The Back End: October 2008

SHIFTING GEARS On the move with ...

License Plates

License plates—or, more accurately, “registration plates”—let owners, other drivers, and the authorities quickly ID vehicles. Many plates allow for personalization—“vanity plates”—and other extra vehicle identification, like the “antique” designation on this Lancia 2000.

—ATILLA AKGUN

1903: Massachusetts, first state to issue vehicles plates, sends plate with “1” on it to Frederick Tudor, whose family still maintains the registration.

1932: Arizona is first (and only) state to make license plates out of copper.

1937: Connecticut is first state to issue permanent license plates.

1941: Georgia intros general reflectorized plates.

1942: Delaware offers porcelain plates. “The First State” is the last state to do so.

1957: U.S. adopts standardized 6-by-12-inch license plate size.

1977: Supreme Court rules New Hampshire resident can cover up ‘’Live Free or Die’’ on license plate.

1987: Florida issues specialty plate commemorating space shuttle Challenger.

2001: “Empire State” slogan returns to New York plates after an almost-40-year absence.

2008: North Carolina, joining a dozen-plus other states, switches to low-cost, non-embossed flat plates for specialty and personalized tags.