Personalised Number Plate Information

NUMBER PLATES:

It was 1980 when legislation was passed to allow Illinois drivers to order vanity and personalized license plates. As defined then, vanity plates contained up to six letters or the numbers 1 to 999. Personalized plates had a combination of desired letters and numbers. In the very first year, 24,000 state residents decided they wanted to pay extra to show off their vanity to fellow motorists.

Drivers were displaying personalized plates long before 1980 however.

There was no law that he could find before 1980 authorizing such plates. Instead, he figures it likely was a typical case of not what you knew being important, but who you knew.

There’s no question, however, that it was 1907 when the Motor Vehicle Act, which required motorists to register with the secretary of state’s office, became law. For a one-time $2 fee per vehicle, motorists received a round aluminum disk with a registration number to affix to their vehicles. (Drivers had to furnish their own plates until 1911. The disks were dropped in 1917.) From July 1, 1907, to June 30, 1909, the state registered 20,224 vehicles. Sidney S. Gorham, of LaGrange, was issued license plate number 1.

As you might guess, that “one-time fee” didn’t last long. Probably realizing they had a cash cow on their hands, the state began charging an annual fee in 1909 and re-registered all vehicles.

More interesting plate trivia: In 1912, front plates were perforated so more air could flow through a car’s radiator. Aluminum license plates were issued for the first time in 1950. The slogan “Land of Lincoln” debuted in 1954, although a requirement for showing Lincoln’s image was dropped because it was deemed impractical at the time.

Purple and white plates were issued in 1964 to honor both McKendree College and Rockford College (as they were known then). In 1966, for the first time in 30 years, fees were increased 50 cents to pay for a new reflective coating. In 1977, drivers were able to complain about lousy photos on their licenses for the first time. The discontinuation of annual plates in 1979 ended a 67-year run, the longest in the United States. In 1985, all vehicles were charged the same fee ($48) rather than one based on horsepower.

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DE51YRE private number plate for sale

DE51 YRE registration available through Image Marks with £500 discount available in January only. Call 01482 627 628 and speak to one of our team.

More great offers available at www.regplates.com

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Recently, Rishi Kapoor bought himself a new set of wheels - a shiny new luxury SUV - and took it out for a spin yesterday. Mumbai Mirror couldn't help but notice the common thing between Kapoor's cars, old and new - the number plate digits of all cars in this Kapoor household total up to '8'.

A source close to the family told the tabloid that the Kapoor trio - Rishi, Neetu and Ranbir - have always considered the number '8' very lucky for the family. When Ranbir purchased his first jeep back in the late 2000s, the number plate was a one digit, '8'. Later, two cars that followed, one a fiery red sports car and another sedan, too featured a single digit plate.

On the other hand, Neetu, whose driven a blue SUV for the last couple of years, also has a number plate that adds up to 8. "It's also because it coincides with Neetu's birthday, July 8, and everyone in the family makes sure that the registration number totals up to it," the source added pointing out that even Ranbir's football jerseys always have the same number.

The Kapoor clan's affinity for numerology comes as no surprise, since it's always been about digits with Bollywood stars. Amitabh Bachchan, whose birthday falls on October 11, considers his lucky number to be 2 and many of his dozen cars feature the single digit on their plate, three of which have been photographed at multiple events.

Similar for Shah Rukh Khan, who has a triple five (555) on all his number plates. Shahid Kapoor also makes sure to flaunt his lucky number 700 on his plates and even added a custom plate to his Harley Davidson, with the three digit figure on it. Saif Ali Khan sticks to the number 7, since his birthday falls on August 16 and Sanjay Dutt always has a 4545 plate.

Also in the News:

HALIFAX—A Nova Scotia man fighting to have his last name — Grabher — reinstated on a licence plate says police have now forced him to remove an inactive Alberta plate from the front of his car.

Lorne Grabher said he received a call from police Monday after a complaint was lodged against the personalized Alberta licence plate he had on the front of his car.

Nova Scotia requires only one valid plate, at the rear, and drivers in the province often place inactive or novelty plates on the front of their vehicles.

Grabher says police told him he would face a stiff penalty for driving with a fraudulent plate if he did not remove the Alberta plate, which had his last name on it in capitalized letters.

The 69-year-old man said he feels he’s being unfairly targeted.

“I’ve been red-flagged,” he said from his Dartmouth home, noting the large number of vehicles in the province that have inactive out-of-province plates on the front.

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By 1982, the year suffixes had reached Y and so from 1983 onwards the sequence was reversed again, so that the year letter - starting again at A" - preceded the numbers then the letters of the registration. The available range was then A21 AAA to Y999 YYY, the numbers 1-20 being held back for the government's proposed, and later implemented, DVLA select registration sales scheme. Towards the mid-1990s there was some discussion about introducing a unified scheme for Europe, which would also incorporate the country code of origin of the vehicle, but after much debate such a scheme was not adopted due to lack of countries willing to participate. The changes in 1983 also brought the letter Q into use - although on a very small and limited scale. It was used on vehicles of indeterminate age, such as those assembled from kits, substantial rebuilds, or imported vehicles where the documentation is insufficient to determine the age. There was a marked increase in the use of Q registrations

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It was 1980 when legislation was passed to allow Illinois drivers to order vanity and personalized license plates. As defined then, vanity plates contained up to six letters or the numbers 1 to 999. Personalized plates had a combination of desired letters and numbers. In the very first year, 24,000 state residents decided they wanted to pay extra to show off their vanity to fellow motorists.

Drivers were displaying personalized plates long before 1980 however.

There was no law that he could find before 1980 authorizing such plates. Instead, he figures it likely was a typical case of not what you knew being important, but who you knew.

There’s no question, however, that it was 1907 when the Motor Vehicle Act, which required motorists to register with the secretary of state’s office, became law. For a one-time $2 fee per vehicle, motorists received a round aluminum disk with a registration number to affix to their vehicles. (Drivers had to furnish their own plates until 1911. The disks were dropped in 1917.) From July 1, 1907, to June 30, 1909, the state registered 20,224 vehicles. Sidney S. Gorham, of LaGrange, was issued license plate number 1.

As you might guess, that “one-time fee” didn’t last long. Probably realizing they had a cash cow on their hands, the state began charging an annual fee in 1909 and re-registered all vehicles.

More interesting plate trivia: In 1912, front plates were perforated so more air could flow through a car’s radiator. Aluminum license plates were issued for the first time in 1950. The slogan “Land of Lincoln” debuted in 1954, although a requirement for showing Lincoln’s image was dropped because it was deemed impractical at the time.

Purple and white plates were issued in 1964 to honor both McKendree College and Rockford College (as they were known then). In 1966, for the first time in 30 years, fees were increased 50 cents to pay for a new reflective coating. In 1977, drivers were able to complain about lousy photos on their licenses for the first time. The discontinuation of annual plates in 1979 ended a 67-year run, the longest in the United States. In 1985, all vehicles were charged the same fee ($48) rather than one based on horsepower.

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We are currently updating our customer gallery page.

If you have purchased a number plate from us, we would love a picture of your vehicle displaying the reg plate.

You can email to Web@regplates.com, or post to the usual address.

Thanks!

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