Ask Mike: Custom Plates
Hey Guys,
There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who have vanity license plates and those who don’t. I’m the latter category, but I do find custom plates a nice distraction. I wondered, is there a way to determine who had the very first custom plate?
I asked the Yahoo! Answers community and was greeted with a variety of responses. Several folks wrote that, while they don’t know exactly who had the first plate or what it said, it very likely came from the great state of Pennsylvania. An article on licenseplates.tv agrees, explaining that the keystone state “manufactured the first custom, vanity or personalized license plate in 1931.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t go into further detail, but the information was confirmed on another site, which also noted that Idaho was the first state to use an image on their license plates (in this case, a potato).
While researching this question, I was surprised to learn that there is a vocal community of license plate collectors on the Web. One site, the appropriately titled “pl8s.com” explains that the “earliest license plates on actual ‘motorized vehicles’ were probably used in France in 1893.” In the United States, the first license plates were used in New York in 1901. And, get this, they were made of leather!
Getting back to personalized plates, while I wasn’t able to locate the very first custom plate, I did find a great list of personalized licenses, and a nice history of the psychology of personalized plates. But, hold on. This last site writes that vanity plates started in 1937 in Connecticut, a contradiction of the 1931 Pennsylvania theory. I checked with the Connecticut DMV and they claim their first custom plate was produced in 1941. Sheesh, some facts are just too hard to find.
What about you? Do you find custom plates clever or annoying? Do you have a favorite plate? Leave a note below and let me know.
THX4RDG,
i like custom plates, they are cool
i find them clever so if someone stole your car, you can say my lisence plate is DOOOOG for example.
I think my favorite plate would be s jobs.
i think custom license plates are tacky and annoying. all a license plate does is identify your car; we do not need your life story fit into text-speak on a metal plate. get a bumper sticker if it’s so important to tell the world you love boats or something. at least you’ll be able to (try to) rip that off when you inevitably get sick of it.
I love personalized plates. They are a great way to express who you are. My favorite one was NAWDEE. I have seen soooo many, and some are just plain stupid, like the ones that are the 1st letter of each word in a sentence, like IL2EG (I Like To Eat Grapes), but some a clever, like O BEHAVE. They’re expensive buggers!
The tricky ones make good conversation pieces during road trips but some are just plain….umm.. unoriginal?
I hate simple plates, like when someone has MAXIMA on a Nissan Maxima. Waste of money. I like to figure out clever vanity plates though. I wish there was a national registry to explain those that are too clever for me.
I think some liscence plates are really funny. For example, one time the secretary at my school had the liscence plate P HART because her name was Patty Hart. She didn’t even realize that her liscence plate spelled out fart!! Anyway custom plates are a great way to express who you are and provide a little fun and guessing to passerby on the road.
The funniest one I have heard was years ago. I guy in California wanted vanity plates he listed a couple of options. On the bottom he put “no plate” thinking if he didn’t get his first two options he wouldn’t take any. They sent him the plate and it had “no plate” on it. He thought it was funny so he used it. The catch was every abandoned car in CA that doesn’t have a plate gets written up as…you guessed it “No Plate” he was getting 100’s of tickets a month. Pretty funny if you think about it.
heres my plate gotgreen i drive a green toyota prius …….lol..lol.
i like custom plates unless the person is a narc and has somthing lke hotchic or something vain. when u have multiole cars and have them numbered i think that is extra cool
I like the clever ones that have scratching you head until you figure them out. A couple that I remember are:
10SNE1 - Tennis any one.
IEXLR8 - On a hot rod. I accelerate.
I think in Calif the first vanity plate may have been ham radio operators. I have a friend that has plates on his garage going back to the early 1930’s. I could be wrong but what the heck..
My favorite one that I have seen: I saw one several years back on a new Cadillac that said IOBANK1. Another one I saw on a Mercedes, it said MY401K. I think vanity plates are a great way to express yourself especially if you drive for your own business. My neighbor owns a nail salon and her plate reads IDONALZ. I also saw one where I work that said SKYDIVR, I spoke to him and it turns out he is a skydiving instructor, and I ended up getting a business card and a brochure from him.
Some people get them just to be cute. I learned that they can also be a great way to attract attention to your business.
LOL. I wanna see a plate that says “pedophile”
I think they are cool to figure out especially in traffic, but the point of the license is to be unique and well every license is unique so I think its a waste of money because I already know that nobody else in the U.S. has my plate numbers/letters, I’d rather not pay an extra $40 just to make it just as unique if I didnt get vanity plates
I like vanity plates and I always try to have one appropriate for my cars. The coolest one I ever saw on another though was “A SPACE”. It was on a 2001 Honda Odyssey.. very clever.
I think customized license plates are “gr8″. They allow drivers to add some flare to a car that–might not–suit their personality.
Unfortunately, some drivers overlook their custom plates and tend to forget them in stressed situations. For example, in a hit and run, a customized plate is a real bummer for the driver–who obviously wants their identity to be unknown. On the other hand, it is a plus for the victim to be able to tell the police that “CRAZEE” was the one who wrecked their car.
My favorite personalized plate is one that I saw when I was in college. When I saw it I instantly knew two things. The first was that the person drove a Honda Accord (which I really didn’t notice until I saw the plate). The second was that the driver was probably a music student or teacher. The license plate read “A CHORD.”
I still recall a vanity plate (paper) I made for a Sergeant in my unit before departing Hawaii.
I taped the paper vanity plates onto his car the morning of the day I departed. I heard later that the Hawaiian Police stopped his car because of his license plates being covered. The Sergeant was so pissed-off that he attempted getting me in trouble at my new duty station in South Korea.
On the paper vanity plates I typed the letters -
MSTRB8
I’ll let readers figure-out what it means. The Hawaiian Police and the guys in my unit split their sides laughing so hard!!
on florida plates u can use the orange as an ( O ) so this is what my friend has
A55 the orange used as an O and RGY so it says
A55 ORGY lol
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who believe there are two kinds of people in this world, and those who are smart enough to know better.
The best I’ve seen is in LA and it said “NEBRO”.
well, this is the era of iPods, iPhones, and many other stuff with the letter ‘i’ at the beggining, so my plate would probably say… ICAR.
I think custom plates are really cool and it helps you express who you are. But there are also some of those plates that are really weird…i saw one that said sexadct one time and i was like ooookay funny but i wouldnt put that on blast. Then again my sign language teacher had a really cool one it had a hand symbol and it said aslmuch….which i thought was clever. I think it depends on what the person is trying to say…if it is about then as an individual then it is nice because they are sharing their life with you and it makes you wonder what they do or how they came across it. Then there are those people who think its cool to put something down and really they are posers…so i think it depends…like i want CHEFAYA for mine because i am a culinary major so i think that would be neat!
a kid in R.I. had ROLLAJ another was THC and He sold thc! A pimp had SNM, mine is IMU RU1 very taoist.
Well now thats a super easy question to answer.
Simply look up the creator of the license plate. The first ever will no doubt be a custom.
Some personalised plates are ok… like if you have your name or something cool.. but some are just annoying and stupid like : ERECT , PLAYYA , 696969
I had a dark blue cadi with personalized license plates and called it my whale. I had a Cal. License plate with a whales tale motif and the plate said. Abysss. I recieved lots of comments. all good.
i think the best licence plate i ever saw was ‘5EX 80M8′
Honestly, Mike…. do you really get paid for stuff like this? I submitted your blog (all of them) to this site for consideration of the Drivel Award of Excellence:
http://www.pibweb.com/daward.html
Don’t feel bad if you aren’t selected… there’s a lot of competition. Just rejoice in the knowledge that I think you’re a “Top Contributor” (with apologies to the company that pays your salary.)
Funny someone should mention if their car got stolen….Cars with vanity plates have a higher likelyhood of being vandalized or stolen (as opposed to cars with regular plates)
your conversation is good i got good information in it
I asked that same question about a week ago. Here’s the answers I was given:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AlKtJeqZUPT4o9b_9yuyhqLty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080620140002AAKOFau
I think they’re really cool actually. They distinguish you from the rest of the crowd and it adds another form of customization to your car that’s official.
I got my custom license plate to say my last name since I think it is a pretty uncommon last name: Cerino.
I also got a different type of plate here in California, I got the Arts Council license plate, with the palm trees and the sun, pretty neat actually.
NE14A69
My favorite is: AVO 3VOM so that when you see it in your rearview mirror it says “MOVE OVA”
I have had 2 of them.The first was in Iowa in the 90’s on my first Cadillac.It was KADKRAZ (Caddy Crazy).I also am an infantry veteran.In the infantry when you are on the radio 3 is pronounced ‘tree’.You guessed it.NFN3VET.
by the way on my Caddy the Des moines police pulled me over and a Colorado trooper to find out what it meant.Another one I had forgotten about 101ABN for 101st Airborne Division I was with in the Army
Once I saw a liscence plate that read ‘iseddppl’
Or, I see dead people.
It made my day! XD
I once saw a Dolorian (the car from Back to the Future) with the vanity plate…McFly!!
If I had a vanity plate it would be….Poetic1
vanity license plates have been shown to “speak” to car thieves. they see a license plate that says something about being a grandma or princess, they know a woman owns and drives the car, they find the car more vulnerable to theft. I found this article right here on Yahoo News. I just wish I had saved it.
Is it true that the first personal plates were made for Pope Pius in 1904 which said “CELIBACY ONE” ?
I enjoy trying to figure them out. But I’m often amazed at what people are willing to pay good money for! Seems silly to me to get a personalized plate which reads “Porsche” when you’re driving a …. you guessed it …. Porsche.
I chose a custom plate for my motorcycle because I decided that if I ever got a sportbike I would have to have the word “joy” on the plate. I did and I did. It hurts a bit more when registration time rolls around, but what the heck.
I know an attorney who’s plates are SHYSTER.
I saw a license plate that said
“ITCKL88″
I tickle 88-get it? she plays piano.
Being in the mental health field, the plates are of paticular interest to me. It is VERY interesting to see an informative plate FIRST, then see who gets in the car!! My favorite was found on a RV at a convienence store in rural NV. It read FUGAWE. I was sitting there trying to figure it out when an elderly [white hair] couple returned to the vehicle. Curiosity got the better of me so I asked the guy about it. His response was” Oh its just our attempt at a little humor. We are gonna get a little sticker to put above it that says “Where the” It took a few seconds to “get it”, but I was STILL LMAO when they drove away!!
I love to read vanity plates. Why would a license plate on someone’s car annoy you??? I drive a Ram-Air Trans Am and my plate is My Quik 1. I get positive comments constantly, and nobody has ever said anything negative to me.
My favorite…
A black Suburban with the plate “ORCA”
my favorite one i saw was “wepo2gs” “we portugese” i thought that was cute.
I have a vanity plate because I like them. Maybe people don’t want to pay extra for them so they hate vanity plates. They are fun when your kids are looking at plates when traveling. If you don’t like them- don’t read’em. Miserable people have nothin betta to hate
~DANIGRL~
don’t really care for vanity plates…i think they are too “showy”.
but I have to admit I saw an Toyota Prius with plates that said NV MY MPG…thought that was kindda cute. and yes, i did and still do NV her MPG
I like them, but the only thing is having them custom made is the worst part, but it does help as mentionned earlier, if the car needs to be identified, it is easier to say the license plate is something simple like ss rather than, for example, eaw 243,
Did you hear about the guy that wanted a vanity plate, but didn’t want to shell out the extra $40?? So he changed his name to 64r 2017.
LOL that is silly I saw a jeep one time that had a licence plate that said mud. that was a cool one
My tag renews in August and I’m planning to ask about getting “FUOPEC”.
I love personalized plates. I’ve had a few.
But my favorite was LSTNVGS - lost in vegas
It’s was a great conversation piece and how my life was at the time.
I think the custom plates are cool, and in 3 years I am going to get one that says “I-CUP”
In the United States, I believe that in some states, the owner of a car with vanity plates must pay an extra charge each year, over and above the car’s annual registration charge if he wants to use the plates on that car, but in other states there is no extra cost other than the cost of having those plates initially manufactured. Is that true?
I live in Texas and just got personalized plates. When I lived in California ( who i think is the state with the coolest personalized plate ) THE WHALE TALE with a bluck background.However it was pretty expensive at the time 90.00 for the actual plate plus another 50.00 to have it personalized. I am now in Texas where it only cost me about 45.00
I was thinking the same thing the other day ! Like so many married couples (a man and a woman), put their intials for a total of 6 or 7 letters or so, wonder who was the first couple to officially do that.
MCLOVN
Before I got married, my license plate had my 1st initail and last name. After I got married, I changed it to IMVOSNW. The NW stands for now, not Northwest. I also find bumper stickers or license plate frames to be a fun, distraction. My frame says, I Love Animals
Especially My Husband!
Did You E-mail Me Blog Today.
What Are You Doin Blog.
There are ONLY 2 kinds of people in this world.
Those who divide all people into 2 kinds.
And those who do not.
i dont really know but ill try to do some reserch on it
lol when im married i want my car to say “ILOVEU” nd my husbands 2 say “ILUVU2″ haha
i found them a little bit funny. where i live we can’t have one of those
Hey mike,how you doing? :).
There’s only two kind of people in this world. One is Doctor and another one is patient! You can’t find any second answer how ever you can explain. †…peace
There are 10 types of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don’t.
My favorite license plate - COOLGEEK
i have a vanity plate!!!! it says LLMALVR for Llama Lover!! HAHA. i love it! no one everrr gets it though. haha.
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I had personalized plates on my car, but we moved and I had to give them up. I miss my plates. I’m still trying to figure out the meaning to my life, so my plates read:
YMIHERE
I am the two type without license plate!!
Hi Mike,
the oldest customised number plate is from the 19th century! I’m not sure whether it was Queen Victoria or her uncle, the Kaiser of Germany who actually got there first. Be that as it may, only the british version still exists. If you see an escorted car in Britain which has a completely blank number plate, the Queen is in it!
I think that beats 1931 by quite a distance.
Cheers
Karma Singh
I olve custom plates.. in Britain you rarely see anything but ones with sexual innuendo.. such a s’TITAISY’ which is about someone called Daisy whith.. well.. you know o__O
I want one, but don’t know what i would put on it!
one of the greatest licence plates that i have seen is my dad’s its BOBCAT. The great part is though that my parents names are Bobby and Cathy. Isn’t that cute!!
I have a custom plate, and i just wanted it because they were rare for a while in my city, and when i went away to college, the city i was in was full of them, so when i got home from school, i wanted to stand out and be different!
Hey, I think the best one that I have seen was my wife’s old one… CHIWAWA… it’s just rad…
My silver ‘73 Mustang’s was OLGRYMR. I actually came up with the plate idea first and had to paint the car to match (it needed a paint job anyway).
http://secure.co.nr
The first one I remember seeing in the small town where I grew up was in the late 70’s or early 80’s. A girl down the street had a Mustang - her name was Terri, last name started with the letter F. Her plate read “TERRIF”. I thought it was cute.
If you have seen FINDING NEMO, then you’ll know my California Whale OCnservation plates say ISPKWHLE (i speak whale)
Wyoming only has four spaces for letters or numbers on their plates, so it was hard to customize. I put the name of my planet on mine. When someone asks why I have SYRA on my plate, I tell them about my published books which take place on Planet Syra.
And, yes, it is a legitimate advertising expense on my taxes.
1H4ZTRB0
Mine says–Dee V us
hi mike
i had a cousin that was at yahoo answer for about 2 years in was kicked off yahoo anwer for giving a answer to some one about http://www.ares.com cause he had heard it from another person answering the same question and the nexts day he was suspended for it in i dont think it is fair for yahoo answer will not give him a chance to come bak he all ready made 5 appeals but they told him to bad we dont want you here no more in i dont think it is fair at all ever
my plate , on my long awaited and much loved Camaro says DREMKCHR…. dreamcatcher…. Hubby’s truck is DREMWEVR.. dreamweaver….
i like custom plates i want DILLIGAF as my plate lmao
I do find some of them amusing, and I’ve thought about getting one for myself if I’ve got the cash to spare. I was considering NODISCO - Depeche Mode fans will know where that came from.
I LOVE trying to decipher custom plates that have abbreviated messages.
My husband and I were driving home years ago and we were following a car whose message I couldn’t figure out. Suddenly it came to me and I had a “Doh!” moment.
It read: GRU STPD
Yeah. “Gee, are you stupid!”
We don’t have vanity plates. But when I lived in the Bronx, a neighbor had a plate that said GR8FL DEAD.