A typical scene in Paris in 1885: a rare automobile for that era races down the Champs-Élysées, startling leisurely pedestrians and horse-drawn fiacres. Spotting this outrage, a gendarme strains his eyes and notices a leather plaque on the self-propelled carriage bearing the name and address of the culprit, for example, “Count de Dion, 12 Rue de Rivoli.”
This was the precursor to the modern vehicle registration plate. Over more than a century, that leather tag has undergone dramatic transformations—in material, content, size, and placement. License plates have evolved beyond mere vehicle identification into tools for propaganda, objects of collecting, and even instruments of crime.
But let’s go step by step.
Late 19th Century
Cars appeared suddenly, and for the first years—or even decades—there was no legislation to regulate them. When police began demanding that owners somehow mark their vehicles, people got creative: house-name plates, hand-painted numbers on the sides. In London one eccentric even attached the Ace of Spades playing card to his radiator.
France became the first country to require mandatory registration. In 1893 vehicles started receiving actual numbers—literally just digits. Plate “1” went to Parisian aristocrat Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat and still hangs today in the Mercedes-Benz Museum.
1900s
By the early 20th century, identification plates had become an integral part of every automobile.
In 1901 New Yorkers paid $1 and received a 6×12-inch aluminum plate with numbers. The plates were so popular there were reportedly queues to get them.
In 1903 the order-loving Germans developed the numbering system we still recognize (with minor variations): region letter + serial number. The plate “I A 1” is said to have belonged to Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Russia kept pace. In 1904 St. Petersburg’s city administration began issuing plates in the format “A-123”. The very first, “A-1”, was given to Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich.
By 1910 almost everywhere in the world the familiar rules were in place: two plates (front and rear), and at night they had to be illuminated—back then with a kerosene lantern. Forget to light it and you paid a fine.
Some plates from that era survive. The British “A1” from 1903 sold at auction for half a million pounds; its owner fitted it to his Bentley.
1920–1940
Just a couple of decades later, color entered the picture.
In the USSR, 1934 plates had black characters on yellow; from 1936 they switched to white on black. The format remained, only with more digits. As usual, the “nicest” numbers went to the powerful—“M-01-01” belonged to Stalin’s car.
In the U.S. each state developed its own colors and style. California issued black-on-yellow plates proclaiming “The Golden State”; Texas, then as now, featured a lone star.
In 1930 Italy introduced special red-background plates for taxis.
1950–1980
The second half of the 20th century brought standardization. Europe adopted a common format: white background, black characters, size 520 × 110 mm.
In the USSR, with the growth of the auto industry, regional codes appeared (“MOS” for Moscow, “LEN” for Leningrad, etc.)—codes that in various forms lasted until the end of the century.
Japan began using different colors depending on vehicle type: green for passenger cars, yellow for commercial, white with green stripe for kei cars.
In the 1970s reflective coating appeared on plates—the kind that shines brightly from 200 meters away under headlights.
Criminal workshops sprang up to forge plates. The service was in high demand among luxury-car thieves; a “VIN-clone” set cost around $500 or more.
1990–2010
By the end of the century the craze for “vanity” or “prestige” plates reached its peak.
Hacker Kevin Mitnick got “XHACKER”. The price is unknown, but the London plate “GOD” sold for £250,000. All this became possible after the U.S. and UK legalized personalized plates around 1990.
Prices kept climbing. In 2008 Dubai plate “1” fetched $14 million from businessman Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri—a record that still stands.
Meanwhile the European Union settled on a common format: blue strip with EU flag and country code. Russia switched to the tricolor flag and numeric region codes instead of letters.
Green plates for electric vehicles appeared worldwide, granting privileges such as access to low-emission zones, free parking, or charging.
2020s
It seemed everything had been standardized and the license plate would never change again. Yet the digital era has arrived.
E-ink plates already exist—almost like James Bond’s, though they can only change display when the vehicle is parked. You can show “STOLEN” or a small advertisement.
Some countries are testing plates with QR codes that, when scanned, open a page with the car’s history—though it’s unclear who has access and how complete the data will be.
Traditional physical plates may soon disappear entirely, replaced by radio tags that respond to police scanners and other equipment. That technology is coming. Whether the familiar metal rectangle with letters and numbers survives is the big question.