These seem to have perhaps appeared in California first, as I recall. Unheard of yet in Illinois, where I lived back then. I got one issued for my '59 Ford Ranchero, which I had converted to four-wheel drive while living in Colorado, when we moved to Arizona. My plate was "4X4 RAN". Anyhow, today I saw a Colorado plate, the bottom legend stating "Honorably Discharged Veteran". Got me to wondering a few things: do Vets have to pay the extra fee? Do they issue a "Dishonorably Discharged Veteran" plate"? All the others I have seen said "Veteran", or included the branch of service also. Am I too nit-picky? Frank
Maine has a limited number of specialty plates. I think that a demand has to be shown before they will issue specialty plates and, of course, they have to be approved by the DMV. Some of them are available to anyone who wants one, while others have qualifiers. A portion of the purchase cost for some of them goes to non-profit organizations, such as some of the green groups will get money whenever anyone chooses a Conservation plate. Conservation license plate. Breast Cancer Support tag. Support Animal Welfare plate. Lobster Specialty license plate. Maine Agriculture tag. Support Your Troops plate. Maine Sportsman tag. Wabanaki license plate. Maine Black Bear specialty plate. University of Maine System plate. Purple Heart license plate. Medal of Honor tag. Former Prisoner of War plate. Pearl Harbor Survivor plate. Special Veteran license plate. Disabled Veteran plate. Gold Star Parent plate. Antique Auto plate. Custom Vehicle plate. Horseless Carriage plate. Street Rod plate. The speciality plates involve the design, and generic wording of the plate, but not the license number itself. To personalize your license number, you would have to also choose a vanity number. It's called a number, although it can be letters instead or a combination of numbers and letters. I have a Gold Star Parent plate, which is free for Gold Star parents, but I pay for a vanity license number: KFA. When I was still running the newspaper, I used MC NEWS. I think most states are set up similarly.
@Ken Anderson And I thought AZ had an unusually large number of categories! Maybe I'm just "old hat", but I feel all these expressings of feelings driven by various P.C. stances are un-needed, pose a difficulty for the cop trailing a questionable motorist, and are not a realistic means of increasing state revenues. The plates are made in a variety (now) of colors and backgrounds, as well as textures of surface, certainly making recognition at a distance by a trailing cop a virtual uncertainty. Perhaps under guise of the amendment guaranteeing free speech, a sub-amendment might be added perpetuating folks the right to secure the license plate insignia of their choice! Frank
Here in Tennessee, you can get one of 40 Veteran tags. Cost is about 22.00 annual fee. No state I have checked has a 'Dishonorably Discharged' tag. Can't imagine anyone wanting to display that fact.
I have Vietnam Vet plates and they cost me 15 bucks. plus a copy of my DD-214. when i picked them up it was an additional 18 for transfer fee's USN-RM
I see a few vanity plates but not as many as I used to and most were just names or funny stuff like QT or some type of bragging... In Hungary although they weren't vanity plates but just regular ones I saw a lot that said FAG..of course that's not a word in Hungarian but it made me smile.
You're registering for a room at a hotel. The desk clerk asks for your license plate number. Previously, I would have to run out to the car and get it. Now it's easy. It's something I can remember. I know that's not a problem for some of you but I have never been able to remember numbers. I can't remember a seven-digit telephone number long enough to dial (punch it in) it.
I see mine almost everyday and it's not a long one but have no idea what is is...think it starts with a V but I could be wrong on even that, lol. Next time I go out in the garage I'll look.
@Tim Burr Of course not. I remarked about it because I figured displaying "honorably" discharged was rather redundant. Frank