Bad License Plates

BobZ

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Gotcha - his vette was IM LAZY2 or IM 2LAZY - the family has the group. 5 Points Gulf station in Blue Bell (don't think the sell diesel though) but good service for gassers if you ever swing by - good peeps
 

K5ING

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I think a lot of states don't allow numbers and letters to be mixed up just for that purpose.
I think, in Texas anyway, any "0" is considered a zero (no letter "O"). I don't think I've seen any "Q" either. Also, spaces and dashes, or any other separator is not part of the plate number.
 

JSWTDI09

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I think, in Texas anyway, any "0" is considered a zero (no letter "O"). I don't think I've seen any "Q" either. Also, spaces and dashes, or any other separator is not part of the plate number.
Every state has different rules about these things. I do not know if this is still true, but when I was younger, I lived in Ohio. At that time (maybe still today) regular people could not have an "O" in their license. "O"s were reserved for "Official" vehicles (like police, fire, etc). In other words only government owned vehicles could have an "O" on their license plates. This was true until Oscar Robertson became an Ohio basketball star. They made an exception for him by giving him Ohio license plate "O" (for "The Big O"). (I guess I'm sort of giving away my age:rolleyes:)

Have Fun!

Don
 

MrMopar

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Every state has different rules about these things. I do not know if this is still true, but when I was younger, I lived in Ohio. At that time (maybe still today) regular people could not have an "O" in their license. "O"s were reserved for "Official" vehicles (like police, fire, etc). In other words only government owned vehicles could have an "O" on their license plates. This was true until Oscar Robertson became an Ohio basketball star. They made an exception for him by giving him Ohio license plate "O" (for "The Big O").
There was a scandal a while back in Illinois (Not that scandal, another one. No, not that scandal. No, not that one either . . .) where some people were paying some bribes to the Secretary of State to get low digit license plates.

When I was younger I got to meet "Big Pimpin" Jim Edgar on an occasion he came to my city to give a speech. I don't remember the exact circumstances, but I got my mother to get me out of school to go meet the best Governor Illinois has ever had in my lifetime. DAAAAMN was this guy immaculate in his appearance! He had a staff member carrying a giant hair brush before Blagojevich made that into a joke punchline. This guy had hair so dense and fine as to amount to a Marvel Comics helmet, slicked with Brylcreem to a beautiful silver sheen the color of Sterling. His teeth were white as can be in a time before the teeth-whitening craze began, gums like a young boy's, breath sweet, fingernails naturally shiny, unribbed, and lucent as seashells. This guy was magnificently salubrious in every single aspect of his appearance. His tie had a perfectly fat Double Windsor knot the size of a baby's fist, his jacket had lapels without a trace of lint, and his pants had the perfect crease in them and not a single wrinkle showed in his suit - as if he had been driven all the way from Springfield STANDING UP in the car. Dust dared not fall within 10 yards of this man.

Oy vey, I'm getting a case of the vapors just waxing nostalgic about it . . .

Anyways, the best license plate I have ever seen is on former Governor Jim Edgar's car. He drives a Lincoln Town car with a license plate that says "E"

 

K5ING

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When I was younger, back in the late 60's, I got to know quite a few Illinois political figures personally because of my hobby of collecting license plates. Aside from getting collections from 1911 onward, my particular passion was getting low number plates. Through this, I got to know Paul Powell (the SOS you mentioned before?). He actually lobbied some of the owners to give up their expired plates to this adorable 14 year old kid (we actually did exist back then!) from Aurora. He was always nice to me, so I won't go into the scandal you mentioned.

I also got to know Otto Kerner because he had #2. After bugging him for a year or two, he finally said he didn't have any #2 plates left, but gave me his "other plate"...."Official 1" from his days as governor. This was all by mail, however at the age of 16, I was in Lake Geneva, WI (the drinking age was lower up there back then), and happened to spot a car with Illinois #2 on it. I walked up to Mr. Kerner and introduced myself, and he recognized me as the kid who kept writing him for his plates.

Among the others I got to know included Ray Carpentier(sp?) who had #3, James Copley (of the Copley press and son of Ira Copley) who had #44, and Supreme Court Judge Roy Solfisburg who had "Supreme Court #4 plate, and Ken Yellin who had #71.

I got lots of other plates in the 1-100 range, but never actually met them in person. I was also one of the earlier members of the A.L.P.C.A. (Automobile License Plate Collectors of America) with #761.

Don't tell me I wasn't popular in school....LOL!
 
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VeeDubTDI

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I saw "XLR8" on a Cadillac XLR. Pretty nice plate.

"EATTHE" in VA is one of my favorites.
 

vdubdezl

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I used to have NVMY66 on the back of my 66 candyapple red Mustang until I took it off when I went drag racing it.
 

JSWTDI09

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I used to have a 1984 Prelude with a full Jackson Racing suspension package (it handled like a slot car). It had Ohio license plates OSSUM.

Have Fun!

Don
 

RMF2011

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On the right is my mom's CR-V. She told my dad that she wanted her last name, Titzer, on her plates. He laughed and told her they'd never do it. They did. And she said the lady at the license branch even suggested 2 TITZ instead! I pointed out the obvious, that no one is going to think that's her name, and I will never forget her reply: "F*** 'em. I love my plates"

And Indiana has gone to a 3 number, 3 letter standard issue plate, so some basic plates look custom because of the lettering combo. I don't know how it happened, but I've been seeing some with the letters GAY and the best one so far has been 247GAY!
 

Mike in Anchorage

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A well known attorney and Republican candidate for various offices in Alaska is Wayne Anthony Ross. His Hummer 1 has the simple plate of " W A R " which many think says more than just his initials.
 

sirpuddingfoot

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I am reminded about a story I head a long time ago about a devout Christian lady who ordered the license plate: "TITUS 4U", but received a version minus one of the "u"s and had to put them on until the DMV could correct their mistake. No idea if it's really true.

Google found at least one reference:
http://www.larknews.com/archives/16
 

K5ING

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Texas has a deal with a third party place that will make you custom plates recognized by the state. Of course, both they, and the state charge a small fortune for the privilege.
 

MrMopar

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Texas has a deal with a third party place that will make you custom plates recognized by the state. Of course, both they, and the state charge a small fortune for the privilege.
Small fortune? Here in Illinois we are getting ripped off to the tune of $99 A YEAR to pay for vehicle registration. On that website I am seeing 10-year plates for as low as $295 to get a random plate assigned. I'd love the option to pay in advance to screw the state out of $695 dollars in a decade.
 

kjclow

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I don't remember the exact numbers, but South Carolina used to offer the highest number of vanity plates of all the states and they have one of the smallest populations. In NC, the vanity plates cost an extra $30 a year. Then there are the specialty plates that cost an extra $25 a year with $15 going back to the organization. Oh, you can personalize those too, for the additional $30. I'll just pay my $28 a year and go with what they send me.
 

kydsid

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Small fortune? Here in Illinois we are getting ripped off to the tune of $99 A YEAR to pay for vehicle registration. On that website I am seeing 10-year plates for as low as $295 to get a random plate assigned. I'd love the option to pay in advance to screw the state out of $695 dollars in a decade.

That is the plate fee only. You still pay your yearly registration fee which is around $80 for most vehicles. If you think yours is bad move to Arizona. It's based on the age and cost of a vehicle. A 30k vehicles is about $420 the first year, $370 the second, etc.
 

MrMopar

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That is the plate fee only. You still pay your yearly registration fee which is around $80 for most vehicles. If you think yours is bad move to Arizona. It's based on the age and cost of a vehicle. A 30k vehicles is about $420 the first year, $370 the second, etc.
Ah, what a rip-off! I knew there was something wrong.

Thanks to your knowledge if I move to Arizona I will be keeping my vehicle registered in Illinois.
 

kjclow

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That is the plate fee only. You still pay your yearly registration fee which is around $80 for most vehicles. If you think yours is bad move to Arizona. It's based on the age and cost of a vehicle. A 30k vehicles is about $420 the first year, $370 the second, etc.
Sounds like our vehicle property tax here in NC. I think it was over $700 for the four cars this year. It's based on the state estimated value of the vehicle, which is typically above the blue book or edmunds values.
 

Mike in Anchorage

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I think, in Texas anyway, any "0" is considered a zero (no letter "O"). I don't think I've seen any "Q" either. Also, spaces and dashes, or any other separator is not part of the plate number.
We only allow 6 spaces in Alaska. I have both MCSQRD and EEQMC2. Yeah, I'm proudly a geek. :D
 

MrMopar

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So, I need some help picking out a couple of customized plates. Let's see if the crew here can help me pick some sly stuff that might slip past the MVD censors.

First plate I will be getting is an Eagle Scout specialty plate for my car.



The State of Illinois has distinct categories of "Vanity" plates and "Personalized" plates. The license plates are all made at a center that employs developmentally delayed people, so whatever. I still can't fathom how changing the letters and numbers of the punches is any harder or more expensive to separate those categories, but I live in Illinois so I just accept that it's another rip-off that people are expected to pay.

Vanity Eagle Scout Plates are a $94 fee on top of the regular registration. Those plates can be 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 letters.

Personalized Eagle Scout Plates are a $47 fee on top of the regular registration. Those plates can be 1 or 2 letters plus numbers 1 through 99, or 3 letters plus numbers 1 through 9.

Second plate I will be getting is an Antique Vehicle Motorcycle plate.



Vanity Antique Motorcycle Plates can be 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 letters.

Personalized Antique Motorcycle Plates can be numbers 1 through 99 plus 3 letters, or numbers 1 through 9 plus 4 letters.
 
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