VNTYPLTS: A Photo Series, Part II Plate Bragging

We live in a time where "putting yourself out there" is the go-to advice for getting what you want, be it a job, relationship or recognition of any kind. There are plenty of ways to do this, many of them now involving technology of some kind. Blogging, tweeting, online dating, Facebook, etc. However, I would never have thought of a license plate as a method of attracting a new mate, a new boss or new friends. Some people, apparently, do.

Let's take a look at some plates that seem to have been designed with the intention of attracting a certain type of attention from a certain audience (an audience that is even more specific than people who are driving behind you). I'll do my best to posit guesses as to the scenario these drivers were hoping to experience through their vanity plates:



Pretty1 wants the world of single, male, Pennsylvania drivers to know that she's got the goods. When she ordered this plate, I think she had dreams of getting a flat tire, pulling over to the side of the road, hoping a chivalrous man would come to her rescue. She knows the deal though, people aren't going to stop for just anyone, lest it be an axe murderer waiting to strike. BUT, what if you advertised ON your car that you aren't threatening at all, in fact, you're pretty! Enter tall, dark and handsome guy to the rescue, complete with a tire jack and perfectly trimmed five o'clock shadow. He wasn't going to stop, but then he looked at the back of the car and saw that the driver is a pretty one, so he pulled his shiny new luxury SUV over and got out to save the day. The rest is history (that's how they'll end it when they tell the story at their engagement party).



HRD WRKR isn't messing around. HRD WRKR EARNED that car. The fact that she's actually a part time children's party planner doesn't mean she doesn't work just as hard as everyone else. She knows that one day she'll be walking through the Party City parking lot and someone will stop her and say, "Wait, is that your car? You know, I've been looking for a hrd wrkr. I'd like to pay you a lot of money to do whatever it is you love, at your own pace, on your own schedule. What do you say?"



Oh SNGL QT. How I envy your confidence. This is a girl who wears a seat belt mostly because she is so sure that she is going to get rear ended on purpose just so a guy can get her contact information. However, I'm willing to bet that plate was ordered fifteen pounds and a few crow's feet ago. That won't stop her, though. Get after it, girl.

VNTYPLTS: A Photo Series, Part I

A few months ago, for reasons I don't quite understand, I started taking notice of vanity license plates. Once I started, I couldn't stop, like when you learn a new word and suddenly hear and read it everywhere. The clusters of letters that were meant to provide an outlet for personal expression, just above a dirty exhaust pipe, started jumping out at me. With total disregard for my safety and the safety of my fellow drivers, as well as disregard for the risk that someone might notice and punch me in the face, I started taking pictures of these license plates with my phone, usually when stopped at a red light behind one of them.

I would get so excited about finding a really juicy one (for me that usually means one you have to say out loud or have to think about a little to understand, like H2OSKII), that others started snapping pics of vanity plates they saw on the road.

I think what fascinates me most about them is wondering who the people are that go out of their way to get a license plate with a special message on it, and what their license plate says about them. With that in mind, I decided to do a photo blog post series with these license plates and my profile of the person driving the car based on their choice of vanity plate phrase.

To kick things off we have:


Photo courtesy of Jackie Greco


Who is Ruf-Ryda?

Caucasian male, early twenties, 5'11", approximately 135lbs, dirty blond hair, often covered with a doo rag, blasts gangsta rap with the windows down when driving with friends, plays Hootie and the Blowfish's Greatest Hits when riding solo.