Best and Worst U.S. License Plates

[agentsteel53]

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.

[corco]

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.

[agentsteel53]

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.

[Perfxion]

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.

[kphoger]

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.

[agentsteel53]

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. 

[realjd]

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.

[kphoger]

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   

[machias]

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.

[mightyace]

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?

[agentsteel53]

So do you guys blank it out on your money, too?

of course!  send me yours so I can blank it out there too.

[The High Plains Traveler]

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".

[SP Cook]

Hey, New Hampshire busted people for covering "Live Free or Die".

35 years ago.  See:  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.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

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:

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:

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.

[YankeesFan]

def better then the current NJ one...is the top gold or the piss yellow though?

[allniter89]

def better then the current NJ one...is the top gold or the piss yellow though?

piss yellow   

[CentralCAroadgeek]

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.

[YankeesFan]

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.

[motorway]

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

[realjd]

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.

[Takumi]

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.

[DaBigE]

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.).

[kphoger]

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.

[DaBigE]

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.

[6a]

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.