May 24, 2010 0
New York State License Plates… When Retro Means Ugly
I’ve been noticing lately that there’s a bunch of cars on the read with “industrial equipment” yellow license plates. Today I thought I’d look into that and see what the story is.
I remember when New York state switched to the white background license plates (this must have been in the late 1980′s). My boss at the time pointed out that even though some people didn’t like the idea of change, overall most car colors look better with a white license plate against them then with that garish yellow.
Apparently, someone decided to “bring it back” — because nothing looks better than putting something that looks like World War II surplus paint color against a car with a modern paint job. To add injury to the insult, the new plate fee for cars will be $25 instead of $15. Hurray for progress!
Read NY State’s proud press release here.
In the U.S., where each state issues plates, New York State has required plates since 1901. Apparently they’ve changed colors a lot over the years until the 1970′s-1980′s where they fixed on the ugly yellow. Having switched to a classy white plate (like so many other states use) for so many years, there’s nothing to do but change it back so that it’ll be easier for cops down south to spot New Yorkers at a distance and give them speeding tickets. Your tax dollars at work!
Here’s a site with pictures of licences plates in NY from various years, so you can wax nostalgic.
