Oval White Abbreviated Signs on Cars

[ChunkyLover53]

Does anyone know the origin of the oval white abbreviated signs you see on some cars? Some examples I've seen are OBX (OuterBanks), RHB (Rehobeth), IRL (Ireland), etc.
I notice a lot of England and Ireland signs on BMWs for some reason.

[E72521]

When I was stationed in Europe some twenty years ago, they were used to ID the country of origin of the vehicle. I believe-but not 100% sure-that they were required on your car when you crossed an international border.

[John Mace]

In the US, their used by pretentious Euro-wannabees who for some reason get off on showing that they have some connection to a European country.

[RealityChuck]

They were originally (and currently) used in Europe to designate the car's country of origin: F for France, D for Germany, GB for Great Britain, IRL for Ireland, etc.

License plates in Europe are all pretty much the same -- white letters/numbers on a black background -- so the sticker was used to differentiate.

Later, Americans thought they were cool and started using other abbreviations (the first around here was for a local radio station).

[Colophon]

License plates in Europe are all pretty much the same -- white letters/numbers on a black background...

That's certainly not true. Black letters/numbers on white is commonest, although there are variations. In the UK, for instance, they are black on white at the front and black on yellow at the back. Belgium and Denmark have red on white, and the Netherlands has black on yellow.

Most European countries now incorporate the country identifiers into a panel at the left of the plate, which for EU countries is blue, with the EU yellow stars and the country code.

[Pjen]

Full list here:

http://www.wirehub.nl/~tqdesign/cw-auto.htm

[everton]

This thread was posted in May: What are the oval stickers on the back of cars? (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=183776)

Not all the posts to it were very informative.

As well as the colour of lettering on number plates varying from one European country to another, the format of the numbers themselves varies quite a bit.

[FatBaldGuy]

As I understand it in Europe when you register a car you are assigned a number, but it is then your responsibility to provide a number plate which can be obtained at various stores. There are no "official" license plates like we see in the states. Am I wrong about this?

[Schnitte]

Originally posted by Fat Bald Guy
As I understand it in Europe when you register a car you are assigned a number, but it is then your responsibility to provide a number plate which can be obtained at various stores. There are no "official" license plates like we see in the states. Am I wrong about this?

Depends on the country. In Germany, you're assigned your number (pretty strict regulations here, btw - depending on the size of the county issuing the plate, it may consist of one or two letters followed by up to four digits, with certain letter combinations being banned for obvious reasons, like NS or SS. Basically, if you register your car, they give you a list of numbers available, and you pick one), then you can go to a licensed store that will make the plate for you. Those stores are regulated, and the plates they make are all the same in design throughout the country.

[Charlie Tan]

Originally posted by Fat Bald Guy
As I understand it in Europe when you register a car you are assigned a number, but it is then your responsibility to provide a number plate which can be obtained at various stores. There are no "official" license plates like we see in the states. Am I wrong about this? - Mmm Yes, and no.
It varies from country to country, as Schnitte says. In most countries, when you pick up your car at the dealer, it will have its plates assigned and affixed. Some countries (like mine) allow vanity plates and those are personal (they are mine, not the car's).

Back when I was a kid, you could indeed make your own plates. This is no longer an option, since too many found this a good way to get away with varying criminal activities.
When driving in Europe, the uniform way plates are in all countries lead me to think that this is the case everywhere.

[Munch]

I've seen a lot more here in the states that use college initials or local place name initials. Don't assume every one you see relates to a country.

[stuyguy]

I don't have a clue about the European stickers, but I do believe that in the states they are used to show local residency, especially regarding touristy island communities. Drivers with sticker-designated cars get "resident" parking and ferry privledges.

(Or so I was led to believe.)

[emmaliminal]

Re: Munch, I've seen several with "D'OH". These are apprently from Springfield, NT.

I made one a few years back with a pawprint icon for a dog-play group we used to belong to. Sadly, I didn't use good bumpersticker material and they fell off in the first rain.

[Munch]

Forgot to mention that I've also seen several band name initials: DMB (Dave Matthews Band) and BNL (Bare Naked Ladies) are the most noticeable. I imagine there's some GD (Grateful Dead) ones out there, as well.

[d12]

Anyone know where I could pick up a Czech one? I can't find them anywhere.

[flodnak]

Originally posted by r_k
Belgium and Denmark have red on white, Not quite. Danish plates for private cars use black on white, with a red border. The plate bears two letters followed by five numbers - exactly the same letter/number pattern used in Norway, so that red border on the Danish plate is the only difference you can see between them if the cars aren't carrying N or DK markings.

[herman_and_bill]

Originally posted by ChunkyLover53
Does anyone know the origin of the oval white abbreviated signs you see on some cars? Some examples I've seen are OBX (OuterBanks), RHB (Rehobeth), IRL (Ireland), etc.
I notice a lot of England and Ireland signs on BMWs for some reason.

Shoot, I thought OBX was for obnoxous.

[Achilles]

Italian plates have the tiniest writing you ever saw. I reckon its so you can't get the number of the guy in the Fiat 500, doing 250mph... :)

[jjimm]

Originally posted by John Mace
In the US, their used by pretentious Euro-wannabees who for some reason get off on showing that they have some connection to a European country. Also know by some as "souvenirs".

[everton]

Originally posted by everton
This thread was posted in May: What are the oval stickers on the back of cars? (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=183776)
From that thread:
Originally posted by manhattan
Yeah, that's pretty much the level of ignorance-fighting we're looking for.

More than one person in this thread is in immediate danger of becoming an ex-member of this message board. They know who they are.
Déjà vu anyone?

[Sunspace]

...These are apprently from Springfield, NT.There's a Springfield in the Northwest Territories? Man, those places are everywhere!!! :)

[moriah]

FBI (http://www.americastore.com/fbiovalsticker.html)

Bar Harbor (http://www.coolasamoose.com/eurost.html) (but not an ineffable BH).

The surmised to have existed GD (http://www.rainout.com/stgdoval.html).

BIGFY (http://www.beerisgoodforyou.com/store/html/bigfy%20oval.htm) (an advertisement of stupidity)

And, the self-referential parody: SOS (http://stupidsticker.homestead.com/main.html).

P

[Popup]

This is outrageous. This is supposed to be a forum for elimination of ignorance, not silly jokes and ignorant guesses.

Some of the answer was provided by Nametag in the thread linked to by everton. He said:posted by Nametag:
Lor' he'p us. The stickers originated as a way for countries to distinguish international traffic. The "official" stickers are recognized by the United Nations as listed in the "1968 Convention on Road Traffic and the 1949 Convention on Road Traffic." In pre-EU Europe, the oval white stickers were used to clearly indicate the nation of registration of a given vehicle: GB for Great Britain, F for France, D for Deutschland, E for España, etc. EU has switched to blue stickers with a circle of stars (EU symbol) surrounding the letter(s).

Anyone with the white stickers in Europe is driving an old car; anyone with either sticker in the U.S. is a pretentious twit, who insists that it be recognized that (a) he lives in a particular (yet none-too-distinguished-on its-own) area; (b) he has been "abroad," and is displaying the symbol of the country that he visited or that he claims as his ho
meland; (c) his car has been "abroad," and was once registered there.
The part about anyone in Europe with a white oval having an old car isn't quite true though.
It is true that many EU countries have 'new' licence plates, which to the left of the actual numbers have the EU emblem and the country code. Within those countries, that is accepted as a 'country designator', but I don't think that it would qualify as the 'distinguishing sign' described in the UN convention on Road Traffic (http://www.6towns.com/driving/Annexes.html). Thus, vehicles in international traffic ought to have the oval sticker, even in those countries. And there are other European countries (both EU members and non-members) where the lience plate does not integrate the above-mentioned country designator. In those cases it is indeed common to see the oval sticker as well.

On a slightly different tack, the country codes[ used to be those listed in the annex 4 of the link above. One problem is that quite a few of those countries don't exist anymore (e.g. Yugoslavia), have changed name (e.g. Nothern Rhodesia), or have changed status (I don't think the Algerians drive with 'F' stickers anymore.;)) Who desigates new codes for these countries?
Another issue is the I have seen stickers using the ISO 3166-1-alpha-2 codes (e.g. 'SE' instead of 'S' for Sweden.) Does this correspond to a general trend towards using ISO 3166 on vehicle designators? (In the same way as the Europpean postal union changed the postal codes a couple of years ago, and now prescribe using the ISO 3166.)