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April 9

License plates without numbers

When a car's license plate, instead of usual numbers and letters, bears some name, like the name of a car dealer here, is it still called a license plate or by some other name (since technically it's not an proper identifiable license plate anymore)? Thanks. 212.180.235.46 (talk) 10:28, 9 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Why wouldn't it be? Keep in mind this is merely an advertisement illustration. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:36, 9 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It is clearly not a vehicle registration plate, and in the US "license plate" is the term used for vehicle registration plates. Still, I think most people will not say, "this is not a license plate" but instead, "this is not a valid license plate". ‑‑Lambiam 12:20, 9 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

On the forecourt there may be a plate cover [1]. This is also known as a "custom number plate surround" or "show plate" or "showroom number plate" [2] or "generic plate". 2A00:23D0:E69:7B01:7453:7620:A387:1348 (talk) 13:19, 9 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've seen boxes of them delivered and the label called them "Custom Placards." However, I found many online stores that call them "Custom (...description...) License Plates." It is correct that they are not license plates in the legal sense. They are license plates in the locus sense. 12.116.29.106 (talk) 13:34, 9 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In jurisdictions which only use rear plates, there are countless decorative plates that people put on the front. My own DMV office actually sells some of them. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:20, 9 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Here is an example of a valid South Australian custom registration plate https://www.ausrotary.com/viewtopic.php?t=158700 This costs $300pa. A "normal" plate is a one off £33. TrogWoolley (talk) 08:49, 10 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

What happens if you drive to a state that requires front plates? Are out-of-state cars exempt, or are they at risk of being pulled over? AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 10:54, 10 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

No. If you are driving through or visiting, your car is required to meet the requirements of the state it is registered in. If you move to another state, you are required to register your vehicle in the new state and get new plates. The only exception I know of is trailers. Some states require tags on trailers. Some do not. If you have a trailer without a tag, you can get pulled over, but the ticket will likely be foegiven in court with a warning. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 11:03, 10 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If you are driving through or visiting, your car is required to meet the requirements of the state it is registered in. Well, no. The requirement in California, for example, is that your car bears the plates it is issued. If your car is properly registered in a one-plate state, you are not required to have a front plate. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 04:53, 13 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

When would the plates it is issued not be the requirements of the state it is registered in? Or are you just thinking of non-US and DC plates? Nil Einne (talk) 13:07, 21 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Custom (legal) vanity plates aside, these are usually referred to as 'show plates' in the UK. That image, of what looks like a right hand drive UK Jag with black and white plates, is showing a show plate and not a UK-legal plate. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 09:16, 10 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

To clarify, a "UK-legal" plate complies with the regulations in conformity with which the combinations of letters and numbers are issued and allocated to vehicles [3]. An advertising plate is legal in the showroom but not on the road. 2A00:23D0:E69:7B01:38B0:2063:2E0B:8F4B (talk) 11:13, 11 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It certainly is genuine. "The first mark to be issued in London was A 1. This was registered to Earl Russell. It is often stated he queued all night to obtain the registration, or he made his butler queue all night." (Vehicle registration plates of the United Kingdom#Before 1932). MinorProphet (talk) 19:41, 20 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

We may be looking at different images. The one in the OP has a plate saying, "VICARAGE". I'm assuming it's supposed to be the UK from the pre-1973 colouring of the plate, the vehicle, and what's written on the plate (Vicarage actually restore Jags). This would never be road-legal for a UK-registered car, even as a vanity plate. The format is all wrong. It would be a show plate and wouldn't be seen on the road. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 22:18, 20 April 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Guess why the Archdeacon of Canterbury supports Watford F.C.. If you can't work it out read on (quote is from the court file for the recent case - the witness statement is dated "Ides of March" 2022):

6. Throughout the evening of Saturday, 12^th March there was loud chanting from the Jewish people on the other side of the garden fence. The moon was past first quarter, reminding me that this might have something to do with the end of their Sabbath and the approach of their festival of Purim.

7. While this was going on, I was glancing through the issue of the Daily Mail dated 6^th December 2021. The following caught my eye:

"The 14.24 out of London Euston heading towards Northampton, was not a football train. Its first stop was Watford Junction, but the carriages were populated by shoppers and families. Vicarage Road was not their destination."

8. The previous day's Sunday Telegraph put the club into perspective:

"This was a third straight defeat for Watford, who sit just outside the relegation zone in 17^th, three points ahead of Burnley, who have played one game fewer."

9. A look at a later newspaper revealed that by March Watford was virtually propping up the table. I have many times wondered (without having researched their performance till now) why Dr Adam, who lives on the South Downs, supports the club with such fervour that his children wear their kit (he has three daughters, one of whom has escaped to London).

10. The Sunday Times wrote under the headline City put their whipping boys to sword again:

"In his time in English football, Pep Guardiola has come to appreciate Watford - and not in a way that flatters them. Five times in nine previous meetings, Guardiola's City have walloped Watford by at least 4-0. Two seasons ago, it was double that. Twice, City have racked up six unanswered goals."

11. The Observer was equally scathing:

"In 13 previous matches in all competitions against Manchester City going back to 2013, they had lost 13, shipping 50 goals and taking some hidings along the way - an 8-0 and a couple of 6-0s, including the one in the 2019 FA Cup final."

12. From the Sunday Mirror we learn that Watford are known as "the Hornets" (they appear to have yellow and black strip).

"After two title rivals had spluttered and struggled earlier in the day, the defending champions were never going to make the same mistake.

"Not against a Watford side they have now beaten 14 times in a row, blitzing an astonishing 53 goals in the process."

13. The Daily Star Sunday noted:

"They have now conceded 42 goals in 10 successive defeats at the hands of the Catalan, including a record 6-0 Wembley spanking in the FA Cup- final."

14. Monday's paper commented:

"Watford have now conceded 19 league goals since Claudio Ranieri took over - more than any other team."

15. There was an illuminating report in the same day's Daily Telegraph:

'Enjoying the delights of their team in full throttle, the visiting fans spent much of the afternoon belting out their chant eulogising the 6-1 victory at Old Trafford in 2011. It ends with a prescient line: "It should have been 10." Frankly, the way they started against Watford it could have been 15.'

16. Later, there was a prescient description of Dr Adam's modus operandi:

"Foden was simply magnificent, precise and cogent in all his work on the ball, he exhibited a terrier-like [emphasis added] determination when out of possession, hunting down Watford players as if they had personally slighted him."

17. That's fine when you're working as part of a team, but not when you're trying to score own goals to sabotage the team effort. So we return to the question - why does Dr Adam support Watford of all teams? The answer appears to lie in the final sentence of the first report quoted.