License Plates

"That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms" (thatbastardkurtis5) 12/22/2014 at 13:46 • Filed to: None

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Here in the great state of Rhode Island, we recently changed our license plate format.

For the longest time, it was AB-123. Everybody liked those plates, because before registering your car you would go down to the plate department and see which letters they were using right now. So before I registered my '88 Mustang GT, I went down and asked what they had in KG, my initials...I ended up with KG-273.

A special rarity/prestige thing here in the Ocean State was if you had a AB-12 sort of plate. My mother has her initials (maiden name) followed by 50, which is thought to be a desirable plate around here. She's had it since she was 16, and told my dad he was out of his mind when he suggested changing it when they got married in 1978.

Recently (probably almost 10 years ago by this point, but it feels recent to me), RI switched to a different format: 123-456. I hate it. It just feels so anonymous, you know? The old plates you could see the letters and wonder what a person's name was, or in the case of my friend Smay, you could get the letters FQ and troll everybody. Sound it out. There you go.

So I went today to register my Civic, and I didn't want an anonymous 6 digit tag. My Jaguar has a plate on it that was on my grandfather's E-Type (pictured above), but what of the plate that was on my XJ-12? That was really the plate I wanted to use on there, but since the registration hadn't been active in nearly ten years, I didn't think I'd be able to use them. The plate is XJ-777, which is a pretty cool plate, so I thought I'd give it a shot for the Civic.

Along with the rest of my paperwork, I had my grandmother give me a plate release letter and figured I had nothing to lose.

As fate would have it, unpaid taxes worked in my favor. The first worker I went to said she couldn't do it, and by the way I owe taxes to the city, so won't you be so kind as to go pay them before we register your car. I did, and when you come back they give you a blue ticket that lets you cut the line. I've always hated the blue ticket people, but today I discovered the joy of cutting in front of hours worth of lines. Anyway, I digress.

The second worker was a really nice lady who, when I told her I wanted to use this plate and handed her the letter, simply replied "I don't see why not". After 10 years, the plate had never been put back into circulation, and she simply filled in XJ-777 in place of one of the new 6 digit numbers.

Technically, the plates are property of the state and should have been turned in when the registration lapsed in 2004. But she didn't bother looking up when it was last used, she simply made sure nobody had it and let me use it. That's the kind of service I like to see at the DMV.

So now my Civic is officially part of the tribe, since it wears a plate that it's garaged cousin the XJ12 wore proudly for a number of years. That was the highlight of my day.

The lowlight of the day came about 40 minutes later, when the clutch started slipping the first time I took the Civic onto the highway.

Ah well. Good thing I've got the next two weeks off to start repairs.

Sn210 > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 12/22/2014 at 13:50

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needs more sailboat plate!

aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 12/22/2014 at 13:53

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Virginia changed it plates over the summer. They added "virginia is for lovers" at the bottom

not a huge fan of the new ones because i loved the simplistic look of the older ones

old plate

new plate

VonBelmont > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 12/22/2014 at 13:53

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Guess it took the Jaguar's unreliability with it :P

In which case, you now have an XJ12 with Civic reliability :D

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > VonBelmont 12/22/2014 at 13:56

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I think it would be worth whatever I paid for the Civic for that to happen. Every Jaguar owner would make that deal 100/100 times.

jeffywk > aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe 12/22/2014 at 13:59

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Ew that's gross!

Justin Hughes > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 12/22/2014 at 14:26

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I get LOTS of questions about my plate.

The lightning bolt is how MA designates a ham radio operator plate. The plate is my callsign. But nobody knows that, and I get asked about it a lot.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe 12/22/2014 at 15:43

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I hate the new ones. I still have the Jamestown anniversary plates from 2008

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Justin Hughes 12/22/2014 at 17:28

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I always suspected MA had plates for basically everything. Now I know they have them for absolutely everything. I had no idea a ham radio operator plate was a thing.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Justin Hughes 12/22/2014 at 17:29

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Also, nice BRZ.

Justin Hughes > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 12/22/2014 at 17:41

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Many states have them as a separate class. In NY it's actually free, last I checked. I pay extra for mine, but not as much as a true vanity plate.

Thanks! It's a fun car.

Tohru > aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe 12/24/2014 at 12:16

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Virginia has always had boring plates.

Tohru > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 12/24/2014 at 12:20

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Wisconsin has them too. They are not quite as spiffy though.

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Other states do it better:

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Tohru 12/24/2014 at 12:58

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Apparently RI does it, but it doesn't have anything special on it. Just the call sign on a plate the same as what everybody else gets.