“Can I see your license and proof of insurance?”
“Sure, okay, just a minute, wait a minute, okay, whoops here it is, dam, is that the right one, whoops, sorry … Is there a reason?”
“Yes, there is. Have you looked at your car lately, of course you have!” (At least he had a sense of humor.)
“Hu?”
“Your plate, there’s no blue left on it!”
“I know, I’ve had it since 1979” what more could I say. “I’ve grown attached to it. And the dirt on it, it's like a little outline don't you think?" (He didn't think so.)
Good thing he wasn't looking at the front plate ...Wait a minute, I see blue, and much better dirt.
Of course I hadn’t really thought the MTO plan through either… the folks there, bless their souls, had only a flat head screw driver on hand. Right, I need a socket wrench for the back plate and a Robertson for the front – what kind of idiot put these plates on anyway!
Tomorrow Officer, I promise (and I've found the tools) but do you think I can convince them to let me keep the memories, you know ... to frame and hang in the living room?
Since 1979 these plates have graced a Ford Mustang, a Chevrolete Cavalier, a GMC Jimmy, a Buick Skylark, an Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra, a Hyundai Santa Fe another Hyundai Santa Fe and a Hyundai Tuscon and seen over a million kilometers of road. I'm going to miss them.
I wonder if you could get away with repainting the characters...
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking I might have been able to ... but not now that I've been busted (officially.)
DeleteThat's a lot of miles ....
ReplyDeleteDom - that's a lot of years.
DeleteSorry to see the bad news. Are you required to surrender the old plates in exchange for the new ones? They'd make nice garage décor.
ReplyDeleteErik we do have to surrender the plates - that is unless we are willing to RE-purchase the sticker as well as the new plate. I thought about it fleetingly, you know for the memories, but the idea of paying the government two times for the same year ended the debate. And what's with garage decor - they were art!
DeleteUnless it is a "vanity plate" we aren't allowed to transfer between vehicles.
ReplyDeleteIf the plate is clean and shiny is it a farkle?
Well then Richard, my Tuscon has just been farkled! (Legal once again, well at least I will be once I report to the police station to prove that I am.)
DeleteWow, I'd forgotten the plates follow you up there. After 15 years, I am used to plates following the vehicles here in Oregon.
ReplyDeleteTrobairitz I'd probably never change cars if I lived in Oregon.
DeleteI have kept the first plate from my scooter and put it on every new motorcycle. Why pay $ to get a new plate :)
ReplyDeleteMoto memories!
Well Dar - my current bike plate has been on three bikes; so far 10 years. It has a way to go to catch up to the 36 years.
DeleteWow, that's quite a record. As far as keeping them is concerned, just tell them you lost the front one.
ReplyDeleteDavid, for a fleeting moment, after I got the darn things off the vehicle I thought about your advice. But I am such a terrible fibber. Just from the neon red colour of my face she would have sussed me out and I would have been busted!
DeleteCool! Do you regret not hanging on to the Mustang? The early ones cost an absolute fortune here!
ReplyDeleteGeoff from the time I was about six I had wanted a Mustang, 1979 was kind of a transition year for the Mustang. They had grown from sport car to muscle car and we getting small again. Looking back it was a kind of a run of the mill model. Even at that I couldn't have saved it ... a little old man pulled out in front of me on the highway. He didn't see me. It was totaled but I was fine. (The moon roof leaked and the trunk had just rusted through - my love affair with Mustang was done anyway.) That car took me from Kingston to Bathurst NewBrunswick for a weekend once - lots of memories not the least of which was that of the first brand new car.
ReplyDeleteWow, a million miles! I had no idea that anyone was allowed to roll plates from one vehicle to another for that period of time. No wonder they were illegible.
ReplyDeleteOur styles/fonts keep changing as well as the colors. I can remember one of the guys in high school painting his plates the 'new' color. Unless he was naughty otherwise, he probably never got caught.
Coop it seems our type style and colour has remained pretty much the same over the years and as far as I know you can keep them forever (provided they're readable.) The only noticeable change happened in 1997 when they added one more character and changed from 123-ABC to ABCD-123. I don't like it! Now I'm just like everybody else. I think if I'd painted over it (like a friend of mine suggested just last weekend ) I'd have gotten away with it as well. Drat that hindsight!
ReplyDeletePS - We drive in kilometers here ... not quite as impressive, but a long way just the same.
DeleteAh, I knew that and missed it. You are right, many, many just the same. I quickly started doing some math in my head (hurt only a little) adding up what mine would have been over that time. Sort of like compounding, time makes a lot?? :)
DeleteWow, that is a LONG time to keep the same plate!!! Hopefully they let you keep it..
ReplyDeleteYa, no ... they didn't, well they would have if I wanted to pay ... and no I didn't ;0D
DeleteThe only plate I was semi-fond of was on my Miata. The three numbers matched my office extension number at the time I got the car. Alas, the car is gone, the extension is long gone, that job is long gone, and so on.
ReplyDeleteWhen I crossed back into Canada on my Vespa in July the border guard asked what my plate number was. "Good question, I have absolutely no clue" I said. He made me dismount and check. Sheesh, so much for their surveillance cams. I still don't remember what the damn thing is.