1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff. 2 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum here. Back in the year nineteen hundred, there 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: were just four thousand, one hundred and ninety two motor 4 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 1: vehicles in the United States, but every year the number 5 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:23,640 Speaker 1: of cars skyrocketed. By nineteen oh eight, it was sixty 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: three thousand, five hundred. As of twenty twenty one, it 7 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: was some two hundred and eighty two million. As automobiles 8 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:34,960 Speaker 1: grew in popularity, eventually replacing the horse and buggy, state 9 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: governments needed a way to keep tabs on vehicles and 10 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: their owners. The simple license plate was the solution for 11 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:46,840 Speaker 1: the article. This episode is based on How Stuffworks. Spoke 12 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 1: via email with Ian Lang, a senior car advice editor 13 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: at the online car resource bumper dot com. He explained 14 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: New York became the first state to require owners to 15 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: register their motor vehicles with the state. The New York 16 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 1: legislature required vehicle registration on April twenty fifth of nineteen 17 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: oh one, followed by California later that year. It was 18 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: Massachusetts that actually issued its first license plates in nineteen 19 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 1: oh three. New York's first plates were homemade, bearing only 20 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 1: the owner's initials without any numbers, and France actually beat 21 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 1: all of them to the punch, with motor vehicle tags 22 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: issued as early as eighteen ninety three. In fact, all 23 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,680 Speaker 1: the way back in seventeen eighty three, King Louis the 24 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: sixteenth mandated that carriage drivers in Paris have metal plates 25 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:38,839 Speaker 1: with their names and addresses fixed on their carriages. Lang 26 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: said by nineteen eighteen, license plates had been issued by 27 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: all forty eight contiguous states. It was common for early 28 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 1: plates to have just the state's name or abbreviation, a 29 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: registration number, and more often than not, the year. These 30 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 1: plates were made out of either leather or metal and 31 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: were not very standardized from state to state. Some of 32 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: these have become collector's items. In August of twenty twenty two, 33 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: the very first license plate issued in Illinois went up 34 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: for auction, fetching a whopping price of thirty four thousand dollars. 35 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:14,079 Speaker 1: The plate was supplied by the local government of Chicago 36 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: in nineteen oh four and fittingly bears the number one 37 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 1: in a bold font. Initially, license plates were issued to 38 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: last the life of the vehicle, but by the nineteen twenties, 39 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: registration renewal became a thing Lang said. During this time, 40 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: states began experimenting with different methods of creating license plates. Typically, 41 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,360 Speaker 1: the front of the registration card plate would have the 42 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: registration number in large, centered numbers, while the back would 43 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 1: have the abbreviated name of the state and a two 44 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: or four digit year of validity. Around the nineteen fifties, 45 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: license plate size and materials began to be standardized to 46 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: what we see today. After nineteen fifty six, all American 47 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,360 Speaker 1: as well as Canadian plates measured exactly six by twelve 48 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: inches that's fifteen by thirty centimeters. In nineteen fifty four, 49 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: the Vehicle Identification number or VIN was also introduced as 50 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:14,519 Speaker 1: a reliable method of tying registration documents to a particular car. 51 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,919 Speaker 1: So what do the numbers unlicensed plates mean today? US 52 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,920 Speaker 1: states use many different conventions when it comes to assigning 53 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: plate numbers, and many states do it randomly. Others, like Idaho, 54 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: designate numbers and letters based on the county where the 55 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: plates are issued. The digits in letters are usually embossed 56 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: and painted, though some states have moved toward completely flat 57 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: metal plates. Each state offers designs with local slogans or 58 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: symbols serving as the backdrop, perhaps a local plant, a 59 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,120 Speaker 1: famous landmark, or a historical figure. Some states require tags 60 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: at both the front and rear of the vehicle, while 61 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: others issue only the rear plate. And of course, there 62 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: are also plenty of custos vanity plate options that allow 63 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: drivers to pick designs that are meaningful to them and 64 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: to choose their own characters that create words or phrases, 65 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: as long as they don't spell out profanity. Elang explained 66 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: the majority of passenger vehicles today have license plates with 67 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: six or seven characters, but some states allow vanity plates 68 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 1: with a maximum of eight characters. In addition, most states 69 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: do not allow letters IO and Q because they're too 70 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 1: easily confused with zero in one. For many decades, the 71 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: Department of Motor Vehicles system has used prison labor to 72 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:40,600 Speaker 1: meet the constant demand for new license plates. Elang said 73 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: it's estimated that eighty percent of license plates in the 74 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: United States are produced in prisons. In prisons, the actual 75 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: metal plates are stamped, then the plastic sheeting is applied. 76 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:57,480 Speaker 1: Several prisons manufacture plates for multiple states. Just for one example, 77 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:00,640 Speaker 1: all of California's plates are cut and stamped out of aluminium. 78 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,400 Speaker 1: In a facility at Fulsoon State Penitentiary. The plant uses 79 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: around one hundred and twenty inmates to churn out over 80 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 1: forty five thousand license plates a day, consuming fifteen thousand 81 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: pounds that's six eight hundred kilos of sheet metal in 82 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:19,720 Speaker 1: the process. Many advocacy groups, including the ACLU, have decried 83 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: the use of prison labor in the United States. After all, 84 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: inmates frequently make less than a dollar per hour on 85 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,599 Speaker 1: the job, even if the skills they learned there might 86 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: help them in the future. We wanted to mention it here, 87 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,080 Speaker 1: but of course prison labor and other practices could be 88 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: a whole series of episodes or a whole different series entirely. 89 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 1: But back to license plates. The majority of plates issued 90 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: to date have been hunks of lifeless, unchanging metal, but 91 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: recently electronic plates have been introduced in states like California, Arizona, Michigan, 92 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: and Texas. This new variety is a small flat panel 93 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,599 Speaker 1: screen roughly the same size as additional plate. It can 94 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: either be hardwired into a vehicle's electrical system or supplied 95 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: with an internal battery that will last about five years. 96 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,279 Speaker 1: The company responsible for these digital plates, Reviver, says that 97 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: they're more convenient than the traditional plate because you can 98 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: update vehicle registration online and see the change reflected on 99 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:23,359 Speaker 1: the digital plate screen. However, this does come at a 100 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,920 Speaker 1: subscription charge of nineteen ninety five a month or two 101 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: hundred and fifteen dollars and forty cents for four years, 102 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: and that's an addition to the fees charged by states 103 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: for vehicle registration. If you want the plate hardwired, that 104 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: requires an extra installation cost. Since you can renew or 105 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: change out your metal tag for less money, digital tags 106 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 1: probably hold more appeal for commercial enterprises that have to 107 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: keep track of several vehicles at one time. Businesses could 108 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,960 Speaker 1: also monitor locations and mileage on their fleet with these plates. 109 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: But even if digital plates take off with consumers, you'll 110 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: probably will you be seeing the old pieces of stamped 111 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: aluminum on American roads for many years to come. Today's 112 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article The Long Strange History 113 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 1: of license plates in the US on how Stuffworks dot com, 114 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: written by Talen Homer. The brain Stuff is production of 115 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:22,000 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot com and is 116 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my Heart 117 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 1: Radio visit the iHeartRadio, app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you 118 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.