Best and Worst U.S. License Plates

[6a]

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.

[SteveG1988]

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

[right_said_ted]

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.

[agentsteel53]

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.

[Kacie Jane]

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.

[realjd]

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.

[Kacie Jane]

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.)

[formulanone]

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.

[bulkyorled]

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...

[Scott5114]

You could stick a miner's spade on it

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.

[corco]

I'd put a giraffe on it- if you can't represent everything, represent nothing.

[bulkyorled]

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

[blawp]

CA has great plates. The script has aged decently, and we've kept it simple.

[bulkyorled]

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

[flowmotion]

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/

[jwolfer]

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.

I like the Florida redesign but with the county name!  I despise the myflorida.com plates and the oranges on them

[agentsteel53]

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.

[kphoger]

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

[Kacie Jane]

https://wiki-land.wikispaces.com/file/view/marijuana.gif

Lolz.

[1995hoo]

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.

[kphoger]

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.

[1995hoo]

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.

[kphoger]

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:

[1995hoo]

That's about what it looked like. Didn't see the barcode on top due to a license plate frame.

[kphoger]

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.