# Do you remember the number of your first license plate? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 17, 2015, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942 "2015-02-17T19:06:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/21 "2015-02-17T21:41:40Z")
My first car started out in NH and I don’t remember that plate, but when he moved to VT he got three letters-three numbers, which I do remember. Back to NH, and he has three numbers- four numbers. With no letters to help, I can’t remember my current plate number. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/22 "2015-02-17T21:46:05Z")
In the “old days,” you often had to write your license plate number on the credit card form when you bought gas, so I was pretty good at remembering it. It’s lost from my memory now, as is my current license plate number, which I never had a reason to use. I do recall one plate I had when i first moved to this state in 1987. Lost that car and its plate in my first divorce in 1989. Now sure why I remember it. 469 AXO ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/23 "2015-02-17T22:55:48Z")
Mine are easy, because they’ve all been personalized. WOMBAT was the first one. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/24 "2015-02-17T22:59:02Z")
I still have my first license plate (1968 issue). If I were still in California, it would be on the car. I also have one original plate for the first car I bought (also a 1968), and the vanity plates I got after losing one and getting a fix-it ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/25 "2015-02-17T23:01:45Z")
No, but I remember my husband’s when we first started going out. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/26 "2015-02-18T00:23:22Z")
IDJ 693. That was years ago, haven’t remembered one since. I always use it if a hotel check-in requires a plate number. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/27 "2015-02-18T03:33:55Z")
Bike - 1RY867 I believe. It’s too damn cold to go to the garage and check the wall. Car - ARU-612 ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/28 "2015-02-18T04:15:05Z")
My my dad’s car GOF 733. (Learned to drive in this car) My first car UNA 509 ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/29 "2015-02-18T04:34:17Z")
PGG 593 That car was a Dodge Omni. Gave up the ghost about 15-16 years ago having gone some 87k miles or so. No, they don’t make 'em like they used to. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/30 "2015-02-18T04:53:08Z")
The first car I drove was my dad’s second car, a 1969 Plymouth Valiant. The plate number was MTS-308. I remember this because we were ALWAYS getting pulled over by the cops for open liquor in the car. I remember hearing “Marshal Tango Sierra Three Zero Eight” being called out numerous times. How we all made it through those years, I’ll never know. I have the plate in my basement now! ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/31 "2015-02-18T05:48:34Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > PGG 593 > > That car was a Dodge Omni. Gave up the ghost about 15-16 years ago having gone some 87k miles or so. > No, they don’t make 'em like they used to. The car of my childhood, the one my parents bought as their first new car together when I was 3, was an '86 Dodge Omni. It had the license PSJ 478. When my dad got rid of it and bought an old, falling apart '71 Mercury Comet in 1997, he transferred the Omni’s license plate to it. I turned 16 soon after and they gave me the Comet, so that’s how I remember my first license plate number. It was the same as the one my parents had all through my childhood. Also, the first new car I bought, a 2002 Saturn SL, is still going strong almost 15 years later, with over 250k miles on it. So they don’t make them like they used to – they make them better. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/32 "2015-02-18T06:34:28Z")
For my first car, I requested and got my initials and my birthday. So it was of the form (not my IRL initials) JKD 312. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/33 "2015-02-18T07:04:30Z")
This is really weird. I don’t remember mine, but for some reason I remember my mom’s. I was insured on her cars the first 4 years I had a license, so that must be why, but it’s something I haven’t thought about since 1990. I guess in a way it was my first license plate - I had to remember, anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/34 "2015-02-18T18:56:57Z")
I don’t remember any plates from any car I have owned ever - and that’s been a lot of vehicles. I couldn’t even begin to tell you any of the 5 I currently own. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/35 "2015-02-18T20:06:18Z")
I do. I know all the current ones, too. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/36 "2015-02-18T20:18:56Z")
As a matter of fact, I do. And I also haven’t thought of the number in years (since 1987!). I’m kind of surprised that I still remember it. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/37 "2015-02-18T20:47:01Z")
5 cars with multiple plates on all but the current one. Buying at a dealer they couldn’t do the special plates so after a year I typically got the military affiliated plate instead of new tags. Also I spent a lot of time in a state where they issued a new number when it was time to change the actual plate and generally I hold long enough for that swap to happen. The result is a lot of numbers relatively unimportant numbers over the years that proceed briskly through short term memory. I’m lucky to be fairly certain of the number on my current car. I sure don’t remember any of the others. I do remember the bumper and tube numbers off my first tank. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/38 "2015-02-18T21:54:24Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > That car was a Dodge Omni. Gave up the ghost about 15-16 years ago having gone some 87k miles or so. **No, they don’t make 'em like they used to.** :rolleyes: I own and drive – and thus remember the plate number, to briefly address the thread topic 🙂 – a 1998 Ford Escort that I bought new as my first car, and it has over 100k miles and still going. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/39 "2015-02-18T22:47:57Z")
I’ve had many cars, but the only license plate I remember was “946 JPX,” which was an old Nissan I had in the 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942/40 "2015-02-18T22:52:20Z")
First motorcycle, second motorcycle, dad’s motorcycle, my first car. I remember all of their plates. I could also remember my California driver’s license number if I thought about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-remember-the-number-of-your-first-license-plate/712942.md?page=3)