Here are a few previous stories of mine regarding those issues Many complaints are from people seeing expired stickers, others are expired temporary tags, sometimes well over a year expired.
Drivers all over Denver send me more emails about expired license plates than any other issue.
Your question, Mike, is one of a group of questions regarding license plates that I get often. Are they a forever plate that does not have to be renewed every year, or are the companies just not putting them on the license plates?” I see almost all of them with no expiration stickers, month or year, on them. The white plates with red letters that say fleet. 13 in 2012.Mike from Northglenn writes, “What's driving you crazy? Fleet license plates. 20 in 2007, and, most recently, by Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” which launched at No. It has since been eclipsed twice, first by Carrie Underwood’s “So Small,” which debuted at No. In 1975, who was issued special Illinois license plates with stick figures of people instead of numbers?Īnswer to Wednesday’s trivia: In 2005, Pocahontas native Gretchen Wilson set a mark for releasing the highest debuting single ever on the Hot Country Singles chart when “All Jacked Up” started out at No. In 1985, all vehicles were charged the same fee ($48) rather than one based on horsepower.įor more year-by-year changes and innovations, be sure to visit Today’s trivia The discontinuation of annual plates in 1979 ended a 67-year run, the longest in the United States. In 1977, drivers were able to complain about lousy photos on their licenses for the first time. In 1966, for the first time in 30 years, fees were increased 50 cents to pay for a new reflective coating. Purple and white plates were issued in 1964 to honor both McKendree College and Rockford College (as they were known then). 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. Aluminum license plates were issued for the first time in 1950. More interesting plate trivia: In 1912, front plates were perforated so more air could flow through a car’s radiator. Probably realizing they had a cash cow on their hands, the state began charging an annual fee in 1909 and re-registered all vehicles. Gorham, of LaGrange, was issued license plate number 1.Īs you might guess, that “one-time fee” didn’t last long. The disks were dropped in 1917.) From July 1, 1907, to June 30, 1909, the state registered 20,224 vehicles. (Drivers had to furnish their own plates until 1911.
For a one-time $2 fee per vehicle, motorists received a round aluminum disk with a registration number to affix to their vehicles. 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.
Such personal favors likely had been going for years, but your guess is as good as Haupt’s as to when the first one was granted. Dad had a good friend at the local secretary of state’s office so it’s a good bet that the friend asked Dad if he wanted a specialized plate and then put in Dad’s request. Instead, he figures it likely was a typical case of not what you knew being important, but who you knew. There was no law that he could find before 1980 authorizing such plates. When I related this personal anecdote to Haupt, all he could do was chuckle. I found similar plates in 1977, 19, when the state stopped issuing plates every year. Sure enough, in 1976, the year the state issued red, white and blue plates to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial, there was 412 412 for the first time. But just to double-check, I zipped downstairs to root out the Eckert’s peaches basket filled with my dad’s old plates. Year after year they sported “412 412” - the address (two times over) of our family home on South 16th Street. Even after 40 years, I remember how proud my dad was of his “vanity” plates.