The Empire Gold has Arrived

Then other day I saw a plate (AKA “tag” to the southerners out there) I didn’t recognize. It was yellow and blue, and not that attractive. It was a NY plate, and I had never seen one, so I assumed it was an official vehicle or a custom job.

And then I start seeing a few more. Now I have seen like 5 or 6 of them. So a search this morning reveals that NY is indeed getting new license plates, and they look something like this:



New plate and old plate, image courtesy NYDMV

The new plate is called the “Empire Gold” and it reminds me of those mid-80’s plates for NYS before the lady liberty white plate came into commission. But there is an interesting story behind this plate.

Initially, NYS was going to make it mandatory for all drivers to get a new set of plates at a cost of $25, which is $10 more than the old price once drivers’ registration expired. It was also another $20 to keep your old plate numbers.  But, in a rarely seen bout of common sense by bureaucracy, this plan has thus been cancelled, and now the DMV is issuing these tags as of April 1^st for new registrations, or if people request them when renewing registrations. The tags will only be available in DMV offices at first.

After May 17^th, 2010 you can order the plates when you do DMV transactions online such as renewing registration, etc.

View the press release here:
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/press/pr040110.htm

Useful FAQ’s here:
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/empgold/faq.htm

How do I feel about this? I think it will look good with my black and yellow scheme, so I am optimistic.  But NY, when will you get with the program and abandon the front plate?

Broken Down: 96 Civic, 99 Explorer, 96 Chevy Astro, 93 Camry, early gen Windstar,