vanity plates.....
 

...is this an amusing little snapshot of the nation?

http://www.lcns2rom.com/vanityplatesurveypage2.htm

i'm most impressed by Illinois and Virginia. California, i expected. New Hampshire does not surprise me, either.

but, what is more amusing to ponder, when you're at a traffic light?

a harley davidson sticker on a japanese car?

those chelsea tractors (Brit speak for SUVs) driven by soccer parents with about 6 college stickers and 3 prep school stickers on them?

Vanity plates are basically free in Virginia. Almost no reason not to get one.

Except that they scream to the world, "I am one cheesy motherfucker."

I have yet to see a vanity plate that I would prefer over a random letter/number combo.

I'd go with: "VntyPlatesSux"

eh, too many letters.

"IM CHEE-Z"

while i agree with JV that if you lower the bar by making them a no-added cost option you'll see more of them --it still caters somewhat to that extroverted personality.

i would think the downside is that it makes it easier for people to remember your car when you've pulled a jackass maneuver in town. if you commute regularly, you often see the same people in herd with you and it's that much easier to recognize the same asshole when it's the same license plate that is easy to remember.

often times, vanity plates are like those weightlifter zuba pants to me.

:lol: So true!

In Illinois, iirc, you can get a vanity plate with a number on the end for a one time fee of $10. If you want no numbers, it was $75/year or something like that. So if you want a plate that says RODS911 (a plate a friend of mine has on his '77), you pay $10 once. Almost free.

Am I the only one too slow to figure these out?

What I don't get are people that put their car model in the vanity plate. Sucks when you change cars -- especially now in AZ since the old plate goes to the new car.

Here's a couple like that I've seen:

03 Camry... on an '03 Camry
FX45... on an FX35 (does the guy think the license plate gives him the bigger engine?)
My F150... on a VW New Beatle... WTF?

I don't know. These aren't cheesy, are they?

http://teamwtf.smugmug.com/photos/149925446-M.jpg

http://teamwtf.smugmug.com/photos/150043964-M.jpg

http://teamwtf.org/gallery/albums/album99/tag.jpg

http://teamwtf.smugmug.com/photos/199315199-M.jpg

I was waiting for something like this.

I'd still prefer a cool sticker in the back window.

And the only people who'd get it already know about it. So...

I had a personalized plate on one car in my life.

I thought it was REALLY COOL.................










for about one week.

I have a couple different "replica" (fake) plates for my Atom, for photo shoots and that sort of thing. I also got a couple nasty ones to express my disdain for the 8-month runaround I got from the NJ MVC (Motor Vehicle Commission - what we call our DMV since the last batch all went to jail). Funny enough, Klaus Schnitzer of Sports Car International wouldn't let me use my "MVC SUCKS" or "NJ SUCKS" plates for the article he did on my Atom. So we went with "ATOM 2".

My real plate is a nondescript xxx-### plate. I have enough trouble with people following the Atom home - I don't want to make it easier for them to find me by having an easy-to-remember plate.

We've been pretty surprised by the reactions the tags seem to elicit from others when we're towing the Boxster with the Armada. People roll down their windows and tell us how cool they think it is. People flip us off (sometimes smiling, sometimes looking pissed). They wave and give us thumbs up.

I'm not saying that it's good or bad, just kind of interesting and bizarre.

Too many vanity tags in VA are something really innovative, like the initials of the husband and wife. :)

We did get a vanity take for the Roadster.

DA KAR

The frame reads, Be Yellow.

Those would all be "standard" issue plates in RI (no extra fee).

The first one would be a governer's prefered plate (lots of people in RI want their initials with 1 or 2 numbers... so you inquire with the governor's office each month to see what plates with your initials are available.) The second and third would be generic plates and I'm sure they're already in circulation (our old plate format was AB 123, until this summer when they started issuing new plates with 6 numbers)

They actually run a weekly vanity plate article in the Cars section of the paper here, people submit a picture of their plate along with the story behind it. There are lots of silly plates here, but some people have very creative ones too.

Our MINI customers are more likely to have a vanity plate, and I've seen some very good ones.

Cost for a standard passenger is plate is $60 for 2 years, while a vanity plate is $240 for 2 years (they doubled it this year, used to be $120 for 2 years).

You don't have luftwaffe model designations memorized? :lol:

The first day I had mine I got accosted by two teenage girls in a beat-up accord who wanted to talk about the plates. An elderly black woman at a gas station struck up a conversation about it and when I explained it she wished us luck :lol: (clearly she didn't get it).

The people waving on the way to and from Topeka broke up the monotony of the drive... which was appreciated.

What was not appreciated was the woman in the minivan who gave us the finger and shouted something before trying to cut us off.

Heh, my state is #4 !

All my vehicles have vanity plates. To me, it beats having the everyday run-of-the-mill random letters and numbers.

And mine doesn't have those cheesy and obnoxious "1QT4U", "2FAST" horseshit. It actually says something about the driver.

I've had the same vanity plates for 28 years, my mom got them for me when I graduated college.....

Ed

So lemme get this straight, Ed. You've been running around with plates that say IMSOV8N for 28 years now? Is that right?

If so, somehow that doesn't surprise me.

Guess you got 'em before Carly Simon could call dibs, huh?

Regardless, those must be the longest running plates (not attached to dentures) in Connecticut.



J/k Ed! :D

Good to see you back. I was afeared your drive-by(wire) posting days had ceased here. :)

Nah, I intend to remain suitably banal in an "approval-seeking" sort of way, wouldn't want to upset the natives :lol:

Ed

I saw one the other day...

"DR SJF" on a white MB SL500... and it was a woman driving.

I wonder if "SJF" are her initials... or if she is advertising that she's a SJF who happens to be a doctor?

Single Jaundiced Female?

Back in the late 80s, I would occasionally see an SEL500 that was in the drug dealer monochrome white made popular on Miami Vice with this tag: OUNCES

Single Jewish Female :dunno:

Long time, no bump.

But I saw a good one a month or so ago:

79 IX XI

Guess what it was on?

Saw a similar one today:

MMCMXI

Guess what it was on?

My uncle (who is a physician) had an O.B. doctor friend of his drive around in his S-class Merc with a vanity plate that read, "STORK II".

I've always thought that was pretty clever, and not too pretentious. :dunno:

It's these types of plates that I don't mind seeing in other vehicles.

I've seen a car (well, an SUV) that is obviously driven by a certain type of physician License plate is "PP DOC"

There's also a lawyer in my office building that has 2 cars with the following license plates (he gets at least one new car a year too):
"GOODFTH" - always on either a 7 series or S class sedan
"BADFTH" - always on either an M6 or AMG S class coupe

The appeal of them is still lost on me.

My sister's husband's name is Rik, and she got herself the plates:

Luv U Rik

Or something similar. Sucks to be him. :lol:

My wife saw the following the other day on a Corvette or similar:
VAH JJ

Huh...that could apply to the guy that my cousin's daughter married on Saturday: Very AssHat JJ (JJ being his name)

I saw GODSGFT on a Camry the other day.

Saw this one at the MINI dealer

Man, that person likes IM a whole lot more than I do.

I continue to love seeing this one in my rear view mirror on a late model Z28 driven by a bleached blond:

"3M TA3" Read in Reverse in your Mirror.

Ahh, the classics. :D