California Standard Plate
2011–presentCalifornia · current
The plate on more cars than any other in America, and it is almost nothing: a white field, a stamped blue serial, and the word California written across the top in red script. That script has been the whole of the design since 1987. What changed in 2011 was the addition of dmv.ca.gov along the foot, which makes this the rare plate whose defining feature is a web address. California is currently issuing two serial formats at once, the older running out in the south while the north has started a new sequence, so both are standard and neither is a different plate. The plate shown is a reconstruction carrying an invented serial, so no real registration is depicted.
Still on the road
This is a current issue, first seen in 2011 and still being handed out. Nothing about it is settled history: the serial sequence is still advancing, and the design will only stop where the state decides to replace it.
Half stamped, half printed
Run a thumb across this plate and only the serial answers. The registration is still pressed into the metal the old way, while the state name, the slogan and any artwork are printed flat onto the reflective sheeting around it. Most plates issued in America today are made like this: the part that must be legible at speed and survive a decade of weather is stamped, and the part that carries the state's personality is printed, because printing can do colour and detail that a press cannot.
Sources
Reference photograph of an issued plate (CC BY-SA 4.0, Dickelbers). Issue date, the dmv.ca.gov legend and both current serial sequences (CC BY-SA).
- Issued
- Standard issue
- The plate you received by default when you registered a vehicle.
- Serial format
- 9AAA999
- Material
- Aluminium: stamped serial on screened reflective sheeting
- Source license
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Reference
- View original