Vanity License Plate: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Margie''': ''Hey, Lou, did you hear the one about the guy who couldn't afford personalized plates, so he changed his name to J3L-2404?''

 

In much of the world, national or local governments fund public roadways and highways, in part, by charging an annual fee to every vehicle owner. To prove the vehicle owners have paid the fee, a metal plate with a unique identification is affixed to the rear or front bumper (often both) of the vehicle (this also gives a useful way of identifying each vehicle). Usually, the identification is a short string of random or semi-random figures, letters or both. Sometimes, the first few or last few digits may identify the sub-region where the car is registered, but usually the digits are assigned sequentially.

However, always eager to express their individuality or the depth of their pocketbooks, some vehicle owners want to have cooler license plates than everyone else. Equally eager to charge rich idiots more money, most governmental units let them order custom plates, for a fee.

 

 

Writers and production designers will often include a vanity license plate as visual shorthand for the personality of the car's owner. A [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] may have BIG BOSS on his BMW or Lexus. A [[Jerk Jock]] may have UR MY FAN or BEST QB. Rich bastards in general are likely to have a [[Cool Car]] with a plate along the lines of MY TOY. Heck, the Cool Car in general almost certainly has a vanity plate of some sort.

For obscenely rich characters, '[Name of character] 1', '2', '3', and so on is also popular, as it gives the character a chance to bring attention to the fact that he has ''several'' cars, and has to keep them numbered to keep track of them. Any character with such a plate can generally be assumed to be a total dick.

 

 

Different cultural reactions to these kinds of plates come from how much they cost. In the USA, this is seen as "mostly harmless" (if a mite gauche) since most vanity plates cost within the range of $25 to $50 extra (with extreme ends of $10 in Virginia and $100 in Minnesota). One of the reasons ''[[Top Gear]]'' et al. are so dismissive of vanity license plates is that they cost more than 10 times as much across the pond. Not only are you an attention-seeking bore, but you also have more money than is good for you.

 

'''Note: When adding an example that's heavily abbreviated or requires netspeak to understand, translate. The message may not be obvious to other readers.'''

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

 

 

* Section 9's Nissan minibus/concept car in ''[[Ghost in the Shell]] [[Solid State Society]]'' had the license plate NH-3923 (San-kyu-ni-san).

 

* [[Werner]] once encountered a biker with a motorcycle that was beyond lame, supposedly 100% original, and the exact opposite of a thoroughly customized chopper (almost vertical fork, huge taillight, fat seat, massive exhaust muffler with a tiny outlet, etc.). His German license plate read, "TÜ-V 0815". On a side note, leading zeros are not possible on German license plates, but "TÜ-V 815" could actually exist in Tübingen.

** To elaborate: TÜV is one German organization which hands out road safety certificates for vehicles. 08/15 is German slang for 'run of the mill'.

 

 

* [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'s Aston Martin DB 5 in ''[[Goldfinger]]'' has switchable plates, with ''JB 007'' on its Swiss plate.

* The ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' have ECTO 1 on the Ectomobile.

** The plate was modified to ECTO 1A in the sequel, and ECTO 1B in the new video game.

* The sports car that comes in for much abuse in ''[[Con Air]]'' has AZ KICKR on its plates.

* Johnny Storm's plates from the film ''[[Fantastic Four (film)|Fantastic Four]]'' read TORCH'D.

* Bruce's plates in ''[[Bruce Almighty]]'' after he transforms his car read ALMITY 1.

* Tony Stark's various cars in ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'' have STARK 1 through at least STARK 6.

* Michael Douglas' character in ''[[Falling Down]]'' is known by fans as D-FENS after his vanity plates, as his character's actual name is barely mentioned in the film.

* Claw's hearse in ''Inspector Gadget 2'' has "CRYMPAYS" (crime pays) as its license plate. The Gadgetmobile, of course, has "GADGET" as its plate.

* In ''[[Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure]]'', Bill's stepmother has a licence plate with her name on it: MISSY!

* Bandit, of ''[[Smokey and the Bandit]]'' fame, has "BANDT-1" as his plate.

* In the classic 1985 John Cusack film ''[[Better Off Dead]]'', rich bully boy Roy Stalin's Trans Am has the plate "ROYS AM".

* In ''[[Innerspace]]'', Igoe's BMW has the license SNAPON.

** Also Scrimshaw's Rolls-Royce has the license plate SUB-ZRO.

* In ''Speed Zone'', the Van Sloans drove a Bentley with the license plate RICH KIDS. The character Vic tries to report the car and it goes something like this:

{{quote|'''Vic:'''Uh, the license is as follows: R, I, C, H...uh, I think that spells "rich"..."KIDS"...with a K...for..."kids".}}

* This game can be played with German license plates, too. The licenses of two of the main characters' cars in ''[[Manta Der Film]]'' are "E-FG 18" on Fredi's Manta (E for Essen, FG for Fred Grabowsky, 18 for his 18th birthday) and "BO-EY 1234" on Phil's GTI (BO for Bochum, BO-EY is a license plate-compatible transcription of the Manta driver's [[Catch Phrase]]).

* The German [[The Love Bug|Herbie]] knockoff Dudu was registered in Duisburg so it could have DU-DU 926 in some of its movies.

* Ivan in ''Tapeheads'' has "MEFURST" - [[Fridge Brilliance|The joke might be that he wanted "MEFIRST" but it wasn't available]].

* ''[[Real Genius]]'' - Chris and Mitch approach nemesis Kent's car:

{{quote|'''Chris''': Kent puts his name on his license plate.

* [[Tank Girl (film)|Tank Girl]] has got two of them on her tank: [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|TANK]] and KANT on front and back respectively.

* An A113 license plate actually appears on every single vehicle featured in the animated Disney film ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]''.

* ''[[Oliver and Company]]'': "DOBRMAN."

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Chitty Chitty Bang Bang]]'' has the license plate GEN 11. The book has the children mention how oddly similar this is to "genii," or genie as we'd spell it now. Of course, Chitty ''is'' a magical car, but they didn't know that at the time.

* The book ''Blue Avenger and the Theory of Everything'' included this as a plot point: the main character has to figure out how to get the word "suck" past the license plate censor. {{spoiler|The end result? SSCHWAK.}}

* In the ''[[Sweet Valley High]]'' series, the rich high school jock has a 1BRUCE1 licence plate on his car.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* KITT from ''[[Knight Rider]]'' has KNIGHT as a vanity plate.

** As one of the many James-Bond-vehicle-like feature of KITT, the vanity plate can be flipped over while driving to show "KNI 549" (or maybe it was KNI followed by 3 other numbers).

** in ''[[Team Knight Rider]]'', each of the vehicles has an abbreviation of its name followed by "-1" as its plate number: DNT-1 for Dante, DMO-1 for Domino, BST-1 for the Attack Beast, etc.

** The same car has another one that said NODOUDT. (Adam made a point of pronouncing the D).

** The mockup for the Jato Car revisit said MYTBUSR.

* The [[Doctor Who|Third Doctor's]] car "Bessie" has the plates WHO 1, which is especially odd, as the United Kingdom at the time was a nation with especially rigid rules for license plate numbers that didn't generally allow vanity plates.

** Vanity license plates of the kind XYZ 1 were not unheard of at the time. Possibly the most famous was [[wikipedia:Gerald Nabarro|Sir Gerald Nabarro's]] NAB 1, but there were others.

** The "Whomobile" ''did'' have legal licence plates, but the closest they could get to "WHO" was WVO 2M. (The DVLA considered the Whomobile to be "an invalid tricycle".)

** No explanation has ever been given for Bessie's licence number suddenly becoming WHO 7 when driven by the Seventh Doctor in "Battlefield".

* In ''[[Dark Season]]'' the vans of Abyss Modem have ABY55 (and a random number) on their number plates while Mr Eldritch's car has NEME5I5 written on it.

* Lex on ''[[Smallville]]'' has all his cars with the plate "LEX(number)".

** Martin's Winnebago has the custom plate RDWRER. Neither Fraiser or Daphne could work out this meant "Road Warrior".

{{quote|'''Daphne''': Of course. A retired man with a cane in a Winnebago. I don't know why my mind didn't go straight to it.}}

* Sir Alan Michael Sugar's Rolls Royce with the number plate AMS 1 features prominently in the opening credits of the UK version of ''[[The Apprentice (TV series)|The Apprentice]]''.

* The Batmobile licence plate in the 1960s ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' series is BAT 1 (sometimes).

* In the ''[[Chuck]]'' episode "Chuck vs. the DeLorean", Morgan gets "DEMORGAN" plates for the [[The Alleged Car|titular car]].

* [[Companion Cube|OL1 V3R]] from ''[[Top Gear]]''. "He got it a custom license plate? What a pikey."

* On ''[[NCIS]]'', forensic scientist Abby Sciuto has the plate "4NS CHIK".

* Kramer in ''[[Seinfeld]]'' once mistakenly received a plate that read "ASSMAN". He decided to keep it, and people on the street loved it. "Hey, the Assman's in town!" "You know it!" At the end of the episode, we learn that the plate was intended for a proctologist.

* A car on ''[[The Wire]]'' that is falsely reported to be smuggling drugs gives the first hint that its driver is actually a minister with its [[Vanity Plate]] reading "PR8Z G0D". The cops don't notice this however...

* ''[[The X-Files]]''. A man who [[Rainmaking|claims he can make it rain]] has RAIN KING.

* Tood Packer's license plate of ''[[The Office]]'' US reads WLHUNG, which everyone seems to affiliate with novelty musician William Hung.

* In ''[[Doctors]]'', Vivian had some trouble in a driving test when she had to read a license plate from far away - X565 BUM. It was probably legitimate, but still.

* Carbug, the Starbug-shaped smartcar in ''[[Red Dwarf]]: Back To Earth'', has the licence number ST4 B11G.

* In ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', the [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse]] all upgraded from steeds to cars, and we saw two had vanity plates. Pestilence's was SIKN TIRD ("Sick and Tired"), and Death's was BUH*BYE. War and Famine would presumably have similar plates, but we never saw them.

* Sammo Law from ''[[Martial Law]]'' has the plate 'DA BOMB'.

* Lady Penelope's Rolls Royce in ''[[Thunderbirds]]'' had the plate 'FAB 1', "F.A.B" being a seemingly-meaningless [[Catch Phrase]] of the titular organisation.

* This was the premise of the 1980s game show ''[[Bumper Stumpers]]''. The contestants had to decipher vanity plates, given clues about whom they might belong to.

* [[Perky Goth]] Dasha on ''[[Daddy's Daughters]]'' had the vanity plate E-666-MO (read as "EMO-666").

* In the intro to ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air]]'': "The license plate said "FRESH" and there were dice in the mirr'r".

* The Carsey-Werner [[Vanity Plate]] for ''[[That '70s Show]]''.

* ''[[Breaking Bad]]'':

** [[Amoral Attorney]] Saul Goodman's car has LWYR UP.

* In an episode of ''Mind of Mencia'', Carlos Mencia spends some time trying to get NIGGER on a license plate. That's [[N-Word Privileges|rebuffed for obvious reasons]], as is NIGGA, and NEEGA (he claimed to be Indian, and that was his last name). Finally, he tries to get a plate with WETBACK, and finds out it's acceptable. Cue [[Precision F-Strike]].

 

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Steve Dallas in ''[[Bloom County]]'' at one point drives a gold jeep with a license plate that spells out HORNY.

 

== Theater ==

 

== Toys ==

* [[Transformers]] often have [[Rule of Funny|humourous]] or [[Meaningful Name|meaningful]] license plates. For example, the ''Universe'' toyline's version of [[Transformers Armada|Hotshot]] has the license plate ''[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/JaAm JaAm]''.

** ''Universe'' Sunstreaker's plate reads "WE R 84" while Sideswipe in the same line reads "SWIPE".

 

 

* The Comic Book Guy from ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' has the registration number [[Star Trek|NCC 1701]].

** Marge tries to get one with her name on it in "Homer's Enemy", but "Marge", "Marjorie", and "Mitzi" were all taken. But she ''could'' have "Nitzi".

** In "Itchy and Scratchy Land", Bart tries to find one with his name but the only ones availiable are "Barclay", "Barry", "Bert" and "''Bort''". Bart expresses incredulity at the latter only for there to be ''two'' people named "Bort" at the store. [[Brick Joke|And later on]] a supervisor offhandly mentions that the "Bort" license plates ''sold out''.

* The licenses on all the cars in ''[[Cars]]'' have some sort of hidden meaning, either an inside joke or a reference to the character. Mater's plate is A113, the number of the animation classrooom at the California Institute of the Arts, where many of the Pixar animators studied. (It appears in other films as well.) Fillmore's (51237) is the birthday (May 12, 1937) of George Carlin, the actor who played him. And, interestingly enough, the zipcode for ''George'', Iowa.

** One of the minor characters is Fred, whose name is also his license plate, and who acts thrilled when famous racecars somehow know his name.

* In the early-1990s ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'' cartoon, Professor Xavier's car had the license plate "[[THX 1138]]".

* It's hard to catch, but in the sequence in Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' when Genie is turning Abu into various modes of transportation, one of them is a car whose license plate reads ABU-1.

** [[Fridge Logic|And when you consider]] that they aren't ''his'' vehicles; they belong to the Royal Mail...

* Brian in ''[[Family Guy]]'' has BRI-DOG.

** Another episode has the villains driving in a vehicle with a plate that reads "Mean 2 U"

* ''[[Dan Vs.]]'': [[Extreme Doormat|Chris]]' car has the license plate "PUSHOVER". In another episode, a dentist's car has the license plate "INCISOR 1".

 

== Real Life ==

* While filming the show, William Conrad had CANNON.

* In the Philippines, license plates have three letters and three digits. The president's car has the digits "1000".

** On a related note, so does the Governor of California... which makes it doubly funny when <ref>Circa 1990</ref> he received a ticket for speeding.

** The license number "1" is one of the perks of the Mayor of the District of Columbia, who can either assign it to themselves or assign it to a friend. This particular plate number is exempt from all parking restrictions. Sharon Pratt Kelly (later Sharon Pratt Dixon when she got married) was the only mayor who didn't have '1' on her official city vehicle, she assigned the number to her father. Her official limousine, however, had the license tag "ONE".

* A Polish poet living in the United States attempted to invent the shortest poem able to fit on a Vanity License Plate. He came up with "THERE IS".

* A man, who was asked to give his three choices for a vanity plate, wrote in BOATING, SAILING and NO PLATE (meaning if they were both taken, he'd just take a normal plate like everyone else). A couple weeks later he received a plate reading, you guessed it, NO PLATE. He was amused and decided to keep it. [http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/noplate.asp Then the traffic tickets started arriving, from police who had reported cars with no plate.]

** Washington DC channel 4 reported about the guy who gets thousands of dollars worth of fines a month and has to go to court every few months because his District of Columbia plate reads "NO TAGS", which is what is written on parking tickets of vehicles without license plates. After the TV station spoke to the city's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), they referred the station to the District Department of Transportation, who referred them to the District Department of Public Works, who referred them back to the DMV. After the station ran the news report, the head of the DMV issued an order saying to stop writing "NO TAGS" on tickets for vehicles without license plates.

** A guy in California used this to try and ''get out'' of tickets by ordering the tag "NONE" so that he wouldn't have to pay his own tickets. Apparently while he did get lots and lots of tickets for other people he had trouble getting out of the ones legitimately written on his own vehicle.

* Germany has very strict rules on license plates, so usually this doesn't work. However, similar to the Philippines example above, high-ranking officials go for recognizable numbers instead. Also, high-ranking government officials have ''0'' instead of the usual letter combination at the start of the plate. Both tactics combined yield the license plate for the President's car: "0-1".

** Oh, it works, it works quite well actually, as the option to freely choose the letter combination after the local identification allows a lot of puns which are unfortunately, as they are not funny, used quite often.

** The same is not true of United States Postal Service (USPS) vehicles, while some USPS vehicles do not have tags, if the vehicle does not have a plate the vehicle's postal service serial number will be the same as the tag number would have been.

** The same is true of fire engines in the District of Columbia. It's said, sardonically that if fire engines in DC had tags on them, the (extremely efficient) ticket writers would ticket them for being parked in front of a fire hydrant.

* The Virginia DMV issued, then recalled, a license plate reading "GOVT SUX". The applicant sued and won on the grounds that the plate was constitutionally protected political speech.

* On a Toyota MR2 sports car: "RUMRS2?"

* Rotten.com has license plates with 1337 and H4X0R.

* "ME N MY" on a Dodge Shadow.

* A few years ago, a woman who wanted her license plate to say "[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8734642/ GAYSROK]" (as in "gays are ok" or "gays rock") had to wait while the state of Utah tried to decide whether or not it was offensive. They eventually decided it wasn't.

* Spotted about ten years ago: "[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|LSNZPL8]]"

* Seen on a Mini Cooper: [[Doctor Who|TARD1S]].

* In Lebanon, president has 1, prime minister has 2, etc. So low numbers are for high-ranking officials, and people who wish to appear important, cash out for plates with low numbers. Forgot the actual numbers, but here's the rule of thumb: numbers lower than 200(+/- 20) are reserved for state officials, and 200+ are on sale. One plate with a low number around 200 can cost the owner many times more than the car, it goes up to 17.000 € for numbers 200-300.

* Delaware license plates started low and counted incrementally. As in many places, plates 1-3 are reserved for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Secretary of State. Unusually, though, other low-numbered plates can be transferred to other drivers, leading to a secondary market in low-digit plates. Though they are completely unpersonalized they are ridiculously valuable - plate #6 was auctioned off for $675,000.

* Vanity license plates are ubiquitous in the Virginia, due to the aforementioned low price. You can barely drive a mile to the nearest grocery store and back anywhere in the commonwealth without seeing several.

* When cars are being roadtested in the UK, manufacturers tend to put a fake vanity plate on their press cars, as often shown on Top Gear. For example, all of Aston Martin's press cars bear the plate V12 AML (The 'L' referencing Lagonda, one of Aston Martin's marque's purchased in the late 1940's). Porsche 911's tend to have 911 GB.

* Sighted recently in Portland OR: a fluorescent green compact, license plate "KERMIT".

* With the increasing availability of electric and hybrid cars comes an upswing in vanity plates reading LOL GAS or similar.

* When California first implemented 7 character personalized plates in the early 1980s, they had to hold a lottery as more than 300 people applied for the first 7-character plate to be issued: PORSCHE.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Vehicle Tropes]]