TribBlog: Pick Your Plate

Someday soon, a Longhorn could stop at a red light next to an Aggie, who's driving in front of someone craving a Mighty Fine Burger. And you'll be able to tell it all from their license plates.

Twenty-eight new Texas specialty license plates are up for a public vote by My Plates, the company that markets the state plates that allow drivers to display their personalities. 

The plates support sports teams and restaurants, corporations and charity organizations. At the very least, they're an alternative to the ordinary plates that hang off of the front and back of most Texas cars on the road. They range in cost from $55 to $195 for a one-year plate.

The state devised the specialty plate venture to raise money. Since sales began in November, more than 15,500 plates have been sold for a total of about $3.5 million.

At myplates.com, drivers can also create their own "personalized" plates, using combinations of letters (think: "HOOKEM"). But whatever you do, don't refer to these as “vanity” plates. In the personalized license plate world, it's no longer politically correct, My Plates says. The term “rarely fits the diverse stories behind the plates thousands of perfectly humble Texans have a lot of not-at-all-vain fun displaying,” according to a My Plates press release.