Trans Am License Plates

One of the random tidbits that many people don't know about me is that I collect license plates. It's not a real "involved" collection, and I don't actively seek license plates, people just kind of give them to me and I put them in a box. I think I have about 70 or so from all different years and states. Along with collecting them, I look at license plates all day long at work and really start to appreciate people who take care of their license plates so they are easier for me to read.

Currently the Trans Am has it's third set of regular passenger car license plates on it. The original plate issued to the Trans Am in 1980 was "FBF-808" then "987-NCV" then "LBN-369" and it is scheduled for it's 4th set next June. In the State of Minnesota, you get issues new license plates every 7 years. The state does this to keep the license plates legible and to purge the license plates number that are no longer in use. Some more information and picture of Minnesota license plates over the year can be found HERE.

When I bought the Trans Am I started doing some research on how I wanted to license it. Since I wasn't going to be using the Trans Am as a daily driver, I could apply for collector vehicle plates. This would eliminate me having to pay registration tax every year, and this was something I was very interested in! I have a couple options to get the collector vehicle plates. The first option is getting "Collector" plates issued from the state. They are a embossed license plate with a white background and black numbers/letters and say "Collector" on the bottom. I would say about 75% of collector vehicles have these plates. The other option is obtaining an "Original" plate on your own and then registering it as a collector vehicle. This would mean I would either have to find a license plate with an "80" registration sticker or one with an "80" embossed on it. Once I found the plate I wanted to have on my vehicle, I would bring it to the DMV and they would check to make sure I could display them and issue them to my vehicle. The second option got to be difficult since finding a set (not just one, the Trans Am has a front license plate bracket I don't want to remove) of 28 year old Minnesota license plates in good shape was not easy. eBay was the answer again! After buying 3 single 1980 license plates, I finally found a set (pair) in perfect condition with the 1980 stickers! The best part about this set is that the license plate number "FFD-763" is not that far away from the actual original plate of "FBF-808!" I also found a set of never displayed plates with the "80" embossed in the corner. They were originally supposed to be "Dealer" plates, but it doesn't say dealer anywhere on it, so I figured they would work as another option. The embossed plate has a white background with black letters (which I might change to blue if I go with this option) and says 10,000 lakes on the bottom.

So now this is where I want to find out the opinions of the readers of my journal. If you notice on the right sidebar I have a "poll" set up with three different options to vote for. Below I have pictures and brief comments on each option. Please vote and let me know what you think!

Option 1

Original "printed" style Minnesota license plates with 1980 stickers and letters/number close to the actual original plate:

Option 2

Original "embossed" style Minnesota license plates with 1980 embossed in the corner:

Option 3

Newly issued "Collector" license plates (actual license plate not shown):

So feel free to vote as much as you like. I will post the results after December 1st when the poll is over. The license plate option will not be put on the vehicle until next September (unless I get really impatient!) so I have plenty of time!