As a tangent to the license plate thread, does your state have "blackout plates?" I don't know if Iowa was the first state, but I think if not, it was pretty close to the first state to offer these a couple of years ago.

Blackout plate news story

I've started seeing cars from other states having them. Its a brilliant idea, pay a little bit extra each year to the "road fund" and get an all black license plate instead of Iowa's ugly blue, white and lime green one. We have them on 2 cars and I've gotten comments driving in other states about them.

Re: “I don't know if Iowa was the first state, but I think if not, it was pretty close to the first state to offer these a couple of years ago.”

California had yellow characters on a black plate in 1953 or earlier. Standard, rather than a vanity plate offering. But nowadays we can get the yellow-on-black as a vanity plate.

Great idea! Make it easy for the license plate readers/location trackers (it isn't just the cops that have these, although they probably have the best database).

Delaware's white on black license plate has been around since the Ford model T. My grandfather had one.

I believe now it's a limited historical series (the low numbers: X to XXXX) and they are often willed to family heirs. Some are auctioned off... decades ago the number 4 (the lowest non-gov't owned license #) was auctioned off for over a million $.

TX has had it in a few variations for a while.

Our standard plates are "blue-out". Dark blue with white numbers.

Of the roughly 150 different options for license plates here though (drives me nuts), there are a few that have black backgrounds and white numbering. Pretty much any organization can have their own distinct license plates here. I'm not sure what the requirements are, but there are about 150 different ones now. Apparently, a portion of the fee for licensing then goes to that organization...or some such thing. It's gotten ridiculous.

We need to go back to one standard plate for the whole state IMO.

Could this be a money grab? Design the ugliest plate possible and then charge extra to get an optional less obnoxious but not theamed one? Might catch on.

It bugs me that Tennessee law requires a redesign of our plates every eight years... Why?

Hell, I still miss the old days when the first two digits of the tag denoted which county it was from. That was cool. The biggest county by population got #01 and so on down the line to #95 for the smallest county. This was dropped in 1988.
Any other states that do this?

Iowa plates used to have the county number on the plate. County names replaced numbers in 1979.

If you want to get lost in license plate history, visit this site:

http://www.15q.net/usindex.html

Michigan recently re-introduced it's old yellow-on-dark-blue, "Water - Winter Wonderland" license plate:



Seeing a lot of them around.

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
Could this be a money grab?

In TX:
$495/5yrs
$445/3yrs
$195/1yr
Plus annual registration cost.

This style is available in 4 colorways [Black/White, Black/Silver, Blue/Silver, Pink/Silver]
Then there's dozens of other designs as well.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Great idea! Make it easy for the license plate readers/location trackers (it isn't just the cops that have these, although they probably have the best database).

I was thinking the same thing. With all the photo radar and photo red light cams around here, people are starting to put an opaque tinted cover over their plate to make it more difficult to even get a good photo of the plate.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
Could this be a money grab?

In TX:
$495/5yrs
$445/3yrs
$195/1yr
Plus annual registration cost.

This style is available in 4 colorways [Black/White, Black/Silver, Blue/Silver, Pink/Silver]
Then there's dozens of other designs as well.

Oofta...that is a possibility on the ugly license plate and then the blackouts a couple years ago, but evidently there was some sort of "vote" about the plates with the lime green bottoms winning and then several years passed before the blackout, but they only cost $35 extra for the initial plate and $10/yr thereafter. If you go personalized blackout, it is $60 initial fee ($25 plate + $35 blackout fee) and $15 each year thereafter ($5 "validation fee" + $10 blackout fee). This is all on top of your regular registration cost.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Great idea! Make it easy for the license plate readers/location trackers (it isn't just the cops that have these, although they probably have the best database).

I was thinking the same thing. With all the photo radar and photo red light cams around here, people are starting to put an opaque tinted cover over their plate to make it more difficult to even get a good photo of the plate.

Well if it's opaque you won't see anything at all .

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
I still miss the old days when the first two digits of the tag denoted which county it was from. That was cool. The biggest county by population got #01 and so on down the line to #95 for the smallest county. This was dropped in 1988.
Any other states that do this?

It's still that way here on the standard plates.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Great idea! Make it easy for the license plate readers/location trackers (it isn't just the cops that have these, although they probably have the best database).

I was thinking the same thing. With all the photo radar and photo red light cams around here, people are starting to put an opaque tinted cover over their plate to make it more difficult to even get a good photo of the plate.

Well if it's opaque you won't see anything at all .

Yes, true. Interesting that they do make an switchable opaque cover, although what I mainly see around here is just a dark tinted plate cover, or some type of cover that allows you to only read it if you are directly in front of behind it, kind of like those privacy monitor screen covers used in offices.

Google Ghostplate and you will see what I mean about the ones that go opaque.

The GHOSTPLATE™ Road Warrior™ cover consists of a PDLC membrane. In the natural state, the PDLC membrane is completely opaque which obscures the plate and tag information. When power is applied, the PDLC membrane switches to a completely transparent state and remains so until the current is suspended. You will be able to have the ability to obscure your license plate from probing eyes with a simple flip of a switch.

I guess I’m in the club of I don’t get it. I don’t care how ugly the state design is of the license plate. I’m not giving the state another nickel to waste.


Then again I’m from Illinois so I might be bitter.

I also haven’t used a front plate in a two plate state in over 25 years.

quote:

Originally posted by radioman:

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Great idea! Make it easy for the license plate readers/location trackers (it isn't just the cops that have these, although they probably have the best database).

I was thinking the same thing. With all the photo radar and photo red light cams around here, people are starting to put an opaque tinted cover over their plate to make it more difficult to even get a good photo of the plate.

Oh.. the ones that usually don’t work and gets you a ticket for obstructed plate?

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
I still miss the old days when the first two digits of the tag denoted which county it was from. That was cool. The biggest county by population got #01 and so on down the line to #95 for the smallest county. This was dropped in 1988.
Any other states that do this?

It's still that way here on the standard plates.

NE still has the county numbers on the plates except for the 3 most populated counties in the state. They have the 3 letters and 3 digits. It won’t be long before other counties go to that. Our county has grown so much the county actually ran out of plates twice last year.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

In TX:
$495/5yrs
$445/3yrs
$195/1yr
Plus annual registration cost.

^ This is why I’d never have one. Registration is already enough.

I don't understand. What purpose does this serve?