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Vanity Plates

16K views 125 replies 21 participants last post by  smoke14 
#1 · (Edited)
There has been some discussion on here recently (I'll admit, much of it by me) on the subject of vanity plates. I've had vanity plates on my personal cars since the mid-1980's, maybe half a decade after I got my license. My folks have had vanity plates on their cars since the mid-1970's. At first they had "ELY 1" and "ELY 2" (our family name), but went their different ways later on when Pennsylvania added a 7th character's availability to the state's plates; they decided to go with messages that were closer to them personally. My dad went with "BASS UMP" (he is quite a good bass soloist and umpired youth and semi-pro baseball for 5 decades), while my mom chose "HAWKI 49" (She is a 1949 graduate of The University Of Iowa - the "Hawkeyes"). My older brother maintained the tradition while he still lived here in PA as well. At first, he had "HEY BLUE", since he too was a baseball umpire. However, on his acceptance at seminary, he changed that for "DEUT31-8", his favorite verse of scripture ("The LORD Himself will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will never leave you, He will never desert you. So do not be afraid. Do not lose hope". I read that over and over when I get depressed.) On moving to N.C. and discovering that they charge $50/year for them, he decided to live with a standard-issue tag on his SUV. Here in PA, it's a one-time $25 charge.

Here's my current car showing off it's plate. If you're a NASCAR fan, you'll be able to figure it out right away (Think Darrell Waltrip):



My old baby, my '66 Corvair Monza with it's 220 h.p. (at the wheels) engine, the car that loved to beat up on 5.0 Mustangs, had a plate meant to tell the drivers of those cars just what it was that just blew their doors off... :



(Please note that the "I" is the number "1" - the word "CORVAIR" was already taken by the time I applied for the plate)

My wife's plate was a birthday gift to her from her sister Ruby back around 1990. Rose paid the $25 for the same plate when PA did it's last replate in 2000. While it's kind of hard to make out in this photo (this is the best one I have available at the moment), it says "JESU JOY" (From Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"), her favorite hymn. As a Christian musician, it really means a lot to her:



I collect license plates, and have since I was an early teenager. My vanity plates are a favorite subgroup of my collection. I'll be posting photos of my plates as I manage to dig them up. In the meantime, let's have some fun with this. Post up the best vanity plates you see in your daily travels. Photographs aren't necessary; we'll take your word for it. I'll start with one that I saw while driving to work this morning at about 70 mph on the PA Turnpike. I wasn't about to try to get my phone out to shoot the back of a car going past at a good 10 mph more than I was going! Anyhow, I sure hope the guy made his living selling gear for fishermen, because the plate on the back of his Honda CR-V was...

"MR BAIT"!

One in my collectin that I need to dig up to post on here is another PA plate from the late 1970's/early 1980's... "STOLEN". Imagine the grief that guy got from all the police reports that commented that a car's license plate was "stolen".
 
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#63 ·
As a license plate collector and a model car builder, I have one of these Illinois special plates for a plastics association convention from a few years back. It cost me something like $8 shipped on eBay. There are other oddball things like these. For instance, Delaware's surf fishing license is a plate that goes on the front of your car:



I didn't have any success finding the G SPOT plate in Google Images, but I did find several others that I've wanted to find, plates that I'd seen in the past. These first two are actual regular-issue plated that somehow made it out onto the streets... and what they seem to say got overlooked by the recipient. For instance, you'd have to wonder bout the guy who would keep this plate on his Lincoln and not demand that Tallahassee replace it because of what it appears to say about him... Unless he really LIKED it, that is!:



This one is just WRONG!:



Maybe this one (of course an actual vanity plate), belongs to Bill Clinton... :



Keep this one mounted like this and you're opening yourself up for a bunch of legal trouble... After all, in most states it's very illegal to drive with your license plate mounted upside-down!:



In other news, I did see one good one over the weekend, but I was driving so I couldn't get a picture. Pennsylvania plate "4WEEKNZ" was on a very shiny, very black late 1990's Corvette Z-06. This replica was made with the "Acme License Maker" website, a resource I've used for plates for my model car. Sadly, I don't know enough about the photo editing software on my new computer to get rid of the keystone in the middle of this plate, but you get the idea. This is the website if you want to play with it. All states are available:

 
#66 ·
Here in Pennsylvania, a vanity plate only costs the buyer a one-time $25 fee, which strikes me as being enough to cover making and shipping the plate. I really don't think they're making a killing on them. Some other states like New York and North Carolina charge $50 or more PER YEAR for them. For those states, I think they'd qualify as a minor "Cash Cow".
 
#68 ·
I suppose there are somethings you just have to let go. The elongated blue "G" is not an option for a vanity tag in the state of NC. Went to the NCDMV here in town and they turned me on to the NC.gov site. It has a listing of viable logo options for NC. The "G" isn't one of them. I can't readily access any other states site without a viable tag number. So for now I'm at an impasse. Still hoping one day to see the jerk-off traveling 321 again. :cool:
 
#70 ·
The start of this portion of the thread is now pretty well buried. So a bit of reiteration might be in order. I did follow him, at about 100 mph, to the Gaston / Lincoln County line. He was pulling away. I could have gone faster but I was told by the Lincoln County NCSHP dispatch if I left the county I couldn't file an accident report. This report will only be of a benefit if our paths again cross.This is the third time over about 20 years I've been screwed out of apprehending a suspect that has violated my property; because the law stops at some "border." This will N E V E R happen again. I will give them cause to either call ahead or pursue from now on. What you see in the attachment is all I can recall about the tag. The elongated blue "G" beside SPOT. It looked like an NC tag. Dark, bold, Ariel font in what looked like blue, on a white background. Rage and speed evidently clouds one's judgment somewhat.
 
#72 ·
seems this topic is slowing down a little, so in the same vein...

Can someone tell me why people will cover up or blur our their license plate when they post a pic of their car?

I mean, I can get in my car and drive by all my neighbors, and see their plate numbers... I can go to a store parking lot and see everyone's plate number... I can even see a guy see and talk to a guy I don't even know about something, and see his plate number on the car he gets into (in the context of maybe associating the plate number with a subject you are talking, I.E. posting, about...?)

Am I missing something here?
 
#74 ·
Can someone tell me why people will cover up or blur our their license plate when they post a pic of their car?
Happens all the time on CL and FB groups that use photos.


I did mine for to be funny, implying that I did something 'less than desirable' with the car.

The untouched photo.......



As there are no less than 30 vehicles all with the exact same plate number it really does not matter much.
 
#73 · (Edited)
It is always explained to me that people can find registration information on the internet and people with special cars do not want them to be able to do that from posted pictures and come steal their cars from the registered locations.

I really only notice it on television for the most part and I think there - it is related to not having permission to put out that "traceable" information on the air.

I am like you though - it is out in the public domain and as I understand it not a real requirement to cover it up.

The funniest encouter I have had with it - is when some of our own club members did not want images of their plates shown on our private web site or email groups when we all had already been at their house - where they kept their cars and they are all are insured - behind locked doors and gates sometimes! Or they had just driven to someone elses house down the freeway with all those 24/7 video monitors.

The funny part is that the one who voiced the most objections was the one who suggested we use the rear end of our vettes to be different from other groups, we were at their house and his main justification was that a bad person could infiltrate the club and gain access to run a theft program. I am guessing it could happen, but I cant see myself living my life with that kind of attitude or paranoia.
 
#75 ·
It is a safety thing. Especially for those who are in a position where they or their family members could be desirable targets for kidnappers or terrorists. And there are some experts who even caution everyone, no matter what their position in life, against posting pictures of your children, grandchildren, etc., so they don't become the potential targets of kidnappers, stalkers, or sexual predators.
 
#76 ·
Wow. that would be a sad paranoid life.
Like I said, what's the difference between posting pics of a license plate or of your children ... and just walking out side with them and going to the store or on vacation?... do you just not leave the house? Do you cover up your plate when you get out the car so the bad guys don't associate you with that plate number?
 
#77 · (Edited)
Yeah, I don't know. I've posted pictures of my kids, cars, whatever. I figure I haven't got enough to make it worthwhile for someone to hunt me down and my kids are all grown and able to take care of themselves well enough that I would almost pity anyone who might try to mess with them. But if I was one of the Madonnas or Rockefellers or Spellings of the world, then I might think differently.
 
#81 ·
OK, 1) it's not a vanity plate but a regular-issue tag, and 2) I don't have photographic evidence of it's existence but, on the way to work one day last week I was passed by a Ford Crown Victoria former police car all decked out in various shades of rattle-can black primer with plenty of runs, sags, and uneven application, wearing the New Jersey license plate "A11 FKD". Tell me, was that appropriate or what, 'cause the car did indeed look "ALL F***ED! Double-take city, y'all! This one was in almost in a league with the Florida "A55 RGY" with the big, round orange smack dab in the middle that I posted a while back... but not quite.

(New Jersey's current plates are either a letter, 2 numbers, a space, then 3 letters like the Florida plate referred to above, or 3 letters, a space, 2 numbers and a letter)
 
#82 · (Edited)
We ran across this one rolling down one of the tollways last Saturday. He blipped the throttle going by, but I had already seen coming and grabbed the camera for Mrs Fox and pulled in behind him as he went by. He shut down at 90 - and I think he was dissapointed - we had caught up to him within 3 car lengths!!! He took off again at the next traffic opening, but we had to exit for our lunch spot at the same time. Mrs Fox did pretty good this time getting 7 or 8 images of him as we followed along behind him! :thumbsup:

 
#83 ·
Yeah, those kit cars just don't like being run down by real American sports cars! Not only that, but am I the only one who sees something slightly wrong about a 60's style performance car with a GPS right out there front and center? :lol:

(But I do kinda like the bungee cord holding the trunk closed. Stay classy, my friend.)
 
#85 ·
I have a GPS up when we travel because it shows me the road up ahead - kinda like the layout of a race track. Really helpful on the back roads at speed. You cant really tell what it is, but the black square just under that GPS on the Cobra windshield is our local toll tag!

Wow, nice job keeping up, Mr. Fox! Crazy!
I have a really nice tune with a lot of torque from a long time C4 specialist and the kick down to 2nd from overdrive for a brief pass on the highway will literally pin you to seat until you let up! :thumbsup:
 
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