What’s your favorite state license plate?

In My Humble Opinion
1

We’ve done this a few times, but let’s do it again for 2023.

What’s your favorite current license plate? I put ‘state’ in the thread title but this definitely isn’t limited to the USA.

For me, while I understand some may consider it boring, the classic California license plate is still my favorite.

The current style with California written in script and on a white background is just excellent. And this won’t clash with any color of automobile.

My nostalgia choice is still the old 1980s ones with the California and Sun.

2

Some states have many different styles of plates. Oregon has several different basic background plates and depending upon which branch of the military or other causes you want to support there are about 50 different kinds of plates just for passenger vehicles.

Oregon license plates: Something for just about everyone - oregonlive.com

3

New Mexico’s is usually nice —

I like this color scheme from a handful of years ago:

and this one which is their classic go-to:

4

I like the Northwest Territories and Nunavut polar bear shaped license plates.

No longer current but I wish TPTB would resurrect them:

  • Guam used to have the motto “Where America’s Day Begins” but changed it some years ago.
  • Another plate I liked but which has been consigned to the dustbin of history was the California plate with the sunset at the top.
5

Another vote for New Mexico. In addition to the (IMHO) near-perfect examples above, we now also have the chile plate, which loses a little in readability but is still an outstanding design:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.nmpoliticalreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/10183200/green-chile-license-plate.png

6

We had a plate from some Canadian Provence that was polar bear shaped. We gifted it to friends in St Martin who display license plates in their little restaurant. It is their favorite.

7

My first thought was New Mexico, which unlike most other states isn’t afraid of a color other than white.

8

9

Gotta give credit to the District of Columbia coming right out and putting “Taxation Without Representation” on their license plates.

(Speaking of which, I was just on a week-long drive around Lake Michigan, and a car with DC plates passed me while I was driving in Michigan. You don’t ever see a DC plate out here in the Midwest. Also, Michigan has a bunch of different plate designs … I like the one with the Mackinac Bridge on it.)

10

While it’s not the regular state plate, I see quite a few of these in my part of Kentucky (more popular the farther east you go):

Being a Friend of Coal ain’t so easy nowadays.

11

I like Michigan’s new plates:

This style was originally used in 1965, and brought back a year or so ago.

12

I haven’t seen these yet, but the new Nebraska plates look pretty sweet to me:

13

What is that: “Nebraska, Land of Zeus”? :slightly_smiling_face:

14

I once saw a rental truck in Toronto with Hawaiian plates. They were pretty cool, with a rainbow and all, but what were they doing in Toronto??!

15

Probably a wrong turn in Minneapolis.

16

That however is an option: I tend to prefer the official default “Virginia is for Lovers” plate - http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/Virginia4/va2023-2rental.jpg

(would not let me image-link)

17

I’m not sure how whatever that is a drawing of is tied to Nebraska, but it sure makes Nebraska seem a lot more interesting.

18

Northwest Territories wins hands down. It’s a freakin’ bear shaped plate. What’s not to like?

19

That’s like the one we had, only ours was white.

20

Well, they had room for a space between ‘spectacular’ and ‘nwt’. Perhaps they were being charged by the character?

It’s an awesome plate.