Colorado 2018 Base Plate
2018–presentColorado · current
The plate on most Colorado cars today. A screened range of mountains runs across the top against a dark green band, with the serial embossed in green below and COLORADO along the foot. The artwork has been unchanged since 2000; what has changed since is the numbering, this run having moved to three letters, a letter and two digits after the state worked through the previous sequence. Colorado has never printed its base plate flat, so unlike most states its current issue is still stamped metal. 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 2018 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.
Stamped, not printed
Every character here is pressed into the metal and stands proud of the surface, along with the raised rim just inside the edge. Run a hand across it and you feel the whole design. The plate was struck from flat stock in a press, then the raised faces were rolled with paint, which is why wear shows first on the tops of the characters.
Sources
Reference photograph of an issued plate (CC BY 4.0, CA81enjoyer). Issue period and serial format (CC BY-SA).
- Issued
- Standard issue
- The plate you received by default when you registered a vehicle.
- Serial format
- AAA-A99
- Material
- Embossed aluminium with reflective sheeting
- Source license
- CC BY 4.0
- Reference
- View original