New Jersey License Plates - Funny Business

FUNNY BUSINESS This page was originally dedicated to the hundreds (well, maybe thousands) of New Jersey residents who simply did not know what to do with their plate stickers.

Although plate stickers were discontinued in late 2004 (much because of this problem), we have not been disappointed.
It seems that they have found other ways to keep us amused...

STICKER FUN

Back in late 1999, New Jersey plate stickers started getting distributed - to be put on the upper right corner of each license plate.
Seems that a few people were a bit confused as to how this all worked... front? back? left? right? ... what?

This entire page was originally devoted to sticker mistakes and oddities, and it usded to be called "Sticker Fun".
So let's start there...

2005 sticker on 2019 plate

Jeff Fazekas
2005 sticker on 2008 plate

Lee Madigan
2005 sticker on 2011 plate

James Hufnagel
2005 sticker on 2017 plate

Upside down sticker

Some scotch tape should do the trick...

Nonpass + pass stickers

Double 11s

Double 08s

Group of 11s

Different months

Sticker on top of the clear frame

Group of 04s

Upside down sticker

Didn't take off the frame...

Opposite corner 02s

Albino 2003

Double 02s

Different year 03s with...

... a horribly faded 2002

Double 11s

Faded 2001

Jeff FazekasSideways 02

Jeff FazekasRunning out of room

Jeff FazekasYup. Just the sticker.

Jeff FazekasUpside down sticker

Jeff Fazekas

Jeff Fazekas
Faded 2004

WORN OUT PLATES

Grant Gallagher
Some of the sheeting missing,
and sort of repainted.

Looks like the sheeting was removed,
crumpled up, then stuck back on.

Ben F

Jeff Fazekas

The black ink has worn off the sheeting, creating a white "New Jersey".
I've never seen this kind of fading before.

Somebody took a bite out of this one !!
Braden Moore

OBSCURED PLATES

Let's see ... what can we put in front of our plates to make them undredable ?
Oh, lots of things !

This is what happens with flat plates when the sun shines on them.
They all seem to have a concave bend after manufacturing,
so they catch the sunlight and concentrate it.

Snow. Another way to obscure a plate !

WHAT AM I DRIVING ?

Some folks like to put a plate on their car to match the model, make, or type of the car.
Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Minivans...
The original blue MINIVAN from Joe Wasielewski
MIN1VAN, MINYVAN, and M1NIVAN from NJRoadFan

Joe Pugliese"Dora the Explorer"
This one is so goofy, it's actually pretty good !!

Joe Pugliese

Joe PuglieseAudi 'allroad'. The picture is so perfect, I couldn't bear to crop it !!

Joe Pugliese

Joe PuglieseMERCedes, not MERCury :-)

Joe Pugliese

Frank Kan

Jon Cohen

Steve Bier

Eli Ovadia

Bad pun or funny plate? You decide...
Ben F

NJRoadFanMaybe it needs 221 volts ?

PAINT PROBLEMS

Let's make a courtesy plate !!

This 1912 plate is mostly repainted...

... including the seal !

Should be white on brown

This was originally a blue base plate,
now painted tan, with the numbers
filled in with a black marker...

Interesting red on black combo.

Another blue base, painted tan
and numbers painted red.

Steve Bier"Blurry" repaint.

Grant Gallagher
Another one. Is this a "thing" now ??

Avery base.
The paint fell off the numbers.

Really good job, but wrong colors.

Again, nice repaint - numbers should be white.

Maybe just faded...

J Mattes

An incredible repaint of a
1965-base dealer plate.

A great blue repaint
of a tan base dealer.

A completely crappy
repaint of a
1965-base dealer plate.

Blue base (with map separator)
repainted to look newer.

Colin Schaefer
Everything is repainted except the
New Jersey wordmark.

Mike Wiener

Joe Wasielewski

MODIFICATIONS

This one is awesome.
Someone welded (?) an embossed "1957"
to an undated 1957/58 NJ plate.
The entire plate was then repainted.

Jeff Fazekas

WRONG PLATES on WRONG VEHICLES

Joe Pugliese
An IN TRANSIT EMPTY plate on a LandRover LR3.

I guess a sample plate on a vehicle would always be considered "wrong", but this is a GOVERNOR sample !
Actually a pair of governor samples.
Pictures of the front and back of a nice Buick !
Joe Pugliese

Passenger plate on a landscape trailer.

Frank Kan (picture from craigslist)
A car with a TRAILER plate on the front.

Dave MackeyAnother trailer plate on a car.
Big obscuring plate frame !!
And painted yellow on the bottom to hide
the TRAILER caption ?

EQUIPMENT IN TRANSIT plate on a car

Another EQUIPMENT IN TRANSIT plate on a car
(Is this a "thing" now ?)

Joe PuglieseYup, EIT plates on cars is definitely a thing.

Or EIT plates on trucks... but this might be legit.

RISKY or RISQUÉ PLATES

Who censors these ... Jeez !

Joe Pugliese

On the road shot

HOMEMADE PLATES

Tom Jansen

Seen in April 2020 ... an unfortunate sign of the times.

Joe Pugliese / facebook

The 1912 plate seems to be real, but the seal is definitely a homemade one !

These are replacements or who-knows-what.

Original (real) apportioned plate

And a homemade (?!?) matching plate.
Funny ... this one has a helix hologram
through the NJ map !

Homemade 1953 Farm Use plate
photographed at a car show.

Frank Kan

Paul Rosenberg
This was made by one of those internet vendors.

Obviously this is not a real CONTR EQUIP IN TRANSIT plate, but still it's a really cool addition to this military jeep !

Lee Madigan
The "plate" is actually PAINTED onto the back of a Jeep Wrangler.
And very well done ! This is a new one for me.

Ralph Bonanno

Sam Farley
Trailer number scribbled on the back
of a truck. Looks like T1W-661.

Not even a valid number !

Mike Wiener

TEMPORARY PROBLEMS

Don't worry ... the problems are only temporary :-)

The new temporary plates blow ...
... all around when you're driving.

R31265?

This one is quite a mess - 2 temps mounted on top of one another.
And one seems to be reprinted on top of itself in two different fonts ... what ?
Joe Pugliese

Sam FarleyOuch ! A missing number

The new temps were designed to be mounted on the back bumper - where a regular plate would go.
But some folks just couldn't grasp that concept.

Dave M

OUT-OF-STATE STICKERS

Vermont 2009 Sticker

South Dakota 1992 Sticker with
state name cut off

Michigan 2015 Sticker

Florida lookalike

Indiana 2017 Sticker

Y2K SiteFlorida 2018 Sticker

UPSIDE-DOWN THINGS

Braden MooreHow do you put a windshield sticker
on upside down ?
First day at the inspection facility ?

Joe Wasielewski

Jeff Fazekas

THINGS WHERE THEY SHOULDN'T BE

We have a new winner !!
There is a faded August 2004 license plate sticker on a sign in a park in Princeton.
I don't know which park, but I'm sure if you're in Princeton you can find it.
An awesome find !! Has it been there since 2004 ? Who knows.
Ben F

Braden MooreSticker on the top of the windshield

Jeff FazekasSticker almost at the top of the windshield.

Sticker halfway up the windshield.

We've never seen a sticker in THIS window before.
Steve Bier

Explanation on this - thanks to Brian Cramer:
"I have an explanation for the inspection sticker on the rear side window of the Toronado on your Funny Business page.
Toronados, Riveras, and Eldorados of the time period had windshields with a plastic layer on the inside
(for an electric defroster if I remember correctly). I was working at a Buick dealership in Mt. Holly
at the time, and remember a NJ DMV notice allowing the inspection sticker to be placed
in the rear window because removal of old stickers with a razor blade would damage the plastic inner windshield."

This is awesome ... where are the plate stickers ??

Well duh ... on the windshield, of course !!
Joe Wasielewski

A strange place to find a license plate sticker ...
On the inside of the "out of town" mailbox door, at the Manville, NJ Post Office !!
We're not kidding ... go and check it out !!

From "Eagle Eye" Jeff Fazekas

OTHER COOL STUFF

This is a new plate mounted to a turned-up old plate.
Maybe they weren't able to remove the old plate? Rusted bolts?
Joe Pugliese

I just don't know what to say about this one, except "WTF??"
It looks like it's E48-KXT with some black tape in strategic places.
Fun for the toll cameras !!
w7n

The car is an Infiniti, and the plate says ANBYOND ... Buzz Lightyear: "To Infinity And Beyond !"
Nicely done !!

And here's another one.
Lots of Toy Story fans around !
Joe Pugliese

FOP emblem on a passenger plate

Joe Pugliese

This is cool - a Bayern (Bavaria) sticker at left,
and a partial Conserve Wildlife (CW) plate at right.

Joe Pugliese
State Seal on a passenger plate

Joe Pugliese
State seal on a passenger plate

Jeff Fazekas
State seal on a passenger plate

Plate-in-a-bag

Plates on porta-pottys !
Actually, they're on little tiny trailers, so I guess that makes sense !

This is a "plate-print" in a pile of snow.
Original picture on the left - taken by Jeff Fazekas.
Image on the right - digitally enhanced, and flipped.

Keep an eye out for this plate - blue base, HAP-72L.
You never know what they're going to run into next !!