I’ve had plates wear out. The printing flaked off some of the numbers do they were illegible from a distance. Had to get new plates with new number.
Or a fan of Hamilton. [When are these colonies gonna rise up? (Whoa, whoa)]
I saw one today that looked like a regular plate, not a custom one, but made me chuckle:
666 NAY
Which translated in my head to:
JUST SAY “NO!” TO THE ANTI-CHRIST!
The other day I saw a truly mystifying one. It was an out-of-state plate but I didn’t get a good enough look to know which state it was. It said EAT PANT. The frame was plain with no words. Color me baffled.
Knock off Simpsons reference.
Thank you.
At least here in the Midwest, they certainly can and do, probably in part due to road salt during the winter months. The reflective coating wears off, and the paint fades and peels.
A few examples:
That could be. Here in the rainforests of western Oregon I almost never see faded or worn plates. It rarely gets cold and salt and sand on roads just aren’t really a thing. The worst plates I see are on the back of work trucks that likely spend a lit of time on dirt roads. Of course, Oregon has had the same basic plate design since 1989 
so its hard to identify old plates – they all look the same at first glance. Prior to ~2005 the serial format was ABC 123, and subsequent to 2005 it’s been 123 ABC. Otherwise they’re all the same.
I just inspected the front plate of my 2007 chevy shitbox which has the original plates. 125k miles. There are a few dings and little dents on it but its not fated or peeling or otherwise showing much age. The car has never been garaged.
I saw a poignant and sad one yesterday. Older couple, age 75+ driving a generic sedan down the highway. The plate:
MS MY SN
On that same road trip I saw one that might or might not be personalized. The letter/number pattern did not match recent issue for FL’s standard plates, but this was one of the custom background plates and over time those have had quite a variety of letter / number patterns different from the patterns used on the standard plates.
Anyhow, the car was a ~5 yo Jaguar sedan, the one that is very stately and stodgy looking. In a factory color that’s roughly a refined sky blue. Totally the car an aging wealthy man or woman might drive while wearing their ascot or pearls. It had gotten on the freeway from an on-ramp where the local area is full of retired celebrities and fat cats who live on gated islands or gated golf courses.
The plate:
ITS 007
Could that be Peirce Brosnan or Roger Moore? Certainly could be. Or maybe just somebody who liked the car and the Bond association. Or the plate was just the next one in the stack when someone got to the window at the DMV. I’ll never know.
[former tag agency worker]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Florida
The normal Florida sequence is 1 letter, 2 numbers, then 3 more letters, but I have seen an alternate format with 3 numbers, a space, then a 4th number followed by 2 letters, but this fits neither. Last sequence to have the “James Bond” format there XYZ 123 was issued in 1984. [there was also a 123 ABC one in the 80’s as well] So I’d call that personalized almost certainly since nobody is going to carry over a generic plate from the early 80’s for forty years even if the FDMV let them. Could be a third option, in that the clerk that day and the customer might have collaborated on choosing that specific sequence out of a generic box, esp. if the clerk was a friend or relative. “Hey Joe do I have the plate for you and your Jag!”
[Pedant] Aston Martin DB Mark III [/P] at least in the books when he ditched his Bentley.
Very near where I live in the UK someone has the numberplate FICCO.
I like to think they were considered a failure at school, but have been relatively successful in more recent times.
I didn’t know UK had personalised plates.
In FL the current standard ID pattern on ordinary plates is either AAA A## or AA# #AA. With the latter being the newer pattern.
The non-standard plates often have different numbering schemes, AA ###A being common on many of them. It’s an absolute dogs’ breakfast of inconsistency.
Ordinary plates are replaced every 10 years with a new number in the current pattern whether you like it or not. About a year ago I lost a perfectly good AAA A## for a different and less harmonious AA# #AA plate. Why? Who knows?
It’s not clear to me what they do about non-standard background plates or personalized plates after 10 years, but I expect folks get a new piece of metal in any case.
Florida. It’s not like other states.
Today I saw a Florida panther license plate: MME 0WW
In the parking lot of a liquor store: WINEAU
Oh, yes. Here’s one that belonged to (the late) Paul Daniels, a TV magician.
I’ve just returned from a trip to California which seems to be personalized plate Mecca.
While there I saw Subaru Highlander SUV with every off-road accessory known to man. It had a Colorado plate (the one with the mountains as the background) on a which read TOTHMTN.
I saw a California plate on a nearly new high end Mercedes that read ALL WZ RT. I’m not sure if their ego means they are always right, or all was right to set up the investment that let them afford the car.
California also allows some special icons in their personal license plates. Just now I tried to search up a cite with some details, but I’m on an airplane and the internet is a tad flaky. Anyhow, I saw “
OUTLTS” on a family wagon. I assume she was excited about discount stores, not electrical receptacles.
I saw lots of names and initials. And a couple I can’t now recall that seemed to just be letter salad. And a couple other thought-provoking ones I should have written down at the time, but now can’t dredge up. Oops.
Toyota, perhaps?