Florida License Plates

The first Florida statewide automobile license plates didn't appear until 1918, probably the last state of the lower 48 to do so. Prior to this time, counties and locales issued their own tags as well as some state issued ones here and there. Some motorists were therefore required to show a city, county and state plate until 1918. Due to the late date issue of the first statewide plates, there were no porcelain plates issued by the Florida DMV. Slogans used by the department of motor vehicles include, Sunshine State which first appeared in 1949 and continued until 1976 with the exception of 1951 which stated Keep Florida Green and in 1965 the drivers of Florida sported 400th Anniversary on their car tags, which was to commemmorate the discovery of Florida not actual statehood. The Florida orange first appeared as very small on the 1935 tag not to reappear again until 1978. A State outline was used from 1923 to 1926 and in later years many different graphics have been available to motorists as Florida was one of the first states in the Union to issue extra money tags, which were used to support a specific cause or fund raiser. Florida has perhaps more single year tags than any other state in the Union, the department of motor vehicles produced pairs of license plates from 1918 thru 1921, but from 1922 to the present the motorists of FL have only had to put a single tag on their automobiles. FL does have Year of Manufacture laws but check with the DMV before purchasing any plate for YOM purposes.