Obviously a very tall driver. First Alberta vanity: Issued to Minister of Highways & Transport: Clarence Copithorne  The wheat stalks are absent on Sask's vanity plate. Tony the Tiger's plate Ontario original own-choice plate. Off a 427 Pontiac GTO Muscle-car. Automobile License Plate Collectors' Association Someone's Phone number! (The number is out of service!) (Missing NS) Original vanity of 1973 (Three letter / 2 number) "Easy to do" Off a '42 Harley (Missing Nunavut) (No vanities for Que & Nfld)

Almost everybody has seen license plates on the road carrying a message, instead of a regular serial number.  These are called personalized, own-choice or vanity plates.  Instead of a regular number assigned by the DMV, it is something the motorist decided to have on his license plate for an extra fee.  People might typically request: Initials, a name, or their nickname. Something related to their profession, for example "2TH DR" for a dentist, or "I SUE 4U" no doubt used by a lawyer. Something related to a hobby. The model and year of the car to which the plates are attached. A favorite sports team. A place, perhaps where the driver is from, such as a city, province or country. Often the message is too long to fit on the license plate, so motorists will either abbreviate or use numbers or letters that have the same pronunciation as words.  For example, "B4 NE1" means "Before Anyone", and "EZ4U2C" means "Easy for you to see".  As you can see, you can come up with some real 'bumper stumpers' if you carry this too far.  Many can leave you guessing.  Does "FYR LDY" mean "Fair Lady", or "Fire Lady"?  Only the owner knows for sure!  Next time you are on the road, why not keep an eye out for these and see how many you can figure out? How it all started.... In the beginning, certain numbers would be assigned to people of political importance.  These were usually the lowest numbers in the series, for example: the plates numbered from 1 to 1,000, or plates beginning with A.  Collectors prefer to call these courtesy plates because they were not available to the general public. Some provinces have issued plates with people's initials as a political favor or for a special event.  This was done in Quebec, for example, in the days before the province started providing the license plates in 1911.  In a way, these were the first true vanity plates. The true own-choice plate concept has been around in the United States much longer than in Canada.  Some states, such as Vermont and Connecticut, allowed motorists to choose their own messages for an extra fee as early as the 50s.  Ontario was the first province to introduce the own-choice plate program, in 1973.  The choice had to be the same format as the regular passenger plates, 3 letters followed by 3 numbers.  This program did not take off until Ontario changed the rules in 1983, allowing people to have whatever they liked, up to 6 characters, on the plate. PEI also introduced a similar program in 1973.  A motorist could request 3 letters followed by 2 numbers, but this plate could only be displayed on the front of the car.  It was not until the late '80s that a true own choice program was introduced.  BC has issued a separate graphic for vanity plates and it has proven to be quite popular. Today, the motorist applies for his message and provided it is not taken already by someone else, waits for the approval. Needless to say, there are restrictions on what a motorist can request.  Dirty words, racial slurs, sexual innuendo, religious terms are not allowed for the most part.  The first year of introduction of personalized  plates by provinces is given in the following table.   BC 1980 NB 1987 Alta 1984 NS 1989? Sask 1980s? PEI 1973 Man 1983 Nfld  - Ont 1973 Yuk  1990? Que  - NWT 1986? Nun 1999 Quebec and Newfoundland do not have vanity plates.  Quebec does, however, allow you to display anything you want on the front of your car.  In the past, such as in 1978, when Quebec started issuing only a single plate, they have made plates with people's names or other slogans of choice, for the front of the car only. Some provinces have further restrictions, in many cases, to make sure the own choice does not correspond to a regular issue series - otherwise the same plate may accidentally be made twice, as a vanity, then as a regular issue!   Current Rules BC Up to 6 characters NB Up to 7 characters Alta Up to 7 characters NS Up to 7 characters Sask Up to 6 characters PEI Up to 7 characters Man Up to 6 characters Nfld  - Ont Up to 8 characters Yuk The miner graphic is omitted for choices over 5 characters. Que  - NWT Up to 6 characters Nun Up to 6 characters

• ONTARIO: In 1973, all personlized plates had to be of the ABC-123 format. In 1983 they introduced a new "own choice plate" program where 2 to 6 characters were permitted. Any combination was allowed except ABC-123 combinations that would conflict with the regular passenger series. Later they decided no more than 2 digits could be used. Ontario introduced 7 and 8 character vanity plates on April 10, 2000 at a very expensive cost of $500, but later the cost was reduced to $200, presumably, after they figured most of the desirable combinations would have been taken.

• PEI: In 1973 they introduced a limited program with their new centennial plate. The choice had to be of the ABC-12 format, and the plate could only be used on the front of the car. PEI issued normal plates in pairs so at least motorists could reign supreme over half the car! These plates were discontinued with the new baseplate issued in 1976. It was not until the late 80s that PEI re-introduced vanity plates without any restrictions.

• Most provinces which allow vanity plates, also allow motorcycle vanities, usually with fewer characters.

Peter Hill: Yukon "ROCK ON"
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