I love old cars and old license plates. Imagine driving this 1956 Mercedes 190 SL convertible on a deserted stretch of the Sepulveda Pass at 4am in 1956, before there was a freeway, before seat belts, before road rage....
Think about the old California license plate that might have been screwed into this car. It would have clear black letters on top of a school bus yellow background. You could read it, even when the car was speeding by at 80 mph. There was no cursive graphics, no cutesy environmental symbols of whales or waves. It was straight forward and easy to read. It was heavy and tactile and manly.
We need a return to the old license plate, the one that gave raised letters and numerals breathing space and dignity. What good is a gibberish of a license that reads: "A753UXY" with boring blue on white?
Orange and black gets your pulse going, makes you want to get into your car and go somewhere fun.
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Id rather have more subway stops and lines.
Old cars like that are indeed lovely looking, but let's remember that their pollution controls are next to useless, and that the sprawl created to facilitate (hah!--didn't work out that way)) their use may well destroy us. Nothing should be done to further romanticize driving. We need to break the habit....seriously....or at least cut way, way back.
there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with driving, it IS romantic. inefficient cars are the problem, not the act itself, please remember.
Don't romanticize driving? Why not? Do I have to give up loving chocolate or martinis because we have many overweight or alcoholic people in this country?
Many cars are a thing of beauty, of art and engineering and DO GIVE PLEASURE. We might enjoy our cars even more with an effective public transportation program that took drivers off the road and into light rail and buses. But that doesn't mean that the road and the auto are something to despise.
driving is fun, I would like to do it more efficiently as well. I also really dug the yellow on black plates as well
I love the old yellow plates. The brown and yellow ones too.
Knowing Andrew, I find the public transit and anti-car comments funny. Andrew is a huge advocate of public transit and a car free life even if he can't do that 100% of the time...
i'm a recovering angelino attending college in the dc area (can't wait for thankgiving) and having seen a lot of license plates around i'd like to submit my two cents, so here's a penny for your thoughts... yellow on black is fantastic and black on yellow ain't nothin to sneeze at but the best, my all time favorite is the old white on blues from the 60s. BRING EM BACK DMV! I know how much you guys love to procrastinate giving us our public transport and this would be a perfect distraction!