WEBVTT - What's the History of License Plates?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum here. Back in the year nineteen hundred, there

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<v Speaker 1>were just four thousand, one hundred and ninety two motor

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<v Speaker 1>vehicles in the United States, but every year the number

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<v Speaker 1>of cars skyrocketed. By nineteen oh eight, it was sixty

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<v Speaker 1>three thousand, five hundred. As of twenty twenty one, it

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<v Speaker 1>was some two hundred and eighty two million. As automobiles

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<v Speaker 1>grew in popularity, eventually replacing the horse and buggy, state

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<v Speaker 1>governments needed a way to keep tabs on vehicles and

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<v Speaker 1>their owners. The simple license plate was the solution for

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<v Speaker 1>the article. This episode is based on How Stuffworks. Spoke

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<v Speaker 1>via email with Ian Lang, a senior car advice editor

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<v Speaker 1>at the online car resource bumper dot com. He explained

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<v Speaker 1>New York became the first state to require owners to

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<v Speaker 1>register their motor vehicles with the state. The New York

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<v Speaker 1>legislature required vehicle registration on April twenty fifth of nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>oh one, followed by California later that year. It was

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<v Speaker 1>Massachusetts that actually issued its first license plates in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>oh three. New York's first plates were homemade, bearing only

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<v Speaker 1>the owner's initials without any numbers, and France actually beat

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<v Speaker 1>all of them to the punch, with motor vehicle tags

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<v Speaker 1>issued as early as eighteen ninety three. In fact, all

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<v Speaker 1>the way back in seventeen eighty three, King Louis the

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<v Speaker 1>sixteenth mandated that carriage drivers in Paris have metal plates

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<v Speaker 1>with their names and addresses fixed on their carriages. Lang

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<v Speaker 1>said by nineteen eighteen, license plates had been issued by

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<v Speaker 1>all forty eight contiguous states. It was common for early

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<v Speaker 1>plates to have just the state's name or abbreviation, a

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<v Speaker 1>registration number, and more often than not, the year. These

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<v Speaker 1>plates were made out of either leather or metal and

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<v Speaker 1>were not very standardized from state to state. Some of

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<v Speaker 1>these have become collector's items. In August of twenty twenty two,

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<v Speaker 1>the very first license plate issued in Illinois went up

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<v Speaker 1>for auction, fetching a whopping price of thirty four thousand dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>The plate was supplied by the local government of Chicago

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen oh four and fittingly bears the number one

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<v Speaker 1>in a bold font. Initially, license plates were issued to

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<v Speaker 1>last the life of the vehicle, but by the nineteen twenties,

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<v Speaker 1>registration renewal became a thing Lang said. During this time,

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<v Speaker 1>states began experimenting with different methods of creating license plates. Typically,

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<v Speaker 1>the front of the registration card plate would have the

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<v Speaker 1>registration number in large, centered numbers, while the back would

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<v Speaker 1>have the abbreviated name of the state and a two

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<v Speaker 1>or four digit year of validity. Around the nineteen fifties,

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<v Speaker 1>license plate size and materials began to be standardized to

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<v Speaker 1>what we see today. After nineteen fifty six, all American

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<v Speaker 1>as well as Canadian plates measured exactly six by twelve

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<v Speaker 1>inches that's fifteen by thirty centimeters. In nineteen fifty four,

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<v Speaker 1>the Vehicle Identification number or VIN was also introduced as

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<v Speaker 1>a reliable method of tying registration documents to a particular car.

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<v Speaker 1>So what do the numbers unlicensed plates mean today? US

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<v Speaker 1>states use many different conventions when it comes to assigning

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<v Speaker 1>plate numbers, and many states do it randomly. Others, like Idaho,

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<v Speaker 1>designate numbers and letters based on the county where the

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<v Speaker 1>plates are issued. The digits in letters are usually embossed

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<v Speaker 1>and painted, though some states have moved toward completely flat

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<v Speaker 1>metal plates. Each state offers designs with local slogans or

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<v Speaker 1>symbols serving as the backdrop, perhaps a local plant, a

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<v Speaker 1>famous landmark, or a historical figure. Some states require tags

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<v Speaker 1>at both the front and rear of the vehicle, while

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<v Speaker 1>others issue only the rear plate. And of course, there

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<v Speaker 1>are also plenty of custos vanity plate options that allow

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<v Speaker 1>drivers to pick designs that are meaningful to them and

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<v Speaker 1>to choose their own characters that create words or phrases,

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<v Speaker 1>as long as they don't spell out profanity. Elang explained

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<v Speaker 1>the majority of passenger vehicles today have license plates with

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<v Speaker 1>six or seven characters, but some states allow vanity plates

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<v Speaker 1>with a maximum of eight characters. In addition, most states

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<v Speaker 1>do not allow letters IO and Q because they're too

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<v Speaker 1>easily confused with zero in one. For many decades, the

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<v Speaker 1>Department of Motor Vehicles system has used prison labor to

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<v Speaker 1>meet the constant demand for new license plates. Elang said

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<v Speaker 1>it's estimated that eighty percent of license plates in the

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<v Speaker 1>United States are produced in prisons. In prisons, the actual

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<v Speaker 1>metal plates are stamped, then the plastic sheeting is applied.

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<v Speaker 1>Several prisons manufacture plates for multiple states. Just for one example,

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<v Speaker 1>all of California's plates are cut and stamped out of aluminium.

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<v Speaker 1>In a facility at Fulsoon State Penitentiary. The plant uses

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<v Speaker 1>around one hundred and twenty inmates to churn out over

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<v Speaker 1>forty five thousand license plates a day, consuming fifteen thousand

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<v Speaker 1>pounds that's six eight hundred kilos of sheet metal in

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<v Speaker 1>the process. Many advocacy groups, including the ACLU, have decried

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<v Speaker 1>the use of prison labor in the United States. After all,

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<v Speaker 1>inmates frequently make less than a dollar per hour on

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<v Speaker 1>the job, even if the skills they learned there might

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<v Speaker 1>help them in the future. We wanted to mention it here,

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<v Speaker 1>but of course prison labor and other practices could be

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<v Speaker 1>a whole series of episodes or a whole different series entirely.

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<v Speaker 1>But back to license plates. The majority of plates issued

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<v Speaker 1>to date have been hunks of lifeless, unchanging metal, but

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<v Speaker 1>recently electronic plates have been introduced in states like California, Arizona, Michigan,

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<v Speaker 1>and Texas. This new variety is a small flat panel

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<v Speaker 1>screen roughly the same size as additional plate. It can

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<v Speaker 1>either be hardwired into a vehicle's electrical system or supplied

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<v Speaker 1>with an internal battery that will last about five years.

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<v Speaker 1>The company responsible for these digital plates, Reviver, says that

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<v Speaker 1>they're more convenient than the traditional plate because you can

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<v Speaker 1>update vehicle registration online and see the change reflected on

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<v Speaker 1>the digital plate screen. However, this does come at a

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<v Speaker 1>subscription charge of nineteen ninety five a month or two

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifteen dollars and forty cents for four years,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's an addition to the fees charged by states

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<v Speaker 1>for vehicle registration. If you want the plate hardwired, that

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<v Speaker 1>requires an extra installation cost. Since you can renew or

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<v Speaker 1>change out your metal tag for less money, digital tags

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<v Speaker 1>probably hold more appeal for commercial enterprises that have to

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<v Speaker 1>keep track of several vehicles at one time. Businesses could

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<v Speaker 1>also monitor locations and mileage on their fleet with these plates.

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<v Speaker 1>But even if digital plates take off with consumers, you'll

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<v Speaker 1>probably will you be seeing the old pieces of stamped

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<v Speaker 1>aluminum on American roads for many years to come. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on the article The Long Strange History

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<v Speaker 1>of license plates in the US on how Stuffworks dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Talen Homer. The brain Stuff is production of

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<v Speaker 1>iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot com and is

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my Heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio visit the iHeartRadio, app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you

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