirdest one I've seen has been a Guam plate two or three times, also on I-395. The first time I saw that was one of the few times I was glad for a traffic jam because it allowed me to pull close enough to make out what the unfamiliar design was.
Also saw a Yukon plate when we were waiting on line at the ferry terminal in Port-aux-Basques to head back to Nova Scotia at the end of our stay in Newfoundland in 1982, but to me that was less out-of-place than the Puerto Rico and Guam plates because you can at least drive from the Yukon to Newfoundland. (The Yukon plate I saw in Juneau in 2007 didn't strike me as the least bit odd, even though I only saw one.)
I do not recall ever seeing a Puerto Rico plate. I do remember seeing Belize and Guatemala plates but do not remember if I saw those in the US or in Mexico.
I've only been to extreme northwest Mexico (Baja and Sonora), so even there those Central American plates are quite unusual.
in Europe, the farthest-away plate, apart from that Florida, which I recall seeing was a Kazakhstan truck.
The Puerto Rico plate was apparently a 1986 series, per this website (if I try to use the image, it displays all the plates, so forget that) (http://www.worldlicenseplates.com/jpglps/CA_PRico_GI2.jpg).
The site on which I found that image shows some other issues. I rather like the spiffy 2007 series with what looks like a fort set against the sea and sky. The same fort appears on the Puerto Rico quarter issued as part of the territorial quarters follow-up to the 50 State Quarters program.
The Guam plate was actually a bit easier to identify than the Puerto Rico one because the one I saw showed the island and I recognize its shape. But I still wasn't sure I was seeing what my eyes told me I was seeing, you know?
D.C. is a great place for plate spotting. I've seen both Guam and Puerto Rico parked in D.C. I've seen a motor home with German plates in Colorado, Massachussets parallel-parked in a Paris suburb, Arizona in Switzerland, but my favorites to spot were always the old Diplomat plates, back before they redesigned them to look more normal.
My all-time favorite plates are the old 1990s-era green-on-white Mexican plates, but (sticking with the topic of U.S. plates), my favorite current American ones are actually Tennessee's plates. Yes, yes, I know they're 3M flats, but they're freaking stylish, man! Mississippi almost always has pretty designs, too, and has for years.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 03:41:08 PM
a Nunavut plate would be quite the sighting.
And Nunavut is debuting a new base for its license plates:
http://licenseplates.cc/news/New-Nunavut-plates-for-2012
Quote from: kphoger on April 04, 2012, 05:30:30 PMmy favorites to spot were always the old Diplomat plates, back before they redesigned them to look more normal.
which ones are these?
I like the diplomat plates I spotted in Paris... orange-red on a dark green background, on an invariably fancy car.
Quote from: kphoger on April 04, 2012, 05:30:30 PM
D.C. is a great place for plate spotting. I've seen both Guam and Puerto Rico parked in D.C. I've seen a motor home with German plates in Colorado, Massachussets parallel-parked in a Paris suburb, Arizona in Switzerland, but my favorites to spot were always the old Diplomat plates, back before they redesigned them to look more normal.
....
You mean this style? I liked these better than the current ones. Some people living four houses up the street from us have the current style of diplomat plates, so I see the current ones every day.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F2%2F22%2FUSDOS00Plate.jpg&hash=dfd0e857605f069e0d7f0e718915473f681992b2)
Back when I was in college I had a listing of the country codes in the car. My father had the list and left it in the door pocket when he sold the car to me during my senior year of high school. I no longer have it, but it doesn't matter because that list has long since been superseded.
Current style of diplomat plate:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F0%2F0c%2FUs_diplomatic_reg_3210.jpg%2F320px-Us_diplomatic_reg_3210.jpg&hash=341e1155bc94ad657bba151bc2cd6cb91cdef26c)
One reason why I like going to tourist cities is that I can see all kinds of different plates there. That's what makes parking garages interesting for me. Even just in Monterey, you can see many states. But once you get across the mountain to Salinas, I basically just see Arizonas and Nevadas.
I occasionally see Mexican plates, as well as cars with Euro plates on the front.
The most "exotic" plate I've seen has got to be a Maine duck plate. I saw it at the parking lot for Monterey's Del Monte Shopping Center.
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 04, 2012, 06:14:03 PM
You mean this style? I liked these better than the current ones.
I like the current one. A bit more subtle. Diplomats shouldn't be running around advertising how special they are - we've got home-grown politicians for that.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 04:26:14 PM
I do not recall ever seeing a Puerto Rico plate. I do remember seeing Belize and Guatemala plates but do not remember if I saw those in the US or in Mexico.
I've only been to extreme northwest Mexico (Baja and Sonora), so even there those Central American plates are quite unusual.
in Europe, the farthest-away plate, apart from that Florida, which I recall seeing was a Kazakhstan truck.
PR plates aren't too uncommon around here. Other unusual plates I've seen over the past few years:
NWT
Acapulco, Mexico
Mexico City
Germany (on a clearly European RV)
Bahamas
USA/NATO European-style plate
Costa Rica
Quote from: SP Cook on January 20, 2010, 10:22:38 PM
Arkansas. "The Natural State". WTF does that even mean?
It's a reference to the natural beauty of the state, which is in abundance north and west of US 67.
Quote from: realjd on April 04, 2012, 07:06:34 PM
Germany (on a clearly European RV)
I've seen a handful of European plates on vehicles in the US, and indeed a good portion of them were RVs or similar. Most recently, on I-5 in Oregon, I saw French plates on a classic 1960s VW microbus.
If I had to put an "In god we trust" plate on my car I would black it out with electrical tape.
North Dakota's plates are cool. They remind me of a cartoon.
Oklahoma's new off center non-embossed plates are ugly. I have one, and I don't like the way it looks on my car. I'd get the US 66 specialty plate but I don't think they issue them now.
Quote from: bugo on April 04, 2012, 09:42:58 PM
If I had to put an "In god we trust" plate on my car I would black it out with electrical tape.
I would do my best to "white" it out with retroreflective sheeting of the appropriate color.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 04:26:14 PM
I do not recall ever seeing a Puerto Rico plate. I do remember seeing Belize and Guatemala plates but do not remember if I saw those in the US or in Mexico.
I've only been to extreme northwest Mexico (Baja and Sonora), so even there those Central American plates are quite unusual.
in Europe, the farthest-away plate, apart from that Florida, which I recall seeing was a Kazakhstan truck.
I saw a car once on OK 165 with Mexican tags (I couldn't tell which state) that I'd never seen before. I sped up and passed it and it was a Seat Ibiza. I'd heard of Seats but I'd never seen one.
Nobody has mentioned tribal plates. There are a bunch of tribes in Oklahoma that have their own tags. They have the tribe name on top with OKLAHOMA on the bottom. I've read that the tribal tags are not recognized in Florida, so if you have tribal tags don't drive there.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 09:44:50 PM
Quote from: bugo on April 04, 2012, 09:42:58 PM
If I had to put an "In god we trust" plate on my car I would black it out with electrical tape.
I would do my best to "white" it out with retroreflective sheeting of the appropriate color.
One of the few upsides to printed license plates, right?
Quote from: rawmustard on January 22, 2010, 12:31:52 PM
Quote from: tdindy88 on January 22, 2010, 11:37:03 AM
Indiana used to have a cool number system, well actually they still do in a way, by having a one or two digit number represent the county (Similar to South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana I believe).
They're merely numbered in alphabetical order from what I recall (so 1 would be Adams up through 92 for Whitley), although the BMV's website doesn't explicitly say so. I know the county numbers show up in other places (e.g., INDOT's reference post manuals), so it would seem to follow the BMV uses the same system.
Yes, the system was alphabetical, but Marion and Lake counties ran out of numbers so the prefixes 93-99 were extras for those counties. Trying to identify license plate codes while traveling as a kid is what got me to learn all 92 counties in alphabetical order.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 03:41:08 PM
but by far the most out-of-place plate I've seen was a Florida plate in ... Poland!
I saw one once in Italy too.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 06:48:17 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 04, 2012, 06:14:03 PM
You mean this style? I liked these better than the current ones.
I like the current one. A bit more subtle. Diplomats shouldn't be running around advertising how special they are - we've got home-grown politicians for that.
They're still pretty obvious–or at least, they seem it to those of us here in the DC area, but we see so many of them that they're recognizable as diplomat plates at a glance. I suppose in other parts of the country it would be a different matter, much like the tribal tags bugo mentions. I've never seen one of those, and I've never seen a Mexican plate in the United States (or Canada), but given where I live the odds of seeing them are far lower than they would be in a place like Texas or Arizona. (I did see a Texas plate in Cozumel once, however. You'd really have to be staying for a long time to make that worthwhile. The car ferry is a notorious nuisance.)
Quote from: cabiness42 on April 05, 2012, 08:18:19 AM
Quote from: rawmustard on January 22, 2010, 12:31:52 PM
Quote from: tdindy88 on January 22, 2010, 11:37:03 AM
Indiana used to have a cool number system, well actually they still do in a way, by having a one or two digit number represent the county (Similar to South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana I believe).
They're merely numbered in alphabetical order from what I recall (so 1 would be Adams up through 92 for Whitley), although the BMV's website doesn't explicitly say so. I know the county numbers show up in other places (e.g., INDOT's reference post manuals), so it would seem to follow the BMV uses the same system.
Yes, the system was alphabetical, but Marion and Lake counties ran out of numbers so the prefixes 93-99 were extras for those counties. Trying to identify license plate codes while traveling as a kid is what got me to learn all 92 counties in alphabetical order.
My collection of pictures from the various Indiana counties are classified by those numbers, 2-Allen for instance. Now it just has the number and the name on it, ruining the game. Thankfully, the In God We Trust plates and specialty plates still use only the number and from the latest IGWT plates I've seen, the white ones, they now put the county number on the plate without any stickers, presumebly so people can't remove them. Makes me wonder if the next series of standard plates will do the same with the county number-name combination on it.
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 05, 2012, 09:39:50 AMI did see a Texas plate in Cozumel once, however. You'd really have to be staying for a long time to make that worthwhile. The car ferry is a notorious nuisance.
do you mean a ferry just to get to the island ... or a ferry across the Gulf from Florida or something?
Quote from: elsmere241 on April 05, 2012, 09:25:09 AM
I saw one once in Italy too.
those Floridians get around. I saw one in Alaska a few days ago as well, and in March, 2010, I saw one on the Alaska Highway in British Columbia. This in stark contrast to Georgia or whatnot... I've never seen a Georgia plate, or a NC or SC or Alabama etc etc ...outside the lower 48.
Quote from: realjd on April 05, 2012, 07:57:42 AM
One of the few upsides to printed license plates, right?
oh, if the offending text were embossed, I'd flatten it in a press.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 05, 2012, 11:02:10 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 05, 2012, 09:39:50 AMI did see a Texas plate in Cozumel once, however. You'd really have to be staying for a long time to make that worthwhile. The car ferry is a notorious nuisance.
do you mean a ferry just to get to the island ... or a ferry across the Gulf from Florida or something?
The one to get to the island. Apparently the vehicle ferry doesn't run every day, is unbelievably slow, and, at least in the past, it didn't take reservations and (understandably) gave priority to things like food delivery trucks and the like, so there was no guarantee you'd get on the ferry even if you started queuing six to ten hours in advance.
QuoteThey're still pretty obvious–or at least, they seem it to those of us here in the DC area, but we see so many of them that they're recognizable as diplomat plates at a glance. I suppose in other parts of the country it would be a different matter, much like the tribal tags bugo mentions. I've never seen one of those, and I've never seen a Mexican plate in the United States (or Canada), but given where I live the odds of seeing them are far lower than they would be in a place like Texas or Arizona. (I did see a Texas plate in Cozumel once, however. You'd really have to be staying for a long time to make that worthwhile. The car ferry is a notorious nuisance.)
It's really weird how that works. I'd never seen a Mexican plate in the US either until I moved down here, but now I see about a twenty Sonoras every day on my trip to work, three or four Sinaloas, and usually at least one Jalisco every day. Jalisco is the state Guadalajara is in. It's a much longer, more sketchy drive from Guadalajara to Tucson than it is from, say, Juarez to Denver, but I never saw a Chihuahua plate in Denver.
Quote from: corco on April 05, 2012, 11:48:43 AM
It's really weird how that works. I'd never seen a Mexican plate in the US either until I moved down here, but now I see about a twenty Sonoras every day on my trip to work, three or four Sinaloas, and usually at least one Jalisco every day. Jalisco is the state Guadalajara is in. It's a much longer, more sketchy drive from Guadalajara to Tucson than it is from, say, Juarez to Denver, but I never saw a Chihuahua plate in Denver.
I see in San Diego plenty of Baja, as expected, the occasional Sonora, and anything further away is pretty rare. I remember once in Baja remarking at the sighting of a Sinaloa plate.
I see more Sinaloas than Bajas, which is sort of surprising. In limited border-area travel, it seems like the Mexican strategy with the US is just to drive north until you hit a city, never moving east or west.
Quote from: corco on April 05, 2012, 12:13:57 PM
I see more Sinaloas than Bajas, which is sort of surprising. In limited border-area travel, it seems like the Mexican strategy with the US is just to drive north until you hit a city, never moving east or west.
I wonder, then, why so few out-of-state plates in Baja. Are there onerous travel restrictions on Mexicans with Mexican-registered vehicles attempting to drive around in Mexico? I don't know of anything beyond the occasional military or internal-frontier checkpoint, at which I figure a Mexican citizen could say "soy Mexicano", and not have any further questions once his car was deemed free of contraband.
I to this day do not understand why Texas currently has over 110 different legal license plates designs in use right now. I could do a top/bottom five just in this state.
But the one I like the best currently in the state is the black star design. Works best with a black car or truck.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.myplates.com%2Fimages%2Fplates%2Fgeneric_large.png&hash=7dfaf5dd1f6643d7c8f819af502c6f20def4d35e)
Quote from: realjd on April 04, 2012, 07:06:34 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 04:26:14 PM
I do not recall ever seeing a Puerto Rico plate. I do remember seeing Belize and Guatemala plates but do not remember if I saw those in the US or in Mexico.
I've only been to extreme northwest Mexico (Baja and Sonora), so even there those Central American plates are quite unusual.
in Europe, the farthest-away plate, apart from that Florida, which I recall seeing was a Kazakhstan truck.
PR plates aren't too uncommon around here. Other unusual plates I've seen over the past few years:
NWT
Acapulco, Mexico
Mexico City
Germany (on a clearly European RV)
Bahamas
USA/NATO European-style plate
Costa Rica
How on earth were you able to determine that the license plate was from Acapulco? Mexican license plates are issued to states in alphabetical blocks, but I'm amazed you were able to narrow it down by city.
Quote from: Perfxion on April 05, 2012, 02:23:22 PM
But the one I like the best currently in the state is the black star design. Works best with a black car or truck.
that is a looker. I have a friend with that design on a red Mustang with white racing stripes, and it looks great.
Quote from: kphoger on April 05, 2012, 02:41:24 PM
How on earth were you able to determine that the license plate was from Acapulco? Mexican license plates are issued to states in alphabetical blocks, but I'm amazed you were able to narrow it down by city.
The actual license plate was for Guerrero, but the car had dealer branding for Acapulco Ford or something like that.
Quote from: Alex on April 04, 2012, 05:40:10 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 03:41:08 PM
a Nunavut plate would be quite the sighting.
And Nunavut is debuting a new base for its license plates:
http://licenseplates.cc/news/New-Nunavut-plates-for-2012
Awwww, I'm more fond of this design:
http://nunawhaa.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/nwt.jpg (http://nunawhaa.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/nwt.jpg) :-o
Quote from: SidS1045 on April 04, 2012, 03:07:50 PM
Quote from: Al Cyone on October 31, 2010, 03:25:57 PM
As for putting the county name (or code) on the plate, it may work in more "homogeneous" states but I'm pretty sure no one from upstate NY would want to park their car in NYC (not that they'd want to anyway).
New York plates, until sometime in the mid-1970s, used codes for the issuing county. I've never seen a full list of which codes went with which counties, but I'm sure some LP maven has one somewhere. When they went over to three-numbers-three-letters in 1973, and phased out the earlier plates, that's when the county designations went away.
For example, a plate my grandfather had: 8K-4405. The "8K" was a code for Kings county.
Actually, New York used the county codes up until the end of the Liberty plates run. The original blue on gold ('73?) and the Liberty plates both used county codes on them. The first two letters of the three letter code represented the county in the original run. For example, Oswego County had NNN-OSx and NNN-OEx with the blue on gold and then OSx NNN or OWx NNN or OXx NNN. Further into the plate runs they got a little creative and started using codes that represented a city name in that county, for example the Liberty Plates in Chautauqua County had CHx NNN and CJx NNN (J is next to H in the alphabet) and then they also had JTx NNN and DKx NNN, with JT representing Jamestown and DK representing Dunkirk. Even when the Liberty plates switched to NAA NNN they kept the county code, for example I picked up plates in Columbia County and it started with "2CB". When they switched to the ANA NNN and ANN NAA plates, they gave up the county codes.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 09:44:50 PM
Quote from: bugo on April 04, 2012, 09:42:58 PM
If I had to put an "In god we trust" plate on my car I would black it out with electrical tape.
I would do my best to "white" it out with retroreflective sheeting of the appropriate color.
So do you guys blank it out on your money, too?
Quote from: mightyace on April 05, 2012, 10:15:51 PM
So do you guys blank it out on your money, too?
of course! send me yours so I can blank it out there too.
Quote from: mightyace on April 05, 2012, 10:15:51 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 09:44:50 PM
Quote from: bugo on April 04, 2012, 09:42:58 PM
If I had to put an "In god we trust" plate on my car I would black it out with electrical tape.
I would do my best to "white" it out with retroreflective sheeting of the appropriate color.
So do you guys blank it out on your money, too?
Hey, New Hampshire busted people for covering "Live Free or Die".
Quote from: The High Plains Traveler on April 05, 2012, 10:43:49 PM
Hey, New Hampshire busted people for covering "Live Free or Die".
35 years ago. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooley_v._Maynard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooley_v._Maynard)
As to "In God We Trust", its an optional, pay extra, plate in the states that offer it. South Carolina offers an optional "In reason We Trust" plate. Whatever.
Quote from: YankeesFan on April 04, 2012, 03:09:48 PM
as a New Jersey resident, i absolutely hate our license plates (and are stupid highway shields for that matter)...does anyone have any NJ license plates that they designed themselves? (trying to see some ideas)
I have drawn up this design for New Jersey:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7255%2F6905209224_6dab2ea702_c.jpg&hash=c97bee7cb6fdf698f16d59b98a37b76a4f330345)
New font for the "New Jersey" at the top, as well as for "Garden State" at the bottom. That is supposed to be the state seal at the upper-right corner. I've also added a color similar to that of the state flag at the top. Thankfully, "pee yellow" is gone. To complement the "Garden State" slogan, I've added the NJ state flower as well.
While I'm at it, here's my Florida plate design:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm6.staticflickr.com%2F5459%2F7051300091_ea70a7ee95_c.jpg&hash=6efc65add350ba7a60265444b3ff7a2690de45e1)
I've designed a new, more festive lettering for "Florida" at the top. The website is no longer part of the state name and is in a separate line underneath it. An orange tree now stands in the middle, complete with oranges on it. The top suggests a sunrise motif and the bottom suggests grass.
What do you guys think? I appreciate more suggestions and additions will be added as requested.
def better then the current NJ one...is the top gold or the piss yellow though?
Quotedef better then the current NJ one...is the top gold or the piss yellow though?
piss yellow :-D :bigass:
Quote from: YankeesFan on April 06, 2012, 04:11:35 PM
def better then the current NJ one...is the top gold or the piss yellow though?
I used the Crayola colored pencil "harvest gold" for the top. So technically, gold.
i always the NJ in the middle would look good if it were bigger...the numbers could even overlap it...i wish i could draw.
The best:
1. Hawaii -- so happy!
2. Wyoming -- I like that they've incorporated the state icon and the background color scheme is well chosen
3. California -- simple but iconic
4. Maine
5. New Mexico
I really liked the now-defunct pre-2010 Maryland plates with the script state name and coat of arms; it has such an elegant feel to it.
The worst:
1. New York -- why the sudden switch to this '70s throwback? Why is this putrid mustard color considered a good image for the state? I liked the blue plates.
2. Wisconsin -- the clip art looks far too hooky
3. Pennsylvania
4. Delaware
5. Michigan
I've said this before in one of these license plate threads, but the new NY plates annoy me. They're the exact same color yellow as the government plates that cops use. Since old folks seem to like Impalas and Crown Vics, it becomes obnoxious quickly.
My favorite New York plates were the red-and-black-on-white ones from the 90s. I haven't noticed any new ones around here recently, but I don't really pay attention to out-of-state plates as much as I used to when I was younger. Perhaps I should, as there's a rather large military base five miles from where I live, with lots of out-of-state cars coming over to the mall area constantly.
Also, I'll second the Maryland plates. I got one when I bought my '91 Prelude, as the previous owner was from Waldorf and didn't want it anymore (he moved to Raleigh shortly after). Virginia's main plate is pretty boring (blue-on-white) and has had only minor changes (font and ABC-123 to ABC-1234 around '92) in 30+ years, save for the 2-3 years of the Jamestown plates around the quadricentennial. Of course, as mentioned, there are plenty of specialty plates to choose from, but I went for the standard plates on both my cars.
Quote from: motorway on April 06, 2012, 10:30:28 PM
2. Wisconsin -- the clip art looks far too hooky
First time I've ever heard that description before. Generally, I've heard it called 'boring', 'blah', or 'too subtle'. With regards to the latter, it wasn't until a few years ago that I learned to appreciate the "cleverness" of the sun/sailboat combination.
Overall, I know I am probably in the minority, but I rather have the plates as utilitarian as much as possible. No graphics - similar to many other countries. Who really needs 'em? After all, it's meant to ID a vehicle, not be a work of art, (although, with all the custom designs and extra fees, it seems they are more of a DOT money-making scheme than anything else). My design would have the state name at the top, large alpha-numeric ID in the middle, then the bottom row would be reserved for registration stickers and plate classification (truck, bus, municipal, etc.). Then, maybe have a color-coded (solid, reflective) background for special plates (emergency response, bus, government-owned, disabled, etc.).
Am I the only one who doesn't like serial formats which have more letters than numerals? For example, the format ABC D12 drives me nuts. When the letter-to-numeral ration gets over 50%, I don't consider it a 'number' at all anymore. I actually prefer all-numeric serials. I realize that diminishes the number of available serials, but I'd rather scale the number down to fit an extra digit than add too many letters.
Quote from: kphoger on April 07, 2012, 01:48:46 PM
Am I the only one who doesn't like serial formats which have more letters than numerals? For example, the format ABC D12 drives me nuts. When the letter-to-numeral ration gets over 50%, I don't consider it a 'number' at all anymore. I actually prefer all-numeric serials. I realize that diminishes the number of available serials, but I'd rather scale the number down to fit an extra digit than add too many letters.
I see your point, and I do think more than 3 letters disrupts the 'flow', but unless there are no numbers whatsoever, it doesn't bother me too much. Conversely, many of our specialty plates are all numbers and one letter, which I think is more awkward.
Quote from: realjd on April 06, 2012, 11:44:09 PM
I've said this before in one of these license plate threads, but the new NY plates annoy me. They're the exact same color yellow as the government plates that cops use. Since old folks seem to like Impalas and Crown Vics, it becomes obnoxious quickly.
They are the same color as the "party plates" you earn for driving drunk in Ohio, as well.
Quote from: kphoger on April 07, 2012, 01:48:46 PM
Am I the only one who doesn't like serial formats which have more letters than numerals? For example, the format ABC D12 drives me nuts. When the letter-to-numeral ration gets over 50%, I don't consider it a 'number' at all anymore. I actually prefer all-numeric serials. I realize that diminishes the number of available serials, but I'd rather scale the number down to fit an extra digit than add too many letters.
Ontario's ABCD-123 system, while good from a "not running out" standpoint, drives me bonkers.
NJ at one time had these combos
Nov92-May93
AAA1111
May93-Late 99
AA-111A
Late 99-2010
AAA-##A
2010-Now
A##-AAA
My plate, being a non standard issue one is a differnet format entirely
1111 AA with the AA being vertical
On the subject of out-of-place license plates, this afternoon I spotted of all things a Nuevo León plate, inbound on the East Shoreway in Cleveland. It was pretty hard to miss considering that the car was doing about 35 in the far left lane with its flashers on.
Quote from: right_said_ted on April 09, 2012, 08:49:15 PM
On the subject of out-of-place license plates, this afternoon I spotted of all things a Nuevo León plate, inbound on the East Shoreway in Cleveland. It was pretty hard to miss considering that the car was doing about 35 in the far left lane with its flashers on.
dang; usually Mexican drivers are pretty dang competent.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 09, 2012, 08:49:55 PM
Quote from: right_said_ted on April 09, 2012, 08:49:15 PM
On the subject of out-of-place license plates, this afternoon I spotted of all things a Nuevo León plate, inbound on the East Shoreway in Cleveland. It was pretty hard to miss considering that the car was doing about 35 in the far left lane with its flashers on.
dang; usually Mexican drivers are pretty dang competent.
Apologies for the off-topic tangent rant, but I do not understand where Canadian drivers got the reputation for being polite. (And yes, I have heard the stereotype applied directly to their driving several times, in addition to their general demeanor.) I recently had to do the Bellingham-Tacoma-Seattle-Tacoma-back home drive (300 miles of the best Washington's I-5 has to offer), and without fail, every @$$hole driver I encountered had B.C. plates.
Quote from: Kacie Jane on April 09, 2012, 09:22:59 PM
Apologies for the off-topic tangent rant, but I do not understand where Canadian drivers got the reputation for being polite. (And yes, I have heard the stereotype applied directly to their driving several times, in addition to their general demeanor.) I recently had to do the Bellingham-Tacoma-Seattle-Tacoma-back home drive (300 miles of the best Washington's I-5 has to offer), and without fail, every @$$hole driver I encountered had B.C. plates.
At least here in Florida, the snowbirds and tourists from ON and QC tend to be much better behaved and polite than the snowbirds from NY and NJ. I've noticed the QC folks (of all ages) typically drive extremely slowly on the highways down here, but they have good lane discipline so it doesn't impede anyone.
For whatever reason, I've noticed a much larger of folks from QC this year than in the past, and even a few NB and NS plates which are unusual even for Florida.
Maybe it's just a Vancouver thing then. Although is it really fair to compare the Quebecers to New Yorkers? (Although yes, the BC-ers are far worse than Californians.)
Quote from: realjd on April 09, 2012, 09:33:08 PM
Quote from: Kacie Jane on April 09, 2012, 09:22:59 PM
Apologies for the off-topic tangent rant, but I do not understand where Canadian drivers got the reputation for being polite. (And yes, I have heard the stereotype applied directly to their driving several times, in addition to their general demeanor.) I recently had to do the Bellingham-Tacoma-Seattle-Tacoma-back home drive (300 miles of the best Washington's I-5 has to offer), and without fail, every @$$hole driver I encountered had B.C. plates.
At least here in Florida, the snowbirds and tourists from ON and QC tend to be much better behaved and polite than the snowbirds from NY and NJ. I've noticed the QC folks (of all ages) typically drive extremely slowly on the highways down here, but they have good lane discipline so it doesn't impede anyone.
For whatever reason, I've noticed a much larger of folks from QC this year than in the past, and even a few NB and NS plates which are unusual even for Florida.
Eeep, they tend to do a fair bit of swerving from left-to-right or right-to-left without much warning in South Florida. But it's extremely rare a Quebec plated-car is even approaching the speed limit in the left lane in our wintertime; but generally, they're 50-70 year-olds, on vacation or retired, so it makes some sense. But they hog up
left lanes in South Florida all the time; I don't care if you go slow in the right lane, that's what it's there for.
There's a lot of people down on the California plate, (not in a rude way) Im curious what people would want on our plate. Such a massive state with different things all over it. It's not like Texas where the lone star thing goes for the whole thing. Nor-Cal is totally different than So-Cal and even in So-Cal you could say "put a beach" or something on it but the farther inland you go it even gets more different.
Perhaps a poppy or something but then that'd ruin our little special license plate that costs $75 a year to have I suppose...
You could stick a miner's spade on it :P
Actually, thinking about it more seriously, I'm sure you could dig up some sort of symbology out of the state's history, like the Gold Rush/49er thing. Modern Californians probably don't really identify with that, though.
I'd put a giraffe on it- if you can't represent everything, represent nothing.
That's true. Gold rush type thing, we're almost too large to have one thing like that for a plate. Other than a state symbol such as the Poppy or even the bear from the flag... I got nothing. I don't mind our plate but small states such as Massachusetts have no excuse haha
CA has great plates. The script has aged decently, and we've kept it simple.
I agree. I don't mind it. I still think it could use a little something though. Maybe a combination of the old sunset plate + current writing
You gotta be kidding. That CA script was right off a "1000 Fonts!" CD and was generally used in early 1990s timeshare property ads. It was never even slightly tasteful.
(And with my new plates, I'm now advertising the DMV's website. Because everyone just loves the DMV and wants to visit their home page.)
I posted this in the other thread, but there's a proposal to bring back the classic black plates:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/03/26/california-considers-the-return-of-black-license-plates/
Quote from: CentralCAroadgeek on April 06, 2012, 02:19:53 PM
Quote from: YankeesFan on April 04, 2012, 03:09:48 PM
as a New Jersey resident, i absolutely hate our license plates (and are stupid highway shields for that matter)...does anyone have any NJ license plates that they designed themselves? (trying to see some ideas)
I have drawn up this design for New Jersey:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm8.staticflickr.com%2F7255%2F6905209224_6dab2ea702_c.jpg&hash=c97bee7cb6fdf698f16d59b98a37b76a4f330345)
New font for the "New Jersey" at the top, as well as for "Garden State" at the bottom. That is supposed to be the state seal at the upper-right corner. I've also added a color similar to that of the state flag at the top. Thankfully, "pee yellow" is gone. To complement the "Garden State" slogan, I've added the NJ state flower as well.
While I'm at it, here's my Florida plate design:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm6.staticflickr.com%2F5459%2F7051300091_ea70a7ee95_c.jpg&hash=6efc65add350ba7a60265444b3ff7a2690de45e1)
I've designed a new, more festive lettering for "Florida" at the top. The website is no longer part of the state name and is in a separate line underneath it. An orange tree now stands in the middle, complete with oranges on it. The top suggests a sunrise motif and the bottom suggests grass.
What do you guys think? I appreciate more suggestions and additions will be added as requested.
I like the Florida redesign but with the county name! I despise the myflorida.com plates and the oranges on them
Quote from: flowmotion on April 10, 2012, 02:54:26 AM
I posted this in the other thread, but there's a proposal to bring back the classic black plates:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/03/26/california-considers-the-return-of-black-license-plates/
they also mention the blue ones. at some point, the sunset plates are going to be sufficiently "vintage" that they should be reissued too.
in fact, I would not be offended if they came into use again for new issues.
Quote from: bulkyorled on April 10, 2012, 12:11:12 AM
There's a lot of people down on the California plate, (not in a rude way) Im curious what people would want on our plate. Such a massive state with different things all over it. It's not like Texas where the lone star thing goes for the whole thing. Nor-Cal is totally different than So-Cal and even in So-Cal you could say "put a beach" or something on it but the farther inland you go it even gets more different.
Perhaps a poppy or something but then that'd ruin our little special license plate that costs $75 a year to have I suppose...
https://wiki-land.wikispaces.com/file/view/marijuana.gif (https://wiki-land.wikispaces.com/file/view/marijuana.gif)
Quote from: kphoger on April 10, 2012, 03:26:09 PM
https://wiki-land.wikispaces.com/file/view/marijuana.gif (https://wiki-land.wikispaces.com/file/view/marijuana.gif)
Lolz.
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 05, 2012, 09:39:50 AM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 06:48:17 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 04, 2012, 06:14:03 PM
You mean this style? I liked these better than the current ones.
I like the current one. A bit more subtle. Diplomats shouldn't be running around advertising how special they are - we've got home-grown politicians for that.
They're still pretty obvious–or at least, they seem it to those of us here in the DC area, but we see so many of them that they're recognizable as diplomat plates at a glance. I suppose in other parts of the country it would be a different matter, much like the tribal tags bugo mentions. I've never seen one of those, and I've never seen a Mexican plate in the United States (or Canada), but given where I live the odds of seeing them are far lower than they would be in a place like Texas or Arizona. (I did see a Texas plate in Cozumel once, however. You'd really have to be staying for a long time to make that worthwhile. The car ferry is a notorious nuisance.)
This morning when I drove my wife to the subway stop I was behind an SUV with a Mexican plate from the state of Querétaro. First Mexican plate I've ever seen in the United States (bearing in mind that while I was born in Texas, we moved when I was 1 year old). I had to look at a map because I didn't recognize that state name. I was quite startled when I realized what I was seeing.
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 10, 2012, 10:43:50 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 05, 2012, 09:39:50 AM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 06:48:17 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 04, 2012, 06:14:03 PM
You mean this style? I liked these better than the current ones.
I like the current one. A bit more subtle. Diplomats shouldn't be running around advertising how special they are - we've got home-grown politicians for that.
They're still pretty obviousor at least, they seem it to those of us here in the DC area, but we see so many of them that they're recognizable as diplomat plates at a glance. I suppose in other parts of the country it would be a different matter, much like the tribal tags bugo mentions. I've never seen one of those, and I've never seen a Mexican plate in the United States (or Canada), but given where I live the odds of seeing them are far lower than they would be in a place like Texas or Arizona. (I did see a Texas plate in Cozumel once, however. You'd really have to be staying for a long time to make that worthwhile. The car ferry is a notorious nuisance.)
This morning when I drove my wife to the subway stop I was behind an SUV with a Mexican plate from the state of Querétaro. First Mexican plate I've ever seen in the United States (bearing in mind that while I was born in Texas, we moved when I was 1 year old). I had to look at a map because I didn't recognize that state name. I was quite startled when I realized what I was seeing.
Was it the plain-jane blue and white one? Simple yet elegant, IMO.
Quote from: kphoger on May 10, 2012, 11:33:39 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 10, 2012, 10:43:50 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 05, 2012, 09:39:50 AM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 06:48:17 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 04, 2012, 06:14:03 PM
You mean this style? I liked these better than the current ones.
I like the current one. A bit more subtle. Diplomats shouldn't be running around advertising how special they are - we've got home-grown politicians for that.
They're still pretty obviousor at least, they seem it to those of us here in the DC area, but we see so many of them that they're recognizable as diplomat plates at a glance. I suppose in other parts of the country it would be a different matter, much like the tribal tags bugo mentions. I've never seen one of those, and I've never seen a Mexican plate in the United States (or Canada), but given where I live the odds of seeing them are far lower than they would be in a place like Texas or Arizona. (I did see a Texas plate in Cozumel once, however. You'd really have to be staying for a long time to make that worthwhile. The car ferry is a notorious nuisance.)
This morning when I drove my wife to the subway stop I was behind an SUV with a Mexican plate from the state of Querétaro. First Mexican plate I've ever seen in the United States (bearing in mind that while I was born in Texas, we moved when I was 1 year old). I had to look at a map because I didn't recognize that state name. I was quite startled when I realized what I was seeing.
Was it the plain-jane blue and white one? Simple yet elegant, IMO.
Yup, totally plain. The plate number looked black to me, but it might have been a dark blue.
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 10, 2012, 11:50:59 AM
Quote from: kphoger on May 10, 2012, 11:33:39 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 10, 2012, 10:43:50 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 05, 2012, 09:39:50 AM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 06:48:17 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 04, 2012, 06:14:03 PM
You mean this style? I liked these better than the current ones.
I like the current one. A bit more subtle. Diplomats shouldn't be running around advertising how special they are - we've got home-grown politicians for that.
They're still pretty obvious–or at least, they seem it to those of us here in the DC area, but we see so many of them that they're recognizable as diplomat plates at a glance. I suppose in other parts of the country it would be a different matter, much like the tribal tags bugo mentions. I've never seen one of those, and I've never seen a Mexican plate in the United States (or Canada), but given where I live the odds of seeing them are far lower than they would be in a place like Texas or Arizona. (I did see a Texas plate in Cozumel once, however. You'd really have to be staying for a long time to make that worthwhile. The car ferry is a notorious nuisance.)
This morning when I drove my wife to the subway stop I was behind an SUV with a Mexican plate from the state of Querétaro. First Mexican plate I've ever seen in the United States (bearing in mind that while I was born in Texas, we moved when I was 1 year old). I had to look at a map because I didn't recognize that state name. I was quite startled when I realized what I was seeing.
Was it the plain-jane blue and white one? Simple yet elegant, IMO.
Yup, totally plain. The plate number looked black to me, but it might have been a dark blue.
You're right, it's black: (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.15q.net%2Fmex%2Fqro08.jpg&hash=f4c0f0b0c88b0802a3dc9abe8633488a9a01bdf7)
That's about what it looked like. Didn't see the barcode on top due to a license plate frame.
IMO, such a design is much more elegant than all these busy graphic ones we have (México has their share too....I'm talking to you, Nayarit). Add in a small symbol or two out of the way, make sure the colors are decent, and you have something really neat.
Quote from: kphoger on May 10, 2012, 12:05:55 PM
IMO, such a design is much more elegant than all these busy graphic ones we have (México has their share too....I'm talking to you, Nayarit). Add in a small symbol or two out of the way, make sure the colors are decent, and you have something really neat.
I like having some sort of design that ties the plate to the state. The Mexican plate I've seen most often is Quintana Roo because all my trips to Mexico have been to Cozumel (with a couple of mainland excursions, though no farther than Tulum). I like the way theirs have Tulum in the background:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.platehut.com%2Fimages%2Fplates_mexico%2Fqroo%2FQROO_QuintanaRoo_UTR8140.jpg&hash=eaf0da742adb6d610c72cca7fc1e53ba0acb6fa9)
While the design could be considered busy, it's done in such a way that it doesn't come across as busy. I think it's because it's more like a watermark than a major graphic.
I have the style shown below on both of my cars (my wife's car has a different one) and I like it for the same reason–it ties into Virginia history but it's not a very busy design. There are a lot of other designs that have a lot more going on and I find those a bit befuddling to the eye. This plate is not mine, BTW; both of mine are personalized.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fy2k%2FVirginia%2Fva2002jamestown.jpg&hash=3d01d84ba01584308ba8b8702b3b5d4f39064b00)
I rather like PA's current, though I could do with them getting rid of the damn website and returning to "Keystone State"...full embossing would be nice too, like Alaska.
Edit:// I'd also add debossed spots for the stickers.
Quote from: Crazy Volvo Guy on May 10, 2012, 01:02:10 PM
I rather like PA's current, though I could do with them getting rid of the damn website and returning to "Keystone State"...full embossing would be nice too, like Alaska.
Edit:// I'd also add debossed spots for the stickers.
I like Pennsylvania's older plates better, especially the 1977-1983 keystone plates. It might just be that the current ones remind me of a sucky rental car I had once with those plates.
I agree completely, but the current plate is certainly not terrible. Where I differ is that I like the Keystone base used until ~1995, childhood memory and all. Along that line, New Hampshire's 1992-1998 base is a favorite as well.
I don't care for Pennsylvania's current plate. I liked the older style where the colors faded (state.pa.us), sans the website. I don't like the drastic color change on the visitPA base.
Off topic. Why do Mexican plates say "Mexico". As in the USA and Canada, they are issued by the second-level jurisdiction (Mexican states). Would not "Queretaro" etc be sufficient? Expecially for states located far from the borders.
Quote from: SP Cook on May 10, 2012, 05:57:15 PM
Off topic. Why do Mexican plates say "Mexico". As in the USA and Canada, they are issued by the second-level jurisdiction (Mexican states). Would not "Queretaro" etc be sufficient? Expecially for states located far from the borders.
The Mexican federal government has some involvement with the license plate system because they have a nationwide numbering system to prevent the possibility of the same plate number being issued by two different states. Presumably the federal government also directed that "Mexico" be included.
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 10, 2012, 06:03:22 PM
The Mexican federal government has some involvement with the license plate system because they have a nationwide numbering system to prevent the possibility of the same plate number being issued by two different states. Presumably the federal government also directed that "Mexico" be included.
as far as I know, the plates are distributed from one source, in Mexico City. this was the case in 1985, anyway, when a friend of mine visited the plate shop and ended up with a MEX MEX MEX plate: country identifier MEX, state identifier MEX (yes, there is a state called Mexico; it's just outside the D. F.) - and the letter part of the plate number was MEX.
Things have changed since the 80s. I doubt that's true anymore.
I'd nominate THIS as one of the plates that couldn't die quick enough.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F_t01pdLrgTdI%2FTP-93qkYSmI%2FAAAAAAAAAIU%2FhQxaiPFu40g%2Fs1600%2Fkentucky.jpg&hash=1ce9063a399e4722fc013d589daafe5953959eec)
IIRC, KY residents hated this one as well. The current design is much nicer.
My list.
Favorites:
Oregon
New Mexico (the yellow ones used for a long time)
The old California sunset plate (or as my wife calls them, the 80s movie plates)
Utah
Least favorites:
Michigan
Indiana
New Jersey
Quote from: 1995hoo on May 10, 2012, 10:43:50 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 05, 2012, 09:39:50 AM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 04, 2012, 06:48:17 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on April 04, 2012, 06:14:03 PM
You mean this style? I liked these better than the current ones.
I like the current one. A bit more subtle. Diplomats shouldn't be running around advertising how special they are - we've got home-grown politicians for that.
They're still pretty obvious–or at least, they seem it to those of us here in the DC area, but we see so many of them that they're recognizable as diplomat plates at a glance. I suppose in other parts of the country it would be a different matter, much like the tribal tags bugo mentions. I've never seen one of those, and I've never seen a Mexican plate in the United States (or Canada), but given where I live the odds of seeing them are far lower than they would be in a place like Texas or Arizona. (I did see a Texas plate in Cozumel once, however. You'd really have to be staying for a long time to make that worthwhile. The car ferry is a notorious nuisance.)
This morning when I drove my wife to the subway stop I was behind an SUV with a Mexican plate from the state of Querétaro. First Mexican plate I've ever seen in the United States (bearing in mind that while I was born in Texas, we moved when I was 1 year old). I had to look at a map because I didn't recognize that state name. I was quite startled when I realized what I was seeing.
I was driving through Muskogee and spotted a car I didn't recognize. It had Mexican plates but I didn't look for the name because I was too busy trying to figure out what kind of car it was. Turns out it was a Seat Ibiza.
this morning I spotted a Jalisco. it was on a Ford Explorer that looked basically identical to the US version.
Quote from: SP Cook on May 10, 2012, 05:57:15 PM
Off topic. Why do Mexican plates say "Mexico". As in the USA and Canada, they are issued by the second-level jurisdiction (Mexican states). Would not "Queretaro" etc be sufficient? Expecially for states located far from the borders.
FWIW, not all Mexican plates say 'México'.
See Chihuahua's current issue: except for the screen printing on the serial, the word México is nowhere on there.
http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/Mexico2/chihuahua2009.jpg (http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/Mexico2/chihuahua2009.jpg)
The DF's current issue only says México because that's also the name of the city.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3438/3352814942_79bf4517db.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3438/3352814942_79bf4517db.jpg)
Tamaulipas' current plate doesn't say México at all.
http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/Mexico3/tamaulipas2010.jpg (http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/Mexico3/tamaulipas2010.jpg)
Quote from: agentsteel53 on May 11, 2012, 10:59:38 AM
this morning I spotted a Jalisco. it was on a Ford Explorer that looked basically identical to the US version.
Mexico has some interesting and odd imports like Peugeot and Renault, or other small cars that haven't been on the American menu for a few years. There's also some oddballs like the Dodge Ramcharger, which continued production long after it was no longer sold in the US.
Quote from: kphoger on May 11, 2012, 01:03:50 PM
FWIW, not all Mexican plates say 'México'.
which ones have the accent mark on the "e"? the new Jalisco plate I saw this morning does have it. I snapped a photo in case anyone wants it. JJR-62-91, for what it's worth.
I've never seen an embossed accent mark - did such a thing ever exist?
Quote from: agentsteel53 on May 11, 2012, 01:48:43 PM
Quote from: kphoger on May 11, 2012, 01:03:50 PM
FWIW, not all Mexican plates say 'México'.
which ones have the accent mark on the "e"? the new Jalisco plate I saw this morning does have it. I snapped a photo in case anyone wants it. JJR-62-91, for what it's worth.
I've never seen an embossed accent mark - did such a thing ever exist?
That would take a lot more browsing than I'm prepared to do at this point on a Friday afternoon at work. :hyper:
Quote from: formulanone on May 11, 2012, 01:24:00 PM
Mexico has some interesting and odd imports like Peugeot and Renault, or other small cars that haven't been on the American menu for a few years. There's also some oddballs like the Dodge Ramcharger, which continued production long after it was no longer sold in the US.
Mexico used to have a highly protectionist auto industry. You had to make at least some cars there to sell them there, and they (AFAIK, still have a strict ban on importing used cars). In addition to the so-called US Big Three, Renault, VW, Nissan (as Datsun) and VAM, which was a version of AMC, were big there. Recently Peugeot and M-B started there. These remain the major players.
Weird stuff I have seen in Mexico:
- I have seen, deep into Mexico, US plated cars. Driven by Hispanic looking people and apparently there for the long haul, not tourists on a short term permit. I have seen Florida, Alabama, and Mass plates in Cancun for example. I cannot see how it would be cost efficient to drive a US plated car to southern Mexico and keep it there, for a Mexican. It would seem more reasonable to sell the car in the US and buy similar.
- There is no GMC, but you see trucks and SUVs with both a (US) Chevy grille and those with a GMC griille with a retangular black piece of plastic with a Chevrolet logo sticker on it where the GMC should be.
- Dodge trucks are still Dodge.
- Apparently they still make Lincoln Town Cars locally. Rode in a limo conversion, happened to see the VIN, which was a "3".
-
There's no ban on importing used US cars, just paperwork hassle and extra costs associated. There's a neighborhood in Laredo where the streets are lined with US cars that are ready for Mexican plates, the dealers having already done much of the paperwork ahead of time.
Cars in the US carry a slightly cheaper price tag than cars in México. So, yes, there is a market in driving down slightly used American cars to compete with Mexican-made vehicles.
For a list of cars sold in México, past and present, just check out Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_in_Mexico (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_in_Mexico)
Quote from: SP Cook on May 11, 2012, 04:05:35 PM
Mexico used to have a highly protectionist auto industry. You had to make at least some cars there to sell them there, and they (AFAIK, still have a strict ban on importing used cars). In addition to the so-called US Big Three, Renault, VW, Nissan (as Datsun) and VAM, which was a version of AMC, were big there. Recently Peugeot and M-B started there. These remain the major players.
Weird stuff I have seen in Mexico:
- I have seen, deep into Mexico, US plated cars. Driven by Hispanic looking people and apparently there for the long haul, not tourists on a short term permit. I have seen Florida, Alabama, and Mass plates in Cancun for example. I cannot see how it would be cost efficient to drive a US plated car to southern Mexico and keep it there, for a Mexican. It would seem more reasonable to sell the car in the US and buy similar.
- There is no GMC, but you see trucks and SUVs with both a (US) Chevy grille and those with a GMC griille with a retangular black piece of plastic with a Chevrolet logo sticker on it where the GMC should be.
- Dodge trucks are still Dodge.
- Apparently they still make Lincoln Town Cars locally. Rode in a limo conversion, happened to see the VIN, which was a "3".
-
Quote from: OCGuy81 on May 11, 2012, 12:06:58 AM
I'd nominate THIS as one of the plates that couldn't die quick enough.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F_t01pdLrgTdI%2FTP-93qkYSmI%2FAAAAAAAAAIU%2FhQxaiPFu40g%2Fs1600%2Fkentucky.jpg&hash=1ce9063a399e4722fc013d589daafe5953959eec)
IIRC, KY residents hated this one as well. The current design is much nicer.
Reminds me of how Maine residents hated this design:
(https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTV-MqdJRxR5EvIsTjmjCVby_gi8X04oB27OcFCH1x4UycqwpiDRw)
This was the plate that preceded the current chickadee plates. All the hatred of this was the fact that this plate only represented southern Maine and left the north out.
They resorted instead to this specialty plate:
(https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQF9EBA3-Gc-U2rvZdC9z5H2QnUw6udWpmlz7VAhYWW89pCh23D)
Quote from: CentralCAroadgeek on May 11, 2012, 07:10:10 PMAll the hatred of this was the fact that this plate only represented southern Maine and left the north out.
that's a pretty stupid reason to hate a perfectly good plate.
I live in southern California, and I wouldn't object to the state putting out a Golden Gate Bridge design as the default passenger plate.
Alaska: DoingItRight™ since 2006:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fy2k%2FAlaska%2Fak2012sept.jpg&hash=2e6f928e0efac2d0ced5c27e638d29e21eacaaf7)
This is what a plate should look like.
Could do without the yellow, but it is a tasteful plate.
I take it you would have liked Oklahoma's old base... about the same, just white with green embossing with "Oklahoma" printed at the top, "Native America" at the bottom, and a printed Osage shield from the flag in the middle. It was designed well enough but it got pretty boring after a while.
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 12, 2012, 10:51:08 AM
Could do without the yellow, but it is a tasteful plate.
The reasoning for the yellow is that it would be easily visible in the Alaska snow. Also why they switched to an all-embossed plate instead of having the state name screened. This is why I really like Alaska plates.
Also, an honorable mention:
(https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQgViBEBwjLchFD-UGcvd8_pmS3216zyzVGacHoVUudC2nub6jt)
Sure, but you really only need the digits visible, not the background. Why not yellow on black or something like that?
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 05, 2012, 01:40:02 PM
Quote from: corco on April 05, 2012, 12:13:57 PM
I see more Sinaloas than Bajas, which is sort of surprising. In limited border-area travel, it seems like the Mexican strategy with the US is just to drive north until you hit a city, never moving east or west.
I wonder, then, why so few out-of-state plates in Baja. Are there onerous travel restrictions on Mexicans with Mexican-registered vehicles attempting to drive around in Mexico? I don't know of anything beyond the occasional military or internal-frontier checkpoint, at which I figure a Mexican citizen could say "soy Mexicano", and not have any further questions once his car was deemed free of contraband.
The entire Baja peninsula is in what Mexico calls their 'Border Zone', where a whole lot of rules are different than they are in the interior. Crossing those border zone/interior checkpoints, especially going towards the interior, is like crossing into the USA. Note that crossing from the USA into Mexico is ridiculously easy. It's when crossing the checkpoints farther inland that the customs hassles begin.
Also, the Baja Peninsula is very separated from the rest of Mexico with only a couple of very out of the way highways connecting the two by land within Mexico. An analogy could be Alaska v. the rest of the mainland USA.
--------------
Anyways, I have always liked Wisconsin's 1987 (and more recently revised) standard-issue plates. They are simple, have a little bit of artwork to add some color and interest, easy to read and are pretty unique.
Illinois' current standard-issue plates, OTOH, just don't cut it with me. When I first saw one of them a few years ago, I was left wondering 'What state is THAT one from???'. It wasn't until my third or fourth one that I was able to make out the fancy script state name as being 'Illinois'.
:rolleyes:
I also agree, California can do better with theirs.
Also, I have always wondered about the county name thing that many states have. I much prefer leaving it at the state name and not narrowing it down any farther. Wisconsin has never assigned plate numbers based on county. For many years, though, you could tell what month they expired from the letter ranges in the number, but that got unwieldy for numbering. Besides, WisDOT's internal record-keeping can easily keep those things straight.
As for Indian Tribes, The fairly local Wisconsin Oneidas issue their own plates and they are decent, but only within the past couple of years have they been including references to 'Wisconsin' on theirs. Do the New York or Ontario Oneidas issue their own plates? (I was often thinking a few years ago, before they started putting the state reference on their plates, how things would go with the state police guy if a Wisconsin Oneida-plated car were to be pulled over on the New York State Thruway in mid-upstate New York....)
Of the Wisconsin tribes' plates, I like the Menomonees' plates the most.
Of the non-USA plates that I have seen in recent years, I'm most partial to Alberta's.
Mike
Quote from: mgk920 on May 12, 2012, 12:47:40 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on April 05, 2012, 01:40:02 PM
Quote from: corco on April 05, 2012, 12:13:57 PM
I see more Sinaloas than Bajas, which is sort of surprising. In limited border-area travel, it seems like the Mexican strategy with the US is just to drive north until you hit a city, never moving east or west.
I wonder, then, why so few out-of-state plates in Baja. Are there onerous travel restrictions on Mexicans with Mexican-registered vehicles attempting to drive around in Mexico? I don't know of anything beyond the occasional military or internal-frontier checkpoint, at which I figure a Mexican citizen could say "soy Mexicano", and not have any further questions once his car was deemed free of contraband.
The entire Baja peninsula is in what Mexico calls their 'Border Zone', where a whole lot of rules are different than they are in the interior. Crossing those border zone/interior checkpoints, especially going towards the interior, is like crossing into the USA. Note that crossing from the USA into Mexico is ridiculously easy. It's when crossing the checkpoints farther inland that the customs hassles begin.
I know of no restrictions on Mexican-plated vehicles driving to border-zone regions of northern México (or, for that matter, the southern zone near Guatemala and Belize). In fact, when we drive north from Monterrey towards Nuevo Laredo, we usually don't even see officers working the northbound passenger traffic lanes, just the commercial lanes. What is your source of information for stating that driving north of the interior checkpoints is like going to the USA? FWIW, the only checkpoint I've run across coming back north into the USA at Colombia is a mobile military checkpoint, and they're checking for guns, not paperwork.
Quote from: bulkyorled on April 10, 2012, 02:53:29 AM
I agree. I don't mind it. I still think it could use a little something though. Maybe a combination of the old sunset plate + current writing
Like this?
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm6.staticflickr.com%2F5334%2F7184780080_8814a62548.jpg&hash=ed6d09e3157f41661920ee908262daaec0bfde86)
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 12, 2012, 10:51:08 AM
Could do without the yellow, but it is a tasteful plate.
I take it you would have liked Oklahoma's old base... about the same, just white with green embossing with "Oklahoma" printed at the top, "Native America" at the bottom, and a printed Osage shield from the flag in the middle. It was designed well enough but it got pretty boring after a while.
They were way better than the current asymmetrical design. Which reminds me that I need to apply for the US highway 66 tag. I thought they were discontinued but I found out that they still make them.
Quote from: bugo on May 12, 2012, 07:55:47 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on May 12, 2012, 10:51:08 AM
Could do without the yellow, but it is a tasteful plate.
I take it you would have liked Oklahoma's old base... about the same, just white with green embossing with "Oklahoma" printed at the top, "Native America" at the bottom, and a printed Osage shield from the flag in the middle. It was designed well enough but it got pretty boring after a while.
They were way better than the current asymmetrical design. Which reminds me that I need to apply for the US highway 66 tag. I thought they were discontinued but I found out that they still make them.
I disagree. I find the current design to be a lot more visually interesting than the old one. Never did like the chunky font Oklahoma embossed into the old plates, either.
I agree. I really like the new Oklahoma plates. Very Oklahoma of it.
I would nominate this plate as a "worst":
(https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQMwRBBlaD1vKriD9M91_30G0Ecq0mQ4tlOr2Omo9t72GtlAOF3)
This applies to all NM veteran plates. I just don't like the fonts used (the design fonts, not the serial). If they could use a better font, then I could tolerate this. This plate would also be rather hard to recognize, as seen by my sighting of this plate in that parking lot in Seaside...
The font is actually a calligraphy font called Chancery Cursive. Many digital versions of it exist under different names, but most frequently "Zapf Chancery". It's horridly stretched in the words "Armed Forces Veteran". It probably doesn't belong on license plates in any case, but certainly isn't really appropriate to designate a veteran tag.
Another reason why I hate plate frames:
Earlier this week, I saw what I believe is a Chihuahua plate parked in the parking lot. I say that because I couldn't see the state name on the license plate. At least Chihuahua is the only Mexican state that uses the state shape as a divider, but I'm not really sure without a state name.
My question is, what states have banned plate frames that cover the state name? (I know Arizona does)
Quote from: CentralCAroadgeek on May 24, 2012, 09:26:49 PM
Another reason why I hate plate frames:
Earlier this week, I saw what I believe is a Chihuahua plate parked in the parking lot. I say that because I couldn't see the state name on the license plate. At least Chihuahua is the only Mexican state that uses the state shape as a divider, but I'm not really sure without a state name.
My question is, what state have banned plate frames that cover the state name (I know Arizona does)?
I have heard that DC parking police are overzealous on giving tickets for license plate frames that do this, even if the state name is only partially obscured by plate frame. This extends to giving tickets to cars from other states. They also give tickets to cars from other states for expired inspection stickers.
License plate sticker discussion has been moved to Off-Topic (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?board=9).
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=6791.0 (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=6791.0)
Not because it's not interesting (it definitely is), but it's a bit too far from roads.
Is it just me or I just realized that these plates indeed look similar to each other?
(https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQEFRfZsEskopLaZWSJGVh6KmSb4pCMS_Rm2rIP7cgDZHYMi2P7Fw)(https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT3mgoS0CcZ32x4fB1h0RphX6fndi5Apm-7a1V2XPA1NZDxnTU6)
Even with the similarity, they still both look very nice.
Illinoisians (sp?): is this genuine? http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=92839340&postcount=5265
Quote from: Michael in Philly on July 02, 2012, 04:44:34 PM
Illinoisians (sp?): is this genuine? http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=92839340&postcount=5265
That truly is genuine. That plate is for vehicles older than 25 years old and has limited use.
^^Cool. Thanks!
Quote from: SP Cook on January 20, 2010, 10:22:38 PM
Arkansas. "The Natural State". WTF does that even mean?
I didn't think it was a hard concept to grasp??
Quote from: kendancy66 on May 24, 2012, 10:38:09 PM
Quote from: CentralCAroadgeek on May 24, 2012, 09:26:49 PM
Another reason why I hate plate frames:
Earlier this week, I saw what I believe is a Chihuahua plate parked in the parking lot. I say that because I couldn't see the state name on the license plate. At least Chihuahua is the only Mexican state that uses the state shape as a divider, but I'm not really sure without a state name.
My question is, what state have banned plate frames that cover the state name (I know Arizona does)?
I have heard that DC parking police are overzealous on giving tickets for license plate frames that do this, even if the state name is only partially obscured by plate frame. This extends to giving tickets to cars from other states. They also give tickets to cars from other states for expired inspection stickers.
License plate frames can get ticketed, but they especially target vehicles license plate covers (usually not fully clear anyway), which are illegal under D.C. law (and users of such covers are probably trying to evade the numerous photo radar and red light cameras anyway).
Vehicles with Virginia registration plates had better have a current inspection sticker before they park on a District of Columbia street, for they
will be ticketed if that sticker is expired.
I believe I recall reading that those frames are now expressly illegal in North Carolina, but I don't have a source to provide proof.
Indiana has a ban against license plate frames which cover the state name or any part of the registration number. Enforcement is another issue. Also, I have yet to see any of the plates with an FOP emblem covering part of the registration number get a ticket.
Worst plate ever was the 1970 Michigan plate- white numbers on a light gold background. You could not read the plate from 15 feet away.
http://www.hal.state.mi.us/mhc/autoshow/l_plates/1970.html
Worst ever right now are some of the few remaining green-on-silver Massachusetts plates, which were first issued in 1977. The law is that if your plate is illegible you are supposed to get it replaced, you can be stopped and cited by police and your vehicle will supposedly fail the state inspection. In spite of that, I repeatedly see plates from that series that don't even come close to being legible at 100 feet, the standard according to law.
Funny thing is, some other plates from that series look like they're almost new.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fmassachusetts%2Fma80a.jpg&hash=c2195162f9e7088a3fba05b058baf4ce6a71556b)
They claim they don't have the money to get the rest of these plates replaced with "Spirit of America" plates, but at this point in time I can't imagine there are more than maybe 2000-3000 vehicles left on the road with the old ones.
I just spotted a green Mass. out here in CA a few weeks ago.
I don't believe for a second there are only 2000-3000 green plates left in use. I'd say easily 30% of the cars I see on the road everyday have green plates.
Quote from: deathtopumpkins on August 14, 2012, 12:00:36 AM
I don't believe for a second there are only 2000-3000 green plates left in use. I'd say easily 30% of the cars I see on the road everyday have green plates.
Did a bit of Googling (is that even a word?) and found that you're much closer to the mark than I was. According to a January 2011 article on boston.com, there were less than 325,000 of the "greenies" left, out of 10 million originally made.
Also, according to the Registry of Motor Vehicles, the legibility distance is 60 feet, not 100.
Here's what a bad one looks like.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.boston.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fbreaking_news%2Ffaded%252C-worn-plate.jpg&hash=e7c838e3dbc066df4ab8d91292fda3d024d3a429)
Question: Why does a license plate need to be legible at a distance of 60—100 feet anyway? It's not like the cops run your plates before pulling you over. I just don't get it.
Quote from: kphoger on August 14, 2012, 04:41:28 PM
Question: Why does a license plate need to be legible at a distance of 60100 feet anyway? It's not like the cops run your plates before pulling you over. I just don't get it.
Not true. At least not here in NJ. Most cops randomly run plate numbers as they pass on the road, then if something comes up (unregistered vehicle, warrant(s) out for the registered owner, etc) they go after the car and execute a stop.
I have to say I love Oregon's license plates. Probably my favorite out of all the states.
Quote from: signalman on August 15, 2012, 02:55:39 AM
Not true. At least not here in NJ. Most cops randomly run plate numbers as they pass on the road, then if something comes up (unregistered vehicle, warrant(s) out for the registered owner, etc) they go after the car and execute a stop.
I thought that was universal behavior. follow the vehicle, and make an excuse to pull them over.
"you drove onto the double yellow for a fraction of a second. oh look at that, your car's stolen. what a coincidence."
I was stopped at a red light this morning and saw an unfamiliar plate on a truck in the next lane. Looked closer and saw it was one of these. I'd never seen one of these before!
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fy2k%2FVirgin_Islands%2FVI2006.jpg&hash=d44e5e924e82cccc194bd10ff30e374dd2234f4f)
Quote from: 1995hoo on October 11, 2012, 10:13:23 AM
I'd never seen one of these before!
Odd. I knew a couple that moved to the USVI. Empty nesters who both worked for the state here, pretty much just found the same jobs there. From talking to them while one can move to or from the USVI at will, as it is part of the USA for citizenship purposes, it constitutes a seperate "customs zone" from the rest of the USA, meaning you would have to pay import duty on a car just like you were Toyota or VW. And, of course, shipping costs would be very high as well. (The couple thus decided to sell their cars here and buy new there).
Unless the individual you saw was in the military (where you pay no duty and shipping is on the house), this is very unusual.
Quote from: Scott5114 on January 20, 2010, 04:55:10 PM
Oklahoma did a general reissue over the past year. The new design is a flat plate but it isn't so bad.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Factiverain.com%2Fimage_store%2Fuploads%2F1%2F7%2F3%2F1%2F9%2Far124593188491371.gif&hash=1506f14605d12e3faf1804fd4526d7b1f336a551)
It replaced this one.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.netstate.com%2Fstates%2Flinks%2Fimages%2Fok_license_plate.jpg&hash=b9f307e56f3d922816cb618735a59238d645ec7b)
Great that the old plate played off the history of the state, when the state was founded by chasing all of the Native Americans out of their last official area.
Quote from: SP Cook on October 11, 2012, 02:54:02 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on October 11, 2012, 10:13:23 AM
I'd never seen one of these before!
Odd. I knew a couple that moved to the USVI. Empty nesters who both worked for the state here, pretty much just found the same jobs there. From talking to them while one can move to or from the USVI at will, as it is part of the USA for citizenship purposes, it constitutes a seperate "customs zone" from the rest of the USA, meaning you would have to pay import duty on a car just like you were Toyota or VW. And, of course, shipping costs would be very high as well. (The couple thus decided to sell their cars here and buy new there).
Unless the individual you saw was in the military (where you pay no duty and shipping is on the house), this is very unusual.
I have no idea whether he was in the military, but it wouldn't surprise me at all given where I live (Northern Virginia, about 10 miles from the Pentagon). We have a very high military presence. I've always thought it's one reason why a lot of drivers here won't cut someone a break when they see an out-of-state plate–a lot of the out-of-state plates are in fact local drivers who are just being dickish.
Quote from: texaskdog on October 11, 2012, 03:25:18 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on January 20, 2010, 04:55:10 PM
Oklahoma did a general reissue over the past year. The new design is a flat plate but it isn't so bad.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Factiverain.com%2Fimage_store%2Fuploads%2F1%2F7%2F3%2F1%2F9%2Far124593188491371.gif&hash=1506f14605d12e3faf1804fd4526d7b1f336a551)
It replaced this one.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.netstate.com%2Fstates%2Flinks%2Fimages%2Fok_license_plate.jpg&hash=b9f307e56f3d922816cb618735a59238d645ec7b)
Great that the old plate played off the history of the state, when the state was founded by chasing all of the Native Americans out of their last official area.
They're still here. They have governments and run businesses.
Quote from: 1995hoo on October 12, 2012, 10:56:20 AM
I have no idea whether he was in the military, but it wouldn't surprise me at all given where I live (Northern Virginia, about 10 miles from the Pentagon). We have a very high military presence. I've always thought it's one reason why a lot of drivers here won't cut someone a break when they see an out-of-state plate–a lot of the out-of-state plates are in fact local drivers who are just being dickish.
you don't have to register your car locally? is there a military exemption, or do people just not bother?
I'd imagine it's either that many military people change bases enough that it's simpler to just leave the car registered in the old state, or that their deployment is not legally considered their "permanent residence", so they still pay taxes and keep their car registered wherever that is.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on October 12, 2012, 11:59:30 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on October 12, 2012, 10:56:20 AM
I have no idea whether he was in the military, but it wouldn't surprise me at all given where I live (Northern Virginia, about 10 miles from the Pentagon). We have a very high military presence. I've always thought it's one reason why a lot of drivers here won't cut someone a break when they see an out-of-state plate–a lot of the out-of-state plates are in fact local drivers who are just being dickish.
you don't have to register your car locally? is there a military exemption, or do people just not bother?
I've never served in the Armed Forces and so don't know for certain, but it's always been my understanding that there's some sort of federal regulation that allows military members to keep their cars (and their driver's licenses and voting status) registered in their home states, although they can re-register everything each time if they wish. The reason is largely because of what Scott5114 notes.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on October 12, 2012, 11:59:30 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on October 12, 2012, 10:56:20 AM
I have no idea whether he was in the military, but it wouldn't surprise me at all given where I live (Northern Virginia, about 10 miles from the Pentagon). We have a very high military presence. I've always thought it's one reason why a lot of drivers here won't cut someone a break when they see an out-of-state plate–a lot of the out-of-state plates are in fact local drivers who are just being dickish.
you don't have to register your car locally? is there a military exemption, or do people just not bother?
No, those in the military don't have to re-register their car when they are sent to a new base.
I love the lobster license plates in Maine.
To me, license plates with strong colors and simple designs are the best. They tend to be the most legible from a distance. The current New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois plates do this the best. The current California plates are a bit plainer, but still easily recognizable. The current New Mexico plates are instantly recognizable, but kind of LOUD too.
Also, I prefer the strong color contrast on the current Pennsylvania plates over those with the gradual color fade, which looked a bit too milquetoast from a distance. The only way you could tell they were Pennsylvania plates was by the character font. The current Pennsylvania plates are unmistakable.
Ohio used to have one of the best license plates with the strong red, white and blue color contrast and the stylized 'Ohio' on the left side, but now they have the absolute worst. The current Ohio plate is a case study of design by committee gone horribly wrong. It's just too damn busy, and you can't even read the state name at the top.
In general, I'm not a fan of license plates that try to be pieces of artwork. The current Georgia plate has grown on me a bit, but it's still not as good as the ones they had back in the 1990's with the green 'Georgia' across the top and the peach in place of the 'O,' with black characters on a background that transitioned from white at the top to peach at the bottom.
I stand behind my opinion that license plates should not have changed like they did since the '80s. They should still be relentlessly basic; solid color background, contrasting foreground color, NO graphics, ALL embossed. Alaska is currently the only state doing it right.
I have to say that Florida is worse in this respect that it has too many different plate designs for the many different charities and organizations. Add the fact that cops do not ticket people anymore for covering state names with those border covers and auto dealers ads and you do not know what state the vehicle is registered in.
All you need is a crime to take place, and remember the plate number, but then if you cannot know the state it is useless to authorities as its only a partial ID.
Quote from: Crazy Volvo Guy on August 26, 2013, 06:12:56 AM
I stand behind my opinion that license plates should not have changed like they did since the '80s. They should still be relentlessly basic; solid color background, contrasting foreground color, NO graphics, ALL embossed. Alaska is currently the only state doing it right.
Virginia's default plate is still basic blue on white embossed, but the dozens of alternate versions make that less obvious.
Quote from: Crazy Volvo Guy on August 26, 2013, 06:12:56 AM
I stand behind my opinion that license plates should not have changed like they did since the '80s. They should still be relentlessly basic; solid color background, contrasting foreground color, NO graphics, ALL embossed. Alaska is currently the only state doing it right.
The current New York plates are just like this. Solid color background, embossed numbers, no fancy graphics.
They're also butt-ugly.
The previous design, which was also fairly simple, remains in heavy circulation, primarily because said plates were not replaced. Only new registrations get the new plates.
Quote from: DBR96A on August 18, 2013, 05:30:02 AM
Ohio used to have one of the best license plates with the strong red, white and blue color contrast and the stylized 'Ohio' on the left side, but now they have the absolute worst. The current Ohio plate is a case study of design by committee gone horribly wrong. It's just too damn busy, and you can't even read the state name at the top.
The red-white-blue ones with the graphic at left were limited-run state bicentennial plates--not intended to be a forever general issue. The current plates (the tag cloud looking ones) are relatively clean in design. Are you thinking about the previous Beautiful Ohio design?
Quote from: Crazy Volvo Guy on August 26, 2013, 06:12:56 AM
I stand behind my opinion that license plates should not have changed like they did since the '80s. They should still be relentlessly basic; solid color background, contrasting foreground color, NO graphics, ALL embossed. Alaska is currently the only state doing it right.
Why? The fancy ones look nicer, which is pretty important considering how visible the plates are. Aesthetics are important.
On my way to work today, I saw a license plate from the Cherokee Nation (blue lettering on white with some sort of CN logo). I never knew an Indian Reservation/Indian Tribe could have their own license plates.
Quote from: Crazy Volvo Guy on August 26, 2013, 06:12:56 AM
I stand behind my opinion that license plates should not have changed like they did since the '80s. They should still be relentlessly basic; solid color background, contrasting foreground color, NO graphics, ALL embossed. Alaska is currently the only state doing it right.
Delaware now does it more right with the historic-style plates coming back as an option, though I've heard they are made by a private company, such that you need to still have your official plate somewhere in your vehicle.
I may be a bit old fashioned, but I liked the old plates that Iowa and Missouri had. Simple, informative, and easy to read. Just state, number, county name and/or a slogan (like famous potatoes or Land of Lincoln) Nothing else is needed.
Quote from: thenetwork on August 26, 2013, 10:00:24 PM
On my way to work today, I saw a license plate from the Cherokee Nation (blue lettering on white with some sort of CN logo). I never knew an Indian Reservation/Indian Tribe could have their own license plates.
There are lots floating around Oklahoma. States don't have the jurisidiction to require registration of tribal vehicles.
Quote from: Steve on August 26, 2013, 10:09:13 PM
Delaware now does it more right with the historic-style plates coming back as an option, though I've heard they are made by a private company, such that you need to still have your official plate somewhere in your vehicle.
This is true. The gold on blue plate must be in the vehicle. Also, not all plates are eligible for this option. Only plates numbers below 87000 for passenger and I believe C9999 for commercial are eligible.
Quote from: signalman on August 27, 2013, 03:55:03 AM
Quote from: Steve on August 26, 2013, 10:09:13 PM
Delaware now does it more right with the historic-style plates coming back as an option, though I've heard they are made by a private company, such that you need to still have your official plate somewhere in your vehicle.
This is true. The gold on blue plate must be in the vehicle. Also, not all plates are eligible for this option. Only plates numbers below 87000 for passenger and I believe C9999 for commercial are eligible.
I've seen six-digit plates, so I dispute that.
"Sweet Home Alabama" license plates to be phased out on January 1.
http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/08/sweet_home_alabama_license_pla.html (http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/08/sweet_home_alabama_license_pla.html)
Quote from: Steve on August 27, 2013, 08:59:35 PM
Quote from: signalman on August 27, 2013, 03:55:03 AM
Quote from: Steve on August 26, 2013, 10:09:13 PM
Delaware now does it more right with the historic-style plates coming back as an option, though I've heard they are made by a private company, such that you need to still have your official plate somewhere in your vehicle.
This is true. The gold on blue plate must be in the vehicle. Also, not all plates are eligible for this option. Only plates numbers below 87000 for passenger and I believe C9999 for commercial are eligible.
I've seen six-digit plates, so I dispute that.
You're talking about the white on black porcelain replicas, right? If so, a six digit plate was made in error. Porcelains were only made up to 87000, therefore only plates that were originally made as porcelains are eligible to be remade to look like the old plates.
If you're talking about the gold on black limited edition centennial plates, then a six digit plate is possible. Any plate number could be remade on those.
Quote from: texaskdog on October 11, 2012, 03:25:18 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on January 20, 2010, 04:55:10 PM
Oklahoma did a general reissue over the past year. The new design is a flat plate but it isn't so bad.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Factiverain.com%2Fimage_store%2Fuploads%2F1%2F7%2F3%2F1%2F9%2Far124593188491371.gif&hash=1506f14605d12e3faf1804fd4526d7b1f336a551)
It replaced this one.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.netstate.com%2Fstates%2Flinks%2Fimages%2Fok_license_plate.jpg&hash=b9f307e56f3d922816cb618735a59238d645ec7b)
Great that the old plate played off the history of the state, when the state was founded by chasing all of the Native Americans out of their last official area.
yeah, second biggest reason I hate Oklahoma. Very sad.
Quote from: Steve on August 27, 2013, 08:59:35 PM
Quote from: signalman on August 27, 2013, 03:55:03 AM
This is true. The gold on blue plate must be in the vehicle. Also, not all plates are eligible for this option. Only plates numbers below 87000 for passenger and I believe C9999 for commercial are eligible.
I've seen six-digit plates, so I dispute that.
Below 87000 is still required for a stainless steel tag (and below C9999, etc.). But other black and white tags, including those with PC are eligible for black stainless steel tags.
Quote from: signalman on August 28, 2013, 03:34:27 AM
You're talking about the white on black porcelain replicas, right? If so, a six digit plate was made in error. Porcelains were only made up to 87000, therefore only plates that were originally made as porcelains are eligible to be remade to look like the old plates.
If you're talking about the gold on black limited edition centennial plates, then a six digit plate is possible. Any plate number could be remade on those.
The Delaware Historic Plate Co. (http://www.dhptags.com/info.aspx) expanded the selection to include stainless steel plates, which ups the numbers available to 200000:
QuoteIn order to display a stainless steel plate, your number needs to be less than:
200000 (with no letters in front: eligible example - 145300)
PC9999 (eligible example - PC8290)
C50000 (for example, your number is C40590)
D9999 (for example, your number is D7490)
FT9999 (for example, your number is FT7390)
T9999 (for example, your number is T8293)
Stainless steel tags are from a slightly later era, and therefore more numbers are eligible, including PC plates. If your number is, for example, 2134, you are eligible for both porcelain and stainless. You get to pick which you prefer!
Quote from: texaskdog on August 28, 2013, 10:23:48 AM
yeah, second biggest reason I hate Oklahoma. Very sad.
Don't be fooled–the tribes run the show nowadays. Pretty impressive what you can do with casino money.
Quote from: SidS1045 on August 13, 2012, 02:29:14 PM
Worst ever right now are some of the few remaining green-on-silver Massachusetts plates, which were first issued in 1977. The law is that if your plate is illegible you are supposed to get it replaced, you can be stopped and cited by police and your vehicle will supposedly fail the state inspection. In spite of that, I repeatedly see plates from that series that don't even come close to being legible at 100 feet, the standard according to law.
Funny thing is, some other plates from that series look like they're almost new.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fmassachusetts%2Fma80a.jpg&hash=c2195162f9e7088a3fba05b058baf4ce6a71556b)
They claim they don't have the money to get the rest of these plates replaced with "Spirit of America" plates, but at this point in time I can't imagine there are more than maybe 2000-3000 vehicles left on the road with the old ones.
Following my parents' divorce in 1992, my mother had to get the license plate changed on her car (the old plate was of the '77 style rear-plate only); low and behold, her new plate (note the single) was still of the old green-on-white (not silver) style.
As far as getting your plate replaced if isn't
legible's concerned neither I nor any of the rest of my family that still resides in Massachusetts has ever heard of such law.
A couple years ago, I saw a green-on-white plate that was likely from 1985 still around. The reason why I know the vintage was because plate number was one digit off my Mass plate (got in 1985, retired in 1991 when I changed everything over to PA). The number of the plate was 334-506 whereas my old plate was 334-406. So in addtion to being of the same vintage, it was probably picked up from the same RMV office (Beverly at the time).
For some reason, only the green-on-white plates were rear-only (for standard registrations). The current
Spirit of America plates and the embossed red-on-white plates before them and its predecessors (MA used to replace their plates every 4 years) all required front-and-rear plates.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fthumbs2.ebaystatic.com%2Fd%2Fl225%2Fm%2FmBjqdS8ug0hLSFbN8Uo7JGw.jpg&hash=a762e8afa76c29c9821397ab7463b07cb326a5e2)
The mid-70s vintage red-on-white plates (with the state name and registration sticker located on the bottom rather than the top, see above-image) actually lasted into the mid-80s. Initially, only new registrations were given the single green-on-white plates in 1977. The plate number on my father's '77 Monte Carlo at the time was 404-AHN.
One MA plate he should have held onto (for its number) was the one on his '83 Escort that he totalled in 1987 (when he fell asleep at the wheel); the number was 300-NHL.
Personally, I think the
Spirit of America slogan should be dropped. It's too much of a reminder of the Dukakis Administration.
Quote from: Crazy Volvo Guy on May 10, 2012, 01:02:10 PM
I rather like PA's current, though I could do with them getting rid of the damn website and returning to "Keystone State"...full embossing would be nice too, like Alaska.
Edit:// I'd also add debossed spots for the stickers.
Amen. BTW, PA's current plates (which I have for my 2007 Mustang) already have a debossed spot (upper-left corner) for the sticker.
Quote from: realjd on April 06, 2012, 11:44:09 PM
I've said this before in one of these license plate threads, but the new NY plates annoy me.
Guess on my part but one reason why NY likely went
Back to the Future with their plate color scheme was because the former blue-on-white scheme,
from a distance could be accidentally mistaken for either a CT plate or an early 2000s PA plate. Since no adjacent state currently uses the blue-on-gold scheme (that I'm aware of); the new NY plate stands out, even at a distance.
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 28, 2013, 04:37:39 PM
Personally, I think the Spirit of America slogan should be dropped. It's too much of a reminder of the Dukakis Administration.
There's a substantial amount of people who don't even remember who Dukakis was, much less what slogans he liked. (Dukakis ran for President before I was born.)
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 28, 2013, 04:37:39 PM
As far as getting your plate replaced if isn't eligible's concerned neither I nor any of the rest of my family that still resides in Massachusetts has ever heard of such law.
I read this three times and couldn't figure it out until I substituted "legible" for "eligible".
There was definitely a campaign 2-3 years back that pushed replacement of the old green and white plates. I think it was pushed through the state inspection shops; several co-workers failed their inspection because they had the old green and white plates. The same thing happened to me, except I had a "Spirit of Massachusetts" plate from when I moved to MA in 1998.
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 28, 2013, 11:18:34 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 28, 2013, 04:37:39 PM
Personally, I think the Spirit of America slogan should be dropped. It's too much of a reminder of the Dukakis Administration.
There's a substantial amount of people who don't even remember who Dukakis was, much less what slogans he liked. (Dukakis ran for President before I was born.)
I grew up in RI in the 70s and 80s, so to me "the Spirit of Massachusetts" recalls the jingle from the tourism ads of the era.
Quote from: spooky on August 29, 2013, 08:05:42 AM
I read this three times and couldn't figure it out until I substituted "legible" for "eligible".
Oops, missed that typo. I indeed intended to say
legible in my previous post and have since corrected it. Thanks for pointing that out.
Quote from: spooky on August 29, 2013, 08:05:42 AMThere was definitely a campaign 2-3 years back that pushed replacement of the old green and white plates. I think it was pushed through the state inspection shops; several co-workers failed their inspection because they had the old green and white plates. The same thing happened to me, except I had a "Spirit of Massachusetts" plate from when I moved to MA in 1998.
Now, I'm a bit confused with your post here. First of all, as long as I can remember,
all state inspections are handled by private sector garages with the Commonwealth setting the inspection rates/fees. Your above-post implies (maybe unintentionally) that there are now state garages/inspection stations performing such services.
Again, my mother's green-and-white plate (issued in 1992) has
never been rejected for that reason. As a matter of fact, she just got her new plate
15 sticker a couple of months ago. Surely, the RMV must know which registration plates are of the older style and which ones aren't in their databases. If such an inspection rejection clause indeed exists (personally, I don't think it does), the RMV would've informed her of such at the time of registration renewal and sent her new plates (possibly for an extra fee).
Trust me, if the Bay State was indeed serious in getting the old style plates out of circulation, they either would've done what they used to do up through the early 70s and simply issue new plates (they used to do this every 4 years back in a day). PA did similar in 2000-2001 (when they first introduced the faded blue-white-yellow plate with the original url to replace
all of the older standard-issue designs) without any problems and they're a much larger state than MA.
If the RMV makes a style change of its standard-issue plates and wants to purge the old style, it is
their responsibilty to do so and issue the new plates when the old plates expire.
Quote from: Scott5114 on August 28, 2013, 11:18:34 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 28, 2013, 04:37:39 PM
Personally, I think the Spirit of America slogan should be dropped. It's too much of a reminder of the Dukakis Administration.
There's a substantial amount of people who don't even remember who Dukakis was, much less what slogans he liked. (Dukakis ran for President before I was born.)
The ratio of older people to younger people has been increasing for quite some time
nationwide so there's still a sizable (read
majority) percentage of the population that either remember Dukakis or were around when he was governor (1975-1979, 1983-1991).
Quote from: spooky on August 29, 2013, 08:05:42 AM
I grew up in RI in the 70s and 80s, so to me "the Spirit of Massachusetts" recalls the jingle from the tourism ads of the era.
That was spearheaded by then-Gov. Dukakis. He wanted to purge the Commonwealth of its last tourism slogan of the early 80s King Administration
Make it in Massachusetts.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.cpcache.com%2Fproduct_zoom%2F429466596%2Fmake_it_in_massachusetts_bumper_sticker_50_pk.jpg%3Fheight%3D250%26amp%3Bwidth%3D250%26amp%3BpadToSquare%3Dtrue&hash=d981056066591c972e9560427bf0c8fdf34abdc5)
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 29, 2013, 09:10:50 AM
Quote from: spooky on August 29, 2013, 08:05:42 AMThere was definitely a campaign 2-3 years back that pushed replacement of the old green and white plates. I think it was pushed through the state inspection shops; several co-workers failed their inspection because they had the old green and white plates. The same thing happened to me, except I had a "Spirit of Massachusetts" plate from when I moved to MA in 1998.
Now, I'm a bit confused with your post here. First of all, as long as I can remember, all state inspections are handled by private sector garages with the Commonwealth setting the inspection rates/fees. Your above-post implies (maybe unintentionally) that there are now state garages/inspection stations performing such services.
Again, my mother's green-and-white plate (issued in 1992) has never been rejected for that reason. As a matter of fact, she just got her new plate 15 sticker a couple of months ago. Surely, the RMV must know which registration plates are of the older style and which ones aren't in their databases. If such an inspection rejection clause indeed exists (personally, I don't think it does), the RMV would've informed her of such at the time of registration renewal and sent her new plates (possibly for an extra fee).
By state inspection stations I meant facilities that perform state inspections. I did not mean to imply that they are state-run.
Also I did not mean to imply that a green and white plate meant automatic failure, only that inspection facilities were instructed to take a closer look at license plates and fail those that were faded. As with most things that require judgment on the part of the inspector, your mileage will greatly vary depending upon the inspection station. This would explain why your mother's green and white plate hasn't been rejected (or perhaps it is one of the better looking remnants). As I mentioned, I know several people (myself included) who failed because of a faded plate during that time.
Here's a link I found from a state publication. http://www.vehicletest.state.ma.us/newsletters/08FEB.pdf
I also remember seeing a poster at a repair shop about the policy.
It was absolutely intended to root out the remaining green and white plates without doing the obvious solution that you propose below. I'm guessing that the state doesn't want the all-at-once cost and the PR backlash from people irrationally attached to their faded plates.
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 29, 2013, 09:10:50 AM
Trust me, if the Bay State was indeed serious in getting the old style plates out of circulation, they either would've done what they used to do up through the early 70s and simply issue new plates (they used to do this every 4 years back in a day). PA did similar in 2000-2001 (when they first introduced the faded blue-white-yellow plate with the original url to replace all of the older standard-issue designs) without any problems and they're a much larger state than MA.
Quote from: spooky on August 29, 2013, 01:12:04 PMHere's a link I found from a state publication. http://www.vehicletest.state.ma.us/newsletters/08FEB.pdf
I also remember seeing a poster at a repair shop about the policy.
One of the first listed problems/concerns regarding old/worn/faded plates from your posted PDF (
bold emphasis added):
"On the Massachusetts Turnpike, for instance, more motorists are successfully evading tolls because photos taken by tollbooth cameras cannot be used to identify vehicles with worn-out plates," Truth's out... first reason is due to
money.
Another except that IMHO should be (or have been) better communicated (
bold emphasis added):
The owner of a passenger vehicle with one of the older green-lettered-and-numbered plates may obtain a free set of the newer red plates at any RMV branch office during normal business hours. All the motorist has to do is show up with the old plate and he or she will be given red replacement plates at no cost. In these instances, however, the letters and/or numbers on the replacement plates will not be the same as on the old plates. It's important to note that this policy applies to green passenger normal plates only. Motorists with illegible and/or damaged red plates that need to be replaced on any vehicle may order a replacement plate at any RMV branch office for a fee of $10. For a replacement set of plates, motorists are charged $20. RMV does not charge for replacing green plates because the agency has put a priority on replacing as many of them as possible.Another excerpt/tid-bit:
An estimated 600,000 Massachusetts-registered vehicles are still sporting green plates.
When RMV introduced the red "Spirit of America" plates in January, 1987, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was planning to have all the owners of vehicles with single green plates switch to two red plates by the end of 1989. But a lack of funding put that plan on hold.If memory serves, when the single green plates first rolled out in 1977; Mass' reasoning for not unilaterally replacing the old red plates (shown in one of my previous posts) as they did in previous years was because they
had a surplus of such. When the registration of my mother's '71 LTD plate (E25-984, registered in my father's name) expired in either '77 or '78; she got a new set of the
old-style red plates (D95-306). Those plates were on that car, until the ownership of it was officially transferred from my father to my brother in 1982. The new plate my brother received then was a single green plate (178-EOX).
To date, the current plate on my Mother's 2001 Escort (since the registration's still active & current, I will not reveal the number) is the only green-on-white plate still on active duty among Mass. vehicles in my family.
Anyone catch this recent license plate poll?
http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/favorite-license-plates.aspx
1 Wyoming
2 Hawaii
3 Utah
4 Alabama
5 Oregon
6 Maine
7 South Carolina
8 Florida
9 Georgia
10 Oklahoma
11 Arizona
12 Idaho
13 North Dakota
14 Maryland
15 Washington
16 Colorado
17 New Hampshire
18 Nevada
19 Nebraska
20 Louisiana
21 Tennessee
22 South Dakota
23 Mississippi
24 North Carolina
25 Minnesota
26 Iowa
27 Kentucky
28 Rhode Island
29 New Mexico
30 Kansas
31 Connecticut
32 Illinois
33 Pennsylvania
34 West Virginia
35 Ohio
36 Wisconsin
37 Texas
38 Missouri
39 New Jersey
40 Indiana
41 California
42 Vermont
43 Massachusetts
44 District of Columbia
45 Montana
46 New York
47 Virginia
48 Alaska
49 Michigan
50 Arkansas
51 Delaware
Quote from: Android on January 10, 2014, 09:17:04 PM
Anyone catch this recent license plate poll?
http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/favorite-license-plates.aspx
1 Wyoming
2 Hawaii
3 Utah
4 Alabama
5 Oregon
6 Maine
7 South Carolina
8 Florida
9 Georgia
10 Oklahoma
...
Some states (e. g. New York) have more than one license plate in use. Which did they use for those states?
I'm amazed that Idaho ranks that high after the switch to direct print- it was a beautiful plate with blue embossed text, but the switch to direct printed black generic font destroyed it.
Texas' black on white plate is, by far, my favorite plate right now.
Quote from: Takumi on January 10, 2014, 10:46:51 PM
Texas' black on white plate is, by far, my favorite plate right now.
Definitely not my favorite. They look fake to me. Every time I see one, it reminds me of a movie prop plate. I have to keep reminding myself that it is indeed a real Texas plate.
Quote from: 1 on January 10, 2014, 09:27:46 PMSome states (e. g. New York) have more than one license plate in use. Which did they use for those states?
There's a link from the article to a list showing all of the plate designs used. New York's is the blue-on-orange "Empire State" design.
I was shocked that Maryland ranked so highly. If people had set out to design a plate that was both kitschy and hard to read, the result would likely resemble Maryland's. Going to seven characters for the standard serial was appropriate, if not overdue, but simultaneously adopting a design that fit only six characters without stacking was not a stroke of genius.
I have really liked the Michigan Sunrise plate, and the Michigan BlueBar Plate, the Washington '89 plate (with the original font), the Indiana Grass Plate, the Oregon Evergreen Plate, the BC Flag Plate, and the Colorado 'green' plate.
Quote from: signalman on January 11, 2014, 03:40:51 AM
Quote from: Takumi on January 10, 2014, 10:46:51 PM
Texas' black on white plate is, by far, my favorite plate right now.
Definitely not my favorite. They look fake to me. Every time I see one, it reminds me of a movie prop plate. I have to keep reminding myself that it is indeed a real Texas plate.
I agree wholeheartedly. If Texas had gone back to the old style black on white embossed plate, I might think differently, but the flat process with the fugly 3M generic font is terrible.
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 28, 2013, 04:37:39 PM
As far as getting your plate replaced if isn't legible's concerned neither I nor any of the rest of my family that still resides in Massachusetts has ever heard of such law.
From http://www.massrmv.com/rmv/faq/inspection.htm#24 :
"By state law, Massachusetts license plates must be readable from 60 feet away. Any green or red passenger plate, which has lost its reflective coating or paint or has been damaged, must be replaced. You can also be cited by law enforcement for this violation. The RMV encourages vehicle owners to swap illegible plates for a set of red plates at no fee. Faded and illegible plates can be swapped at any of the RMV's full serivce branch locations. A red plate that is lost or damaged can also be ordered at any branch or by calling the RMV Telephone Center at 857-368-8000. The cost of replacing these plates is $10 a plate and will be mailed to the registered owner."
Now, as to whether the "legibility" rule is actually enforced: I seriously doubt it, based on the number of green-lettered plates I've seen that can't be read unless you're six feet away, never mind sixty.
Quote from: Android on January 10, 2014, 09:17:04 PM
Anyone catch this recent license plate poll?
http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/favorite-license-plates.aspx
<snip>
51 Delaware
It appears the survey results ruffled some feathers in the First State.
Website ranking fires up spirits on Delaware license plate design (http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20140113/NEWS/301130045/Website-ranking-fires-up-spirits-Delaware-license-plate-design)
QuoteA national survey in which half the respondents called Delaware's license plate the least attractive in the country is not sitting with many in the first state.
"Who cares what some guy in Texas says about Delaware," said Mike Williams, chief of communications for the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
The survey, commissioned by Carinsurance.com, polled 2,000 licensed drivers across the country last fall and asked them to choose the five most attractive, and five least attractive standard-issue license plates among all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C.
Delaware was chosen as the least favorite by nearly half of the respondents.
I like the white-on-black alternate Delaware plate better than the standard one.
Quote from: Takumi on January 13, 2014, 12:19:49 PM
I like the white-on-black alternate Delaware plate better than the standard one.
I like Virginia's original Jamestown plate, the one with the sailing ship on the right side. Unlike many of the "specialty plate" designs we have, that one only had a one-time fee of $15 (unless you also got a personalized plate)–you didn't have to pay each year like you do with the sports team or university plates. Also, a portion of the fee went to historic preservation purposes. I have that Jamestown design on both of my cars. It appears they've discontinued it, however, probably because the 400th anniversary of the town's founding is now 7 years ago.
I think our standard white-on-blue is boring and I don't care for the look of the state name on the present design (I preferred the design they used in the 1980s).
I'm okay with any plate that doesn't have that garish font that seems to be cropping up everywhere.
embossed numbers are always a good thing.
My fave:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fparanogonah.com%2Fupnresize%2Fpics%2FCO2.jpg&hash=b2db3a9354f56b596d190d22398439929e0cf588)
This coming from a Coloradoan, of course. :sombrero:
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 13, 2014, 12:54:52 PM
Quote from: Takumi on January 13, 2014, 12:19:49 PM
I like the white-on-black alternate Delaware plate better than the standard one.
I like Virginia's original Jamestown plate, the one with the sailing ship on the right side. Unlike many of the "specialty plate" designs we have, that one only had a one-time fee of $15 (unless you also got a personalized plate)—you didn't have to pay each year like you do with the sports team or university plates. Also, a portion of the fee went to historic preservation purposes. I have that Jamestown design on both of my cars. It appears they've discontinued it, however, probably because the 400th anniversary of the town's founding is now 7 years ago.
One of my cars has it. I had to special order it in 2012, even with just the regular characters. My second car has the standard blue-on-white, while my third car, which I just bought yesterday and won't be on the road until much later this year, will probably have something else.
Edit: the Jamestown plate is still available.
Quote from: thenetwork on January 13, 2014, 09:35:30 PM
My fave:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fparanogonah.com%2Fupnresize%2Fpics%2FCO2.jpg&hash=b2db3a9354f56b596d190d22398439929e0cf588)
This coming from a Coloradoan, of course. :sombrero:
Is that a newer design? The Colorado plates I've seen around NY are far less interesting.
I like California's default plate the most. Simple, clean & professional. I always thought states with colorful license plates are tacky and detract from the visuals of the car.
When you see an exotic car, you don't want a tacky license plate to devalue that look.
That Colorado plate is NOT the standard issue. They call it a Designer plate and you gotta pay an extra 50 bucks to get one, then I think it's like 25 a year after that to keep using it. (Oh, and it's not the one that the insurance company used in that poll either.)
Quote from: thenetwork on January 13, 2014, 09:35:30 PM
My fave:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fparanogonah.com%2Fupnresize%2Fpics%2FCO2.jpg&hash=b2db3a9354f56b596d190d22398439929e0cf588)
This coming from a Coloradoan, of course. :sombrero:
That. plate. is. AWESOME! :happy:
Quote from: Android on January 10, 2014, 09:17:04 PM
Anyone catch this recent license plate poll?
http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/favorite-license-plates.aspx
I love how the pic. of the PA plate shows the registration sticker placed on the upper right corner of the plate rather than the upper left corner where the
blank deboss/depression is clearly shown (for said-plate stickers).
Havne't seen it mentioned on this thread, so, here's the new Ohio plate (released April 2013)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpublicsafety.ohio.gov%2Fimg%2Fohio_pride_plate.png&hash=8c761daed99696bb95e8273272df5279f38e24ea)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Funiontownlions.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2FnewOhioLicense.jpg&hash=204efdb2c4b4a9c905610bf66659403ecbc4150f)
I like it a lot better than the "Beautiful Ohio" monstrosities. Not a huge fan of all the wording though, but at least it's subdued and the plate looks pretty clean cut from a distance.
who managed to put the sample plate on their car?
also: embossed good; weird new font bad.
Quote from: KEK Inc. on January 14, 2014, 12:51:05 AM
When you see an exotic car, you don't want a tacky license plate to devalue that look.
Ironically, it seems many exotic cars I've come across in the field use standard issue (non-vanity/specialized) plates. Most folks do not want the added attention, I presume.
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 13, 2014, 12:54:52 PM
I think our standard white-on-blue is boring and I don't care for the look of the state name on the present design (I preferred the design they used in the 1980s).
I liked the all-numeric one with the state seal in the middle, it had that old school feel to it.
Quote from: Buck87 on January 14, 2014, 11:00:15 AM
Haven't seen it mentioned on this thread, so, here's the new Ohio plate (released April 2013)
I like it a lot better than the "Beautiful Ohio" monstrosities. Not a huge fan of all the wording though, but at least it's subdued and the plate looks pretty clean cut from a distance.
Real life version. I was not a fan of the farm one we had just prior, and Ohio had been pretty boring until then. I like this one, it's a nice balance between plain and overly gaudy with graphics, and embossed to boot.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.tapatalk.com%2Fd%2F14%2F01%2F15%2F8atyjeje.jpg&hash=e1d84217a0bcf3ea6a9521a1d66fafb2b9eeffa7)
Quote from: KEK Inc. on January 14, 2014, 12:51:05 AM
I like California's default plate the most. Simple, clean & professional. I always thought states with colorful license plates are tacky and detract from the visuals of the car.
When you see an exotic car, you don't want a tacky license plate to devalue that look.
I'll agree with you for the most part but the California plates need to lose the URL (dmv.ca.gov or something like that) located at the bottom of the plate. It's tacky IMO.
Quote from: myosh_tino on January 24, 2014, 05:11:51 PMI'll agree with you for the most part but the California plates need to lose the URL (dmv.ca.gov or something like that) located at the bottom of the plate. It's tacky IMO.
Having the URL for the state's office of tourism or of the general state government is silly enough, but the DMV? Why?
Quote from: Doctor Whom on January 24, 2014, 05:21:12 PM
Quote from: myosh_tino on January 24, 2014, 05:11:51 PMI'll agree with you for the most part but the California plates need to lose the URL (dmv.ca.gov or something like that) located at the bottom of the plate. It's tacky IMO.
Having the URL for the state's office of tourism or of the general state government is silly enough, but the DMV? Why?
IIRC, the state's explanation was to get more Californians to use services offered on the DMV website instead of going to the office in person. I'll admit, it's a silly excuse.
Quote from: myosh_tino on January 24, 2014, 05:36:27 PM
Quote from: Doctor Whom on January 24, 2014, 05:21:12 PM
Quote from: myosh_tino on January 24, 2014, 05:11:51 PMI'll agree with you for the most part but the California plates need to lose the URL (dmv.ca.gov or something like that) located at the bottom of the plate. It's tacky IMO.
Having the URL for the state's office of tourism or of the general state government is silly enough, but the DMV? Why?
IIRC, the state's explanation was to get more Californians to use services offered on the DMV website instead of going to the office in person. I'll admit, it's a silly excuse.
Virginia solved that by charging more for going to the DMV except when you are required to do so. (Example of the latter: This past year I had to renew my driver's license in person since I'd done it online five years earlier. So there is no surcharge. If I renew my car registration in person, they charge more....technically I think it's a "discount" for doing it online.)
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 25, 2014, 11:30:29 AM
Virginia solved that by charging more for going to the DMV except when you are required to do so. (Example of the latter: This past year I had to renew my driver's license in person since I'd done it online five years earlier. So there is no surcharge. If I renew my car registration in person, they charge more....technically I think it's a "discount" for doing it online.)
Better than what New Jersey does. They charge you a $2.00 "convenience fee" to renew your registration online. I think they're passing on the credit card processing fee to the registrant, but one can renew by mail with a check or money order or in person for just the amount of registration. As an added kick in the crotch, one can use a credit card to pay in person, but they aren't charged the credit card processing fee.
Quote from: signalman on January 25, 2014, 12:51:50 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 25, 2014, 11:30:29 AM
Virginia solved that by charging more for going to the DMV except when you are required to do so. (Example of the latter: This past year I had to renew my driver's license in person since I'd done it online five years earlier. So there is no surcharge. If I renew my car registration in person, they charge more....technically I think it's a "discount" for doing it online.)
Better than what New Jersey does. They charge you a $2.00 "convenience fee" to renew your registration online. I think they're passing on the credit card processing fee to the registrant, but one can renew by mail with a check or money order or in person for just the amount of registration. As an added kick in the crotch, one can use a credit card to pay in person, but they aren't charged the credit card processing fee.
This may be because the credit card processor charges different rates for online versus a physical-swipe transaction. PayPal, for instance, charges 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction, but if you swipe a card on one of their "PayPal Here" card readers, it's a flat 2.7%. (On a $100 transaction this is $3.20 vs. $2.70).
Quote from: Scott5114 on January 25, 2014, 01:35:47 PM
Quote from: signalman on January 25, 2014, 12:51:50 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 25, 2014, 11:30:29 AM
Virginia solved that by charging more for going to the DMV except when you are required to do so. (Example of the latter: This past year I had to renew my driver's license in person since I'd done it online five years earlier. So there is no surcharge. If I renew my car registration in person, they charge more....technically I think it's a "discount" for doing it online.)
Better than what New Jersey does. They charge you a $2.00 "convenience fee" to renew your registration online. I think they're passing on the credit card processing fee to the registrant, but one can renew by mail with a check or money order or in person for just the amount of registration. As an added kick in the crotch, one can use a credit card to pay in person, but they aren't charged the credit card processing fee.
This may be because the credit card processor charges different rates for online versus a physical-swipe transaction. PayPal, for instance, charges 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction, but if you swipe a card on one of their "PayPal Here" card readers, it's a flat 2.7%. (On a $100 transaction this is $3.20 vs. $2.70).
Could be. I hadn't considered that. I just find it irksome, but it doesn't stop me from renewing my registration online. It's more convenient for me, so I eat the $2 and move on with life.
Quote from: myosh_tino on January 24, 2014, 05:11:51 PMI'll agree with you for the most part but the California plates need to lose the URL (dmv.ca.gov or something like that) located at the bottom of the plate. It's tacky IMO.
I hate to break the news to you but CA isn't the only state that places their URL on their plates and the practice isn't going away anytime soon. PA's been doing such since 2000.
Those seem to be here to stay
unfortunately IMHO.
A generic state web site like PA started using in 2000 or a tourism one (callWVA.com for example) is one thing, but the DMV web site? Bleah!
GA got rid of its web site last year with their new plates
Quote from: PurdueBill on January 27, 2014, 10:20:36 PM
A generic state web site like PA started using in 2000 or a tourism one (callWVA.com for example) is one thing, but the DMV web site? Bleah!
I actually prefer the dmv one.
"crap, my plates are expiring and it looks like the renewal is lost in the mail. hmm, how can I renew my registration?"
as opposed to:
"oh boy, the plate on the car in front of me has a website! well lemme just pull out my phone while driving and end up in a ditch!"
(on a similar note, I've always thought websites on roadside billboards were highly suspect.)
notwithstanding the previous argument... if I ever remember to do so, I will tape some white scotchlite over the website on my truck's new plates. I just happen to prefer the one-generation-older California plates.
I think the idea is your desire to visit the website will be so strong that you memorize it and visit when you're done driving. Though these days you could have a passenger do it.
Not sure this fits here, but an article on Slate discusses the history of U.S. license plates, and comes down firmly on the best plates being the old ones:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/06/24/license_plate_design_when_did_u_s_license_plates_get_so_ugly.html
The article includes many photos of old license plates, some weird like the one touting South Carolina as the "iodine products state".
I must be the only person who actually likes the Ohio "farm" plates (there's also the silhouette of a city skyline, for the record). I find the new ones to be quite boring.
When NJ moved to flat plates in April 2014 they missed a chance to change the design, it retains all the blandness of the 1993 base, without the embossed numbers/letters.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnjplates.moini.net%2Fa40-eff.jpg&hash=08030a79ce283eb09d61a25592ee67eb7ad202db)
Quote from: Android on January 10, 2014, 09:17:04 PM
Anyone catch this recent license plate poll?
http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/favorite-license-plates.aspx (http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/favorite-license-plates.aspx)
8 Florida
Florida 8th?! Maybe the 8th worst. Thank goodness we have a large array of specialty plates to choose from so I don't have to have that horrible standard plate.
Quote from: SteveG1988 on June 26, 2014, 10:06:18 PM
When NJ moved to flat plates in April 2014 they missed a chance to change the design, it retains all the blandness of the 1993 base, without the embossed numbers/letters.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnjplates.moini.net%2Fa40-eff.jpg&hash=08030a79ce283eb09d61a25592ee67eb7ad202db)
Does NJ still grandfather the old plates after changes? I found it annoying that even in the 1990s you would still find the old 1960-70s era plates still in use long after those plates were replaced with the yellow on blue that then were replaced again with the black on yellow.
In New Jersey, like most places, you can move your old plate onto your new vehicle. However, the first year inspection waiver is not valid so you must have your vehicle inspected twice in the first year. Once at time of purchase, and at time of your one year anniversary, but normally a new plate will allow you to wait two years before you go for inspection. The exception is buying a car out of state, where the waiver is only to those who buy in New Jersey. I bought my 1989 Beretta in Reedman of Langhorne, PA and I was told that New Jersey would not let me wait two years for inspection because I am not purchasing there, so I said screw it and just moved my old tag onto my new car.
Quote from: SteveG1988 on June 26, 2014, 10:06:18 PM
When NJ moved to flat plates in April 2014 they missed a chance to change the design, it retains all the blandness of the 1993 base, without the embossed numbers/letters.
I always think of this design as "smog alert day."
Why is everyone hating on the DC license plate? Just because it's not a state doesn't mean it's not entitled to democratic rights. Real people live in DC as well! Not just politicians! And we're upset! I like the colors and its simplistic design.
Anyways, I must say I hate the War of 1812 Maryland license plate.
From plateshack.com:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fy2k%2FMaryland2%2Fmd2013avery.jpg&hash=511b56f2b0a63bcf918810a5c6aea7d17705d34e)
It's too crowded and I can't see the 2 smaller letters from a distance of more than 5m. And, while, sure, the war was important for American history, it somehow still feels weird commemorating an event that killed people (even if it was to strengthen our independence). I don't know. But the main thing I hate is the legibility.
I also think the old Maryland plate is a bit too bland, but it's still nice, simple and legible. It works.
The current NJ plate reminds me of pee.
Quote from: roadman65 on June 28, 2014, 10:15:07 AM
Quote from: SteveG1988 on June 26, 2014, 10:06:18 PM
When NJ moved to flat plates in April 2014 they missed a chance to change the design, it retains all the blandness of the 1993 base, without the embossed numbers/letters.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnjplates.moini.net%2Fa40-eff.jpg&hash=08030a79ce283eb09d61a25592ee67eb7ad202db)
Does NJ still grandfather the old plates after changes? I found it annoying that even in the 1990s you would still find the old 1960-70s era plates still in use long after those plates were replaced with the yellow on blue that then were replaced again with the black on yellow.
In New Jersey, like most places, you can move your old plate onto your new vehicle. However, the first year inspection waiver is not valid so you must have your vehicle inspected twice in the first year. Once at time of purchase, and at time of your one year anniversary, but normally a new plate will allow you to wait two years before you go for inspection. The exception is buying a car out of state, where the waiver is only to those who buy in New Jersey. I bought my 1989 Beretta in Reedman of Langhorne, PA and I was told that New Jersey would not let me wait two years for inspection because I am not purchasing there, so I said screw it and just moved my old tag onto my new car.
Yes, as long as the registration didn't lapse and the plate is still legible, it's still legal. You still see some old black on straw plates around. More common is the straw on blue, but even they are a dying ember. One can also get their old plates remade on the current base. It's just a matter of filling out a form and paying $11.
Quote from: wisvishr0 on June 28, 2014, 02:03:35 PM
Why is everyone hating on the DC license plate? Just because it's not a state doesn't mean it's not entitled to democratic rights. Real people live in DC as well! Not just politicians! And we're upset! I like the colors and its simplistic design.
This is one of the favorite plates in my collection:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.tapatalk.com%2Fd%2F14%2F06%2F30%2Fu5a6edut.jpg&hash=e44369670d9e48fb3d3c834d56bfe63925b8bf33)
Quote from: wisvishr0 on June 28, 2014, 02:03:35 PMAnyways, I must say I hate the War of 1812 Maryland license plate.
As do I. Extending the standard registration serial from six characters to seven was good, as was merging the numbering sequences for classes A (passenger cars), E (trucks), and M (multipurpose vehicles, i.e., basically minivans and SUV's). But why, oh why, did anyone think it was a good idea to extend the registration serial from six characters to seven while reducing the number of horizontal spaces from seven to six? Even apart from that, the design, while not so bad as some of the previous Texas "everything but the kitchen sink" designs, is kitschy and cluttered.
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 28, 2014, 09:54:06 PM
The current NJ plate reminds me of pee.
Yikes! I had a friend from NJ who said something similar about 20 years ago...something to the effect of Governor Whitman personally peeing on the plates. YUCK!
I'd almost forgotten that and then someone mentions pee here. :P
Quote from: wisvishr0 on June 28, 2014, 02:03:35 PM
Anyways, I must say I hate the War of 1812 Maryland license plate.
yet another stupid website.
also, it looks like as a species we're running out of URLs. what are we gonna do in 30 years? is the main search engine of the Earth gonna be called something like SearchrButIHardlyKnowr12345-penis-v1agr0.ck.f9?
^^ SNL: clownpenis.fart http://vimeo.com/82393638v (http://vimeo.com/82393638v)
The Virginia license plate (plain one, not the one that has the Jamestown 1607-2007 400 years). It has the state's name...then what? Why is it JUST that? :pan: At least California's has the cool cursive signature font.
I really like New Mexico's (the one with the hot air balloons), Washington (Mount Rainier), Oregon's, Idaho's, and South Dakota's.
Quote from: ElPanaChevere on June 30, 2014, 04:01:12 PM
The Virginia license plate (plain one, not the one that has the Jamestown 1607-2007 400 years). It has the state's name...then what? Why is it JUST that? :pan: At least California's has the cool cursive signature font.
I really like New Mexico's (the one with the hot air balloons), Washington (Mount Rainier), Oregon's, Idaho's, and South Dakota's.
The latest standard-issue Virginia plate now has the state slogan, "Virginia Is for Lovers," along the bottom edge. The "v" in "Lovers" is shaped like a heart. "virginia.org" appears below that slogan. I'd prefer plain white with just the state's name to that version if there were no other choice! (Of course, you can always paint over the slogan.)
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 30, 2014, 04:11:48 PM
Quote from: ElPanaChevere on June 30, 2014, 04:01:12 PM
The Virginia license plate (plain one, not the one that has the Jamestown 1607-2007 400 years). It has the state's name...then what? Why is it JUST that? :pan: At least California's has the cool cursive signature font.
I really like New Mexico's (the one with the hot air balloons), Washington (Mount Rainier), Oregon's, Idaho's, and South Dakota's.
The latest standard-issue Virginia plate now has the state slogan, "Virginia Is for Lovers," along the bottom edge. The "v" in "Lovers" is shaped like a heart. "virginia.org" appears below that slogan. I'd prefer plain white with just the state's name to that version if there were no other choice! (Of course, you can always paint over the slogan.)
I actually like the plain one (i.e., before the recent slogan addition). But I will have to figure out another design I like next time I need plates, because I can't stomach the slogan in the current political climate.
Quote from: maplestar on June 30, 2014, 05:48:39 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 30, 2014, 04:11:48 PM
Quote from: ElPanaChevere on June 30, 2014, 04:01:12 PM
The Virginia license plate (plain one, not the one that has the Jamestown 1607-2007 400 years). It has the state's name...then what? Why is it JUST that? :pan: At least California's has the cool cursive signature font.
I really like New Mexico's (the one with the hot air balloons), Washington (Mount Rainier), Oregon's, Idaho's, and South Dakota's.
The latest standard-issue Virginia plate now has the state slogan, "Virginia Is for Lovers," along the bottom edge. The "v" in "Lovers" is shaped like a heart. "virginia.org" appears below that slogan. I'd prefer plain white with just the state's name to that version if there were no other choice! (Of course, you can always paint over the slogan.)
I actually like the plain one (i.e., before the recent slogan addition). But I will have to figure out another design I like next time I need plates, because I can't stomach the slogan in the current political climate.
I used to live in Virginia (Staunton to be exact) and I still have family there. I always wondered about that plain plate with the font and just saying "Virginia" at the top. I was actually quite happy when my relatives decided to ditch those plates (still hanging in their garage), and opt for one that has Virginia in cursive font with a autumn leaf border, Virginia with the Cape Henry and Cape Charles lighthouses, and the one that I mentioned before (the Jamestown 400 years 1607-2007).
I just feel like, imho, that a state has the right to put
whatever they want on their license plates to represent them and their state. I felt like the plain Virginia plates were just someone not trying hard enough. The Blue Ridge Mountains, Jamestown, Assateague National Seashore, Monticello, something that instantly will instill an associated recognizable image with that state. Illinois has Abraham Lincoln. Washington has Mt. Rainier, North Carolina has the Wright Brothers' plane. See where I'm going with this?
Quote from: wisvishr0 on June 28, 2014, 02:03:35 PM
Why is everyone hating on the DC license plate? Just because it's not a state doesn't mean it's not entitled to democratic rights. Real people live in DC as well! Not just politicians! And we're upset! I like the colors and its simplistic design.
I am not always a fan of D.C., but I agree with you, and the tags are pretty easy to read.
Quote from: wisvishr0 on June 28, 2014, 02:03:35 PM
Anyways, I must say I hate the War of 1812 Maryland license plate.
From plateshack.com:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fy2k%2FMaryland2%2Fmd2013avery.jpg&hash=511b56f2b0a63bcf918810a5c6aea7d17705d34e)
As a lifelong Maryland resident, I agree with you. The Fort McHenry series tags are gaudy and the alphabetic characters are hard to read. The previous black-on-white tags were much better.
Hi all, newbie from Michigan here. :wave:
Michigan's newest iteration of the Mackinac Bridge plate definitely belongs on the 'worst' list...
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michigan.gov%2Fimages%2Fsos%2FBridge-Plate_432239_7.jpg&hash=ff114c3023a379fa753285595fb3a536f7f76b44)
It's an attractive design on the surface, but the execution was botched. The reflective white characters against the yellow-orange background halate into a white blob and are impossible to read while driving at night - unless you're about 10 feet directly behind the vehicle in question, during perfect conditions. The state name has the same problem, due to the undersized, skinny black font on reflective white.
Both police and civilians have complained since it was introduced in 2013, but the MI Secretary of State hasn't issued a public statement I've been able to find (probably because they don't want to admit to or draw further attention to their mistake). Even if they did change the characters to a darker reflective color, I'm betting the heavily outlined artwork of the bridge would then cause additional legibility issues. A total redesign would be necessary.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michigan.gov%2Fimages%2Fgraphic_16606_7.jpg&hash=f0f5bf963a54fcedba8b4829714a4bf8354d8b5a)
The older Mackinac Bridge plates issued between 1997 and 2007 didn't have this issue, as the background was a faint salmon pink/white/light blue, and the characters were a higher contrast blue.
Quote from: Emma on July 06, 2014, 04:18:09 PM
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michigan.gov%2Fimages%2Fgraphic_16606_7.jpg&hash=f0f5bf963a54fcedba8b4829714a4bf8354d8b5a)
The older Mackinac Bridge plates issued between 1997 and 2007 didn't have this issue, as the background was a faint salmon pink/white/light blue, and the characters were a higher contrast blue.
This plate was definitely much better looking than the current orange monstrosity, but many of these plates have degraded with age to the point that the blue characters have become illegible.
Add using "Pure Michigan" to their plate lineup. :ded:
Minnesota has flat plates popping up now... No design change...
Quote from: SSOWorld on July 11, 2014, 08:42:12 PM
Add using "Pure Michigan" to their plate lineup. :ded:
Minnesota has flat plates popping up now... No design change...
I'm not a big fan of states replacing state identification with tourist slogans on license plates. The State of Michigan is hellbent on shoving "Pure Michigan" down everyone's throats. Florida does the same with "MyFlorida.com."
I was always a big fan of the NH plate, I like the use of the Old Man on the Mountain in plates. It's a subtle but nice way to remind people of an important part of NH's history.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plateshack.com%2Fy2k%2FNew_Hampshire%2Fnh2009.jpg&hash=553c54e0444c83e474ae76128048e9f1c9a84a12)
Displaying "Live Free or Die" on NH's plates isn't shoving something down everyone's throats? Plenty of people do not necessarily value freedom over life.
Quote from: SidS1045 on July 12, 2014, 02:44:19 PM
Displaying "Live Free or Die" on NH's plates isn't shoving something down everyone's throats? Plenty of people do not necessarily value freedom over life.
It is the official state motto. However, the Supreme Court did rule that one could not be prosecuted for covering it up on one's plate.
I've mentioned my partiality to Texas' black-on-white plate in this thread before (although people mostly disagreed), but I finally got one. I'm keeping it on my project car while it isn't running. It came from the same model, either the same year (2001) or the year before.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1301.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fag118%2Fbykfixer%2Fpc%2520stuff%2FIMG_20140712_203551_zps9w5majnp.jpg&hash=fff37bdd0e589409532f5b2081ec92f836471d90)
Quote from: PurdueBill on July 12, 2014, 07:48:16 PM
Quote from: SidS1045 on July 12, 2014, 02:44:19 PM
Displaying "Live Free or Die" on NH's plates isn't shoving something down everyone's throats? Plenty of people do not necessarily value freedom over life.
It is the official state motto. However, the Supreme Court did rule that one could not be prosecuted for covering it up on one's plate.
Yeah, SCOTUS did say (and it's a pretty famous case, every law student has to read it) that you can cover your state's slogan if you so choose.
But big difference between "Live Free or Die" and "Pure Michigan." One is the official state slogan and the other is a tourism logo. I don't know if I've ever seen New Hampshire use "Live Free or Die" on a tourism ad. In fact, the New Hampshire tax code is designed to disproportionately tax tourists. The 9% tax on your hotel room is higher than you'd pay in Massachusetts or Vermont. Another difference is that you cannot cover up "Pure Michigan" on your plate because it's the state identifier and SCOTUS said that you can't cover that up.
I do think that the NH DOT should offer an alternative plate though. It wouldn't kill them to print "The Granite State" instead of "Live Free or Die" for a select few. Washington DC does it for those who don't want "Taxation Without Representation."
You can cover up the word "Pure" though...most of us know it's a lie anyway.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on July 13, 2014, 01:45:40 AM
Another difference is that you cannot cover up "Pure Michigan" on your plate because it's the state identifier and SCOTUS said that you can't cover that up.
Quote from: DevalDragon on July 14, 2014, 02:07:07 PM
You can cover up the word "Pure" though...most of us know it's a lie anyway.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on July 13, 2014, 01:45:40 AM
Another difference is that you cannot cover up "Pure Michigan" on your plate because it's the state identifier and SCOTUS said that you can't cover that up.
Does that mean I can put the word "Larceny" over "Lincoln" on my Illinois plates? It's far more accurate.
Mississippi uses some sort of bold serif font on its "flat plates" which is also compressed. It looks terrible, although it's just for specialty plates. They seem to still use embossed plates with a traditional sans-serif for their standard ones.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on July 13, 2014, 01:45:40 AM
Quote from: PurdueBill on July 12, 2014, 07:48:16 PM
Quote from: SidS1045 on July 12, 2014, 02:44:19 PM
Displaying "Live Free or Die" on NH's plates isn't shoving something down everyone's throats? Plenty of people do not necessarily value freedom over life.
It is the official state motto. However, the Supreme Court did rule that one could not be prosecuted for covering it up on one's plate.
Yeah, SCOTUS did say (and it's a pretty famous case, every law student has to read it) that you can cover your state's slogan if you so choose.
But big difference between "Live Free or Die" and "Pure Michigan." One is the official state slogan and the other is a tourism logo. I don't know if I've ever seen New Hampshire use "Live Free or Die" on a tourism ad. In fact, the New Hampshire tax code is designed to disproportionately tax tourists. The 9% tax on your hotel room is higher than you'd pay in Massachusetts or Vermont. Another difference is that you cannot cover up "Pure Michigan" on your plate because it's the state identifier and SCOTUS said that you can't cover that up.
I do think that the NH DOT should offer an alternative plate though. It wouldn't kill them to print "The Granite State" instead of "Live Free or Die" for a select few. Washington DC does it for those who don't want "Taxation Without Representation."
I see a difference though. For NH, the phrase has been official for over 200 years as an official motto of the state. It shouldn't be controversial anymore.
For DC, it is a recent purely political statement to advocate for DC statehood. And (hopefully without spurring an off-topic discussion) IMO historically misappropriating a historical phrase from the Revolutionary War era.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on July 13, 2014, 01:45:40 AMIn fact, the New Hampshire tax code is designed to disproportionately tax tourists. The 9% tax on your hotel room is higher than you'd pay in Massachusetts or Vermont.
Not to quibble here, but 9% hotel sales tax is about average, in my travels. I have to itemize my hotel bills for work, and there's some that also add in county/parish and possibly city taxes. I've seen around 12-15% for total "bed" taxes if they include a little more to fund something like a stadium or who-knows-what; it's rare in my experience to see something less than 10% of it go to taxes, in any state.
QuoteAnother difference is that you cannot cover up "Pure Michigan" on your plate because it's the state identifier and SCOTUS said that you can't cover that up.
This is kind of bizarre to me. Plates serve essentially two functions: making sure you've paid your yearly vehicle usage bill, and to visually track your vehicle in case of wrong-doing. After the state/province name, serial number, and legibility and are accounted for, it shouldn't matter whether I should be required to praise something about my state or not. If we went back to the really simple and austere plates of antiquity, I would be satisfied.
Quote from: formulanone on July 29, 2014, 03:56:34 PM
Quote from: The Nature Boy on July 13, 2014, 01:45:40 AMIn fact, the New Hampshire tax code is designed to disproportionately tax tourists. The 9% tax on your hotel room is higher than you'd pay in Massachusetts or Vermont.
Not to quibble here, but 9% hotel sales tax is about average, in my travels. I have to itemize my hotel bills for work, and there's some that also add in county/parish and possibly city taxes. I've seen around 12-15% for total "bed" taxes if they include a little more to fund something like a stadium or who-knows-what; it's rare in my experience to see something less than 10% of it go to taxes, in any state.
QuoteAnother difference is that you cannot cover up "Pure Michigan" on your plate because it's the state identifier and SCOTUS said that you can't cover that up.
This is kind of bizarre to me. Plates serve essentially two functions: making sure you've paid your yearly vehicle usage bill, and to visually track your vehicle in case of wrong-doing. After the state/province name, serial number, and legibility and are accounted for, it shouldn't matter whether I should be required to praise something about my state or not. If we went back to the really simple and austere plates of antiquity, I would be satisfied.
I mean..........
(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ8Vb3eIRzdLyal0p7yKmbU76pho0vzykP3ciHN-dfXrPDwSFK_)
You MIGHT be able to cover up the word "Pure" there. The opinion didn't specifically cover things like this, mainly because states hadn't started doing stupid stuff like this in the late 1970s. But since "Pure" is coupled with Michigan, there might be some problem.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on July 29, 2014, 04:44:55 PM
I mean..........
(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ8Vb3eIRzdLyal0p7yKmbU76pho0vzykP3ciHN-dfXrPDwSFK_)
You MIGHT be able to cover up the word "Pure" there. The opinion didn't specifically cover things like this, mainly because states hadn't started doing stupid stuff like this in the late 1970s. But since "Pure" is coupled with Michigan, there might be some problem.
Maybe with Liquid Paper?
Quote from: jbnv on July 30, 2014, 04:22:39 PM
Quote from: The Nature Boy on July 29, 2014, 04:44:55 PM
I mean..........
(https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ8Vb3eIRzdLyal0p7yKmbU76pho0vzykP3ciHN-dfXrPDwSFK_)
You MIGHT be able to cover up the word "Pure" there. The opinion didn't specifically cover things like this, mainly because states hadn't started doing stupid stuff like this in the late 1970s. But since "Pure" is coupled with Michigan, there might be some problem.
Maybe with Liquid Paper?
You might have better luck suing the Michigan DOT to force them to produce an alternative plate.