Passing the Plate

by Bryan

14 comments

1 Mustang Bobby { 11.19.06 at 10:27 am }

That’s the plate I have on the Pontiac. I think it’s interesting to look at and it supports the arts. I also think that from a distance it’s impossible to read. 🙂

I’m debating whether or not to switch my Mustang plate out for one of these when it comes up for renewal and plate-swap in a couple of years. I hate the new “MyFlorida.com” plate, and the two oranges together with the orange blossoms look slightly obscene.

2 Karen { 11.19.06 at 10:32 am }

That almost looks like two Kissing Fish (in Pink) with their lips pressed together (albeit in a highly abstract manner!)

I like It!

3 Bryan { 11.19.06 at 1:33 pm }

Bobby, I think the current run of plates look too much like Georgia’s with the peaches and are obscene on many levels. The Arts might clash with a red Mustang, Imagine might look better. The Education has better colors, but it isn’t well done graphically.

From the professional stand point of someone who once had to report plate numbers while pursuing vehicles, this sucker is totally unreadable at highway speeds.

Karen, this is one of the best looking of the specialty plates. There are some real dogs, graphically, among these plates. I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler, but I could certainly digitally manipulate something more relevant and pleasing than most of these plates.

4 ellroon { 11.19.06 at 3:08 pm }

Ripped pieces of construction paper across a rectangle is the essence of the arts? I don’t think so.

How about a plain orange plate with numbers? Less is more? Nah….

5 Bryan { 11.19.06 at 5:52 pm }

Ellroon, California did it with black and orange, and New York did it with dark blue and orange, although they both claimed it was gold, not orange.

This plate at least has a sense of color, although the maroon letters don’t get it.

6 Steve Bates { 11.19.06 at 8:04 pm }

Fish have lips? Who knew!

A lot of states, including Texas, have license plates that proclaim them the “State of the Arts.” A hasty reading, or dyslexia, or an anagram fixation, could so easily turn it into “Taste o’ the Farts” …

7 Bryan { 11.19.06 at 8:32 pm }

Actually, Steve, it’s pathetic that these plates are one of the major sources of funding for the arts in Florida. Public schools once had art and music teachers, but they are being sacrificed on the altar of standardized testing almost everywhere.

8 Jack K. { 11.19.06 at 8:53 pm }

…where I grew up the license plates said “Famous Potatoes”. This looks just fine to me…

9 Bryan { 11.19.06 at 9:50 pm }

Florida once alternated between reddish-orange and green letters on a white background and said “Sunshine State”. The first two numbers were your county, followed by a letter that indicated vehicle weight, and then 5 numbers, but that system broke down when people started to move down here.

I have a cousin who lived outside Coeur d’Alene, but he may have moved by now as he wanted to be far away from people.

10 jamsodonnell { 11.20.06 at 11:04 am }

Ah your number plates are far nicer than ours. On one end they are white with the car’s registration number on the other yellow – not a golden or sunshine state in sight.. If we did have such things mine would proably have to say nondescript suburban London I suppose!

11 Bryan { 11.20.06 at 11:48 am }

If they follow the Florida pattern, Jams, it could have your football club, or a RSPCA plate. The European plates are much easier on the eyes of police officers and provide the no nonsense reason for having number plates.

12 Mustang Bobby { 11.20.06 at 1:57 pm }

My favorite plates that I’ve owned have been the Colorado series from the early 1980’s with the green mountains and white sky. I had the same plate from 1982 to 1990 and hated trading it on for the boring blue Michigan plate. My other favorite is the New Mexico yellow plate with the red letters and the Zia sun symbol as the letter/number separator; the current optional “balloon” plate is too…much.

I lived in New Mexico twice; 1977-1978 and 1995-2001. When I moved back to New Mexico I thought it would be cool to see if I could get my old number back, and the state happily allowed me to get it as a vanity plate. The number was meaningless, but now I have two NM plates in my collection thirty years apart with the same number. Little things amuse little minds, I guess 🙂

I’ve thought about getting a vanity plate for the Mustang, but the current plate serial ends with “FTS,” and how could I get rid of a plate that says “Fuck This Shit.”

13 Mustang Bobby { 11.20.06 at 3:22 pm }

Florida once alternated between reddish-orange and green letters on a white background and said “Sunshine State”. The first two numbers were your county, followed by a letter that indicated vehicle weight, and then 5 numbers, but that system broke down when people started to move down here.

Bryan, I remember the old numbering system from when I was in college in Miami in the early ’70’s. Dade County was “1” since, I guess, it had the largest population, and the weight class on the bigger cars like Cadillacs and Lincolns was “ww”. I remember being in a traffic jam on Miami Beach once and all you could see were “1ww” plates for blocks.

14 Bryan { 11.20.06 at 5:54 pm }

What’s annoying. Bobby, is that they issue new plates every 5 years and you end up with a new number, so the FTS is only good for 5 years.

I had a 43D for compact Okaloosa County on my Kharman Ghia and my MGB-GT, but I ended up with a straight 43 for my ‘Cuda.