Indiana In God We Trust Plate
2012–presentIndiana · current · “In God We Trust”
Indiana offers this beside the covered bridge plate at no extra cost, and says so in the statute itself: the section of Indiana code that creates it is headed No Additional Fee for Plate. That was the fight. When the plate was introduced there was litigation over whether giving away a religious motto for free while charging for other special plates amounted to state endorsement, and the courts let it stand. 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 2012 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.
Printed, not stamped
This plate is smooth. The design is printed onto flat reflective sheeting rather than pressed into the metal. It is what makes photographic backgrounds and fine detail possible at all, and it is the reason a modern plate feels like a sign where an older one feels like a stamping.
Sources
Reference photograph of an issued plate from a collector listing (All rights reserved, cited not reproduced). Issue date, serial format and the statutory provision making the plate free (CC BY-SA).
- Issued
- Standard issue
- The plate you received by default when you registered a vehicle.
- Serial format
- AAA999
- Material
- Flat aluminium, printed to order on reflective sheeting
- Source license
- All rights reserved, cited not reproduced
- Reference
- View original