# Odd License Plates

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-license-plates/16112>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 12, 2000, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-license-plates/16112 "2000-04-12T20:54:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![aenea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@aenea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aenea)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-license-plates/16112/61 "2000-04-18T14:30:00Z")

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How do you get different fonts?

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**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-license-plates/16112/62 "2000-04-18T16:16:00Z")

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Until about 1988, Virginia’s standard plates were AAA-### format with a Sans Serif font. That’s when I saw the first plate.

When they switched to AAA-#### format, they needed more room for the extra character. So they switched to a Times Roman-looking monospaced font. That’s when I saw the second plate.

Before the font/format switchover, they started including the letters I, O, Q, and Z, which had be omitted because they looked like numbers. But I guess someone at the plate factory got ahead, because for the “PQR-###” series of plates, the P & Q are in the old font, but the R is in the new font. I saw several of these initially, but they’ve been phased out. However, there is one car sitting in an apartment garage near my office that still has the mixed-font PQR plate.

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You must unlearn what you have learned. – Yoda

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**Author:** ![VATech22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/df788c/32.png) [@VATech22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VATech22)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-license-plates/16112/63 "2000-04-19T00:22:00Z")

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I once saw on that simply said LCNSPL8. Thought it was pretty funny.

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