Michigan License Plates

Back in 2007, Michigan got new license plates. The Secretary of State's Office said that if you had the blue Great Lakes plate, even in good legible condition you had to get rid of it for the new blue on white plate or the new Spectacular Peninsulas plate, but you could keep your 15 year old, worn out, hard to read Auto Capital of the World or Great Lakes Splendor plates. What SHOULD have been done was to pass a law that ALL Michigan plates be changed every five years from when they are purchased. Reason for this is that the reflectorization on the license plates is only lasts for five years.

It's hard to believe the Great Lakes Splendor plate is 15 years old! Wow, does time fly!

I really think there should be more of a push towards consistency in plates within a state. Here in Arizona we have so many different types of plates it's ridiculous. An alternative fuels plate, a "shouldn't hurt to be a child" plate, probably various university-related plates, handicapped plates, veteran's plates, and, oh yeah, the popular green and gold cactus standard plate as well as the white on maroon plates from probably the days of my grandfather's youth. We probably have enough different designs right here within just Arizona to almost cover all 50 states!!!!

I think it would be just great if every state had one unique design that it stuck with - and it would be easy to tell from half a mile away just what state a vehicle was from. And what would the design be? Well, unfortunately I guess it wouldn't be feasible due to visibility issues with some of the color combinations, but if it weren't for that, a logical choice would be to design each state's license plate after that state's State Flag.

I always liked European plates.

I collect licence plates yet not avidly. I didn't get anything other then the standard plate on my last vehicle. The blue plates come out in about 84/85 when I started driving.. I do like the "Special" plates yet I have a hard time even knowing what State I AM IN.
Seems to me it was just another way to make a buck from the public by changing the plates. Which at one time I went though 3 plates in 3 yrs, Not cause I had too But switched from the blue to the 100 yrs of the Auto to the Big Mac plate, Why cause I did.
By the time the blue plates were leaving us, I noticed that the ones left were either shiny or rusty as hell.

Time was you got new plates every year in Michigan. One year white letters on color, next year colored letters on white. Easy for the polezei to tell if your plates had expired. For a while they alternated UofM colors and MSU colors year to year.

Back when the plates were two letters and four numbers, the letters were coded by county Sec of State offices. AA through CZ was Wayne County. If you had the key, you could tell what county the car was from. As I recall, the key was on a paper or card you got with your plates or the paper sleeve your plates came in. 40s and 50s are getting hazy.

My garage wall. All MI plates 1910 - date. [[photo three years ago before the current plates were issued, but I got 'em.....)

I'm in favor of whatever costs me and the state the least amount of money. I think the primary goal when designing license plates should be the ease of them being remembered by eyewitnesses to crimes.

I still have one of those "spirit of '76" bicentennial plates off of my first car, and a plate from the year I was born. I was able to score a 1925 plate for my father's 80th birthday, which he framed and hung in his office.

Ray, I used to have a collection similar to yours [[sold it off years ago). I always thought it was interesting that today's standard size wasn't adopted until 1956. The 1970 was the ugliest Michigan plate of all -- white numbers on a mustard yellow background. And it was virtually unreadable when just a little dirty. For best color combos, I always liked the black-on-silver plates of '48 and '50, as well as the maroon-and-white '57 [[repeated in '71). The '38 was cool too -- black numbers on turquoise.

I agree that the "Great Lakes Splendor" and "Auto Capital" plates should be retired too; most of those are looking pretty faded and/or discolored now. I would like to see only one standard design and one "special" design, and that's it.

Not sure what license plates have to do with Detroit, except that they're part of the visual landscape that makes this place what it is. I'm told that it's common to see Detroit license plates with the ends cut off with by thieves looking for current registration stickers to apply to their plates to make `em look like they're not expired, but I've seen only a couple incidents of this.

An acquaintence living in Corktown took the precaution of putting his renewal sticker in the middle of the plate to make it harder to swipe, which earned him a ticket from a hick cop in west Michigan. I pointed out to him that this is not illegal -- the Vehicle Code doesn't say where the sticker has to be displayed -- but I never did learn how the resulting court case was decided.

I've got a lot of nostalgia for the painted, embossed plates, but I'm sure we'll never see them again. I believe that this is due to the difficulty and expense of painting the plates under current emissions laws, and the lobbying horsepower and generous campaign contributions of the 3M Company, which sells the reflectorized sheeting. Michigan was one of the last states to resist the 3M Scotchlite steamroller.

For people with decaying "auto centennial" plates, look on the bright side: your plates may not be readable by the photo-radar cameras used in other, more auto-hostile, jurisdictions outside Michigan.

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Originally Posted by Ray1936

My garage wall. All MI plates 1910 - date. [[photo three years ago before the current plates were issued, but I got 'em.....)

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Wow - and you even have one of my old personal favorites - the yellow-on-white 1970 plates. I was eight years old when those came out and thought those were really cool as they were so different from any I'd seen before. Apparently that combination was recognized as a mistake pretty quickly, though, as it had visibility issues.

But of all the ones on your wall, I'd say the best and the luckiest was that FLORIDA plate!!!! That must have made your snow-shoveling neighbors jealous.

Well, on another wall is a set of 51 states [[including DC) for the 1976 bicentennial year. Makes for a nice display.

Pete Waldmier of the Detroit News used to say of the Michigan Secretary of State: "He has but one job, to pick the colors for our license plates each year. And he blows it every year."

The 1910 to 1914 plates were really something. They were porcelain.

I have a question about Ray's plates: I noticed there are 4 that have the same alpha-numerals [[AD-7777). Would those have been personalized plates or were the alpha-numerals assigned to a particular vehicle and get transfered to the new plates?

I have an old "Auto Capital" plate that I bought back in 1996 when they first came out, but I never actually used it for some reason.

Can you use an old Michigan plate if it has not been registered for some time? Or is that plate just voided once it is not registered anymore?

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Originally Posted by Retroit

I have a question about Ray's plates: I noticed there are 4 that have the same alpha-numerals [[AD-7777). Would those have been personalized plates or were the alpha-numerals assigned to a particular vehicle and get transfered to the new plates?

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Ray probably had a little "pull" and got someone to slip him the "7777" plates each year.

Yes, if you had clout, you could reserve a number. Case in point: my grandfather knew I collected license plates. One year in the mid-'60s, he was in line to get tags for his two cars and he could see that he was in the right spot in line to get plate number EJ-8700. He thought I'd like that, 'cause I'd end up with the plate for my collection after it expired. [[Numbers that ended in "00" or "000" were prized by many.) Well, he got to the counter and they gave him EJ-8699 and EJ-8701. He was told that a "VIP" had already requisitioned EJ-8700.

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Originally Posted by Retroit

I have a question about Ray's plates: I noticed there are 4 that have the same alpha-numerals [[AD-7777). Would those have been personalized plates or were the alpha-numerals assigned to a particular vehicle and get transfered to the new plates?

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Fury is correct in his response above this one. My late mother was office supervisor of the east Dearborn AAA for years, and she always 'pulled' the 7777 plate for me. Others in the office generally got their favorites, also, as did employees of the SOS. That was in the days when all plates expired at midnight on February 28 [[or 29, if a leap year).

I think the plate colors went by what ever university was up for the plate that year.The 1965 and 1967 plates were Uof M Colors.MSU was early 60s?1970 gold and white was CMU or WMU?Northern?I may be way off base on this.
You can get a "year of manufactured" plate for your classic.That is why you see old cars with 1956 plates on them for example.The plate could have been used before,it most likely was.My 1967 plate I use was new in the wrapper.On the sleeve was the codes for what county the plates were issued in.

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Originally Posted by Ray1936

Fury is correct in his response above this one. My late mother was office supervisor of the east Dearborn AAA for years, and she always 'pulled' the 7777 plate for me. Others in the office generally got their favorites, also, as did employees of the SOS. That was in the days when all plates expired at midnight on February 28 [[or 29, if a leap year).

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That would explain the other plates with 777. Must be a gambler. :)

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Originally Posted by luckycar

I think the plate colors went by what ever university was up for the plate that year.The 1965 and 1967 plates were Uof M Colors.MSU was early 60s?1970 gold and white was CMU or WMU?Northern?I may be way off base on this.

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The green and gold plates were for either Wayne or Northern, both of which use those colors. Central is maroon, which you see used a couple of times. I think the lone brown plate was for Western.

One of my mother's best friends worked at the Secretary of State's offices downtown and managed to get a "000" plate for her for several years.

I see those auto centennial plates every day, and have yet to see one that I could clearly read.
I have a small collection of Michigan plates, all Municipal.
Two of them I need to finish repainting them.

You can see them here......

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2520414...7616805252945/

Oh, and apparently the unfortunate 1970 white-on-gold plates were for Oakland U.

Ray's display confirms my recollection that for a while in the 50s the plate colors alternated between silver on black and black on silver.

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Originally Posted by Ray1936

Fury is correct in his response above this one. My late mother was office supervisor of the east Dearborn AAA for years, and she always 'pulled' the 7777 plate for me. Others in the office generally got their favorites, also, as did employees of the SOS. That was in the days when all plates expired at midnight on February 28 [[or 29, if a leap year).

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Yes and you were out in the snow and ice trying to get the salt encrusted and rusted out nuts and bolts loose to change your plates. Usually it was a 10 degree day with a 20 MPH wind. We didn't have the little nylon inserts then, the plates were thru-bolted in the bumper.

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Originally Posted by Hermod

Yes and you were out in the snow and ice trying to get the salt encrusted and rusted out nuts and bolts loose to change your plates. Usually it was a 10 degree day with a 20 MPH wind. We didn't have the little nylon inserts then, the plates were thru-bolted in the bumper.

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Yeah, those old cars... you had to use through-bolts and lock washers. Always rusty when changing them out, and usually cold and snowing when you had to do it. I remember that... :[[

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Originally Posted by luckycar

I think the plate colors went by what ever university was up for the plate that year.The 1965 and 1967 plates were Uof M Colors.MSU was early 60s?1970 gold and white was CMU or WMU?Northern?I may be way off base on this.
You can get a "year of manufactured" plate for your classic.That is why you see old cars with 1956 plates on them for example.The plate could have been used before,it most likely was.My 1967 plate I use was new in the wrapper.On the sleeve was the codes for what county the plates were issued in.

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The infamous 1970 plates were for Oakland University. When James Hare was the secretary of state is was the practice to use Michigan colege colors for license plates

http://www.worldlicenseplates.com

Why not have permanent license plate numbers, juat like you have permanent driver's license numbers[[unless you change your name). Let's say for example your license plate number is ABC 1234, but one year, you want to have a personalized vanity plate, if you decide to go back to a regular plate, you would get ABC 1234, or if you decide not to get a vanity plate, five years from the time you got the plate, you would get a new plate with ABC 1234

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Originally Posted by Ray1936

Fury is correct in his response above this one. My late mother was office supervisor of the east Dearborn AAA for years, and she always 'pulled' the 7777 plate for me. Others in the office generally got their favorites, also, as did employees of the SOS. That was in the days when all plates expired at midnight on February 28 [[or 29, if a leap year).

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I also remember that during my early years at Chrysler, there were special license plate series reserved by Chrysler for their company cars. The super-big-cheese executives had cars with license plate numbers starting with EAG, EAG, or EAL [[I never saw EAI, EAJ or, heaven forbid, EAK). I'm not sure what that EA_ was supposed to be - "Executive assigned??" Then the lesser-cheese managers had CHX, CHY, or CHZ - obviously playing off "Chrysler."

I imagine there were similar series for GM and Ford execs, but I never knew what they were. But it was always easy to tell, anywhere I went in Michigan [[or the country for that matter) when a Chrysler car belonged to some exec.

This all changed some time in the early 90's when the company cars started getting any old combination. So I imagine that there was a cost to reserving those series that Chrysler decided it could no longer afford.

Around about this same time it was obvious within the Grosse Pointes that residents were getting license plates reserved in special series to denote their cities as well. GPW for the Woods, GPF for the Farms, and so on.

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Originally Posted by The Dude

Why not have permanent license plate numbers, juat like you have permanent driver's license numbers[[unless you change your name). Let's say for example your license plate number is ABC 1234, but one year, you want to have a personalized vanity plate, if you decide to go back to a regular plate, you would get ABC 1234, or if you decide not to get a vanity plate, five years from the time you got the plate, you would get a new plate with ABC 1234

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That makes a lot of sense in theory, but the cost and logistics would be prohibitive. Right now, plates are randomly distributed. What you are suggesting is that each plate be custom made. There is a reason vanity plates cost extra.

I don't if this can be done, but if the state can't issue you a new plate every five years, if your plate is worn out and illegibble, go down to one of the SOS offices, park in a lot, not a public street, take off the plate, and say for 10 or 20 dollar fee, the plate would be sent out to redone, you would get one of those paper window temporary permits, and you would get your old, fixed-up plate in the mail.

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Why not have permanent license plate numbers, juat like you have permanent driver's license numbers

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in cali the plate, once 'assigned' to a car, stays with the car...

if you want a vanity plate then you can get a vanity plate but it doesnt transfer with the car. you have to 're-pay' the fee to put it on any subsequent car...

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Originally Posted by Ltdave

in cali the plate, once 'assigned' to a car, stays with the car...

if you want a vanity plate then you can get a vanity plate but it doesnt transfer with the car. you have to 're-pay' the fee to put it on any subsequent car...

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So, in other words, when you sell your car in California, the plate stays on the car with the new owner?

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Originally Posted by The Dude

So, in other words, when you sell your car in California, the plate stays on the car with the new owner?

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Several states used to do it that way. The car was registered and the plate identified the car [[and the current owner).

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Originally Posted by EMG

I also remember that during my early years at Chrysler, there were special license plate series reserved by Chrysler for their company cars.
Around about this same time it was obvious within the Grosse Pointes that residents were getting license plates reserved in special series to denote their cities as well. GPW for the Woods, GPF for the Farms, and so on.

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I remember in the 90's with the Blue Plates, it appeared that a member of the AKA sorority was able to get many of the AKA plates for her sisters [[as they also would have AKA plate frames in most cases). Their closest counterparts the Deltas managed to a custom plate before Governor Granholm stopped allowing new non-governmental groups to get custom plates [[i.e. the ones with the little logo on the left like the University plates)....News stories at the time said it was because she did not want to be put in a position to rule on a Choose Life plate [[like many states including Indiana and Florida have).......