North Carolina First in Flight Plate
2010–presentNorth Carolina · current · “First in Flight”
The Wright brothers made the first powered flight at Kill Devil Hills in December 1903, and North Carolina has said so on its plates since 1982. Ohio disputes the claim on its own plates, on the grounds that the brothers were from Dayton and built the machine there. This is one of three plates a North Carolina driver may choose between, and the choice is written into state law rather than left to the department. 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 2010 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, Jettacar). Issue date, serial format, and the statute giving the driver a choice of three standard plates (CC BY-SA).
- Issued
- Standard issue
- The plate you received by default when you registered a vehicle.
- Serial format
- AAA-9999
- Material
- Aluminium: stamped serial on screened reflective sheeting
- Source license
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Reference
- View original