Did cars in the 1920s have license plates?

Yes. By the 1920s, most countries required motor vehicles to display license plates, and the practice was widely enforced. While rules and formats varied by country and region, the decade falls well after the foundational laws that made vehicle registration and visible identification marks a normal part of motoring.

How license plates became standard before the 1920s

Mandatory vehicle registration and plate display took hold in the early automobile era. In the United States, New York began statewide registration in 1901 (with motorists initially supplying their own identifiers), and Massachusetts issued the first state-produced plates in 1903. Over the following decade, other states followed, and by the late 1910s—commonly cited as by 1918—every U.S. state required registered plates.

Across Europe, requirements arrived even earlier in some places. France instituted registration in the 1890s and adopted national rules by 1899, the United Kingdom mandated registration and identification marks from 1904 under the Motor Car Act 1903, and German states introduced plate systems in the early 1900s. Similar timelines played out in Canada, Australia, and Japan. As a result, by the 1920s, plates were an established part of motoring nearly everywhere cars were common.

What 1920s plates looked like and how they were used

Plates in the 1920s were already recognizable as modern identifiers, though they lacked today’s international standardization. Materials, sizes, and renewal practices differed, and many jurisdictions refined rules during the decade as car ownership surged.

The following points summarize common features of 1920s license plates and their use:

• Materials and construction: Most plates were embossed metal (steel or aluminum). Earlier porcelain-enamel styles from the 1900s–1910s were giving way to durable painted, embossed plates.
• Design basics: Plates typically showed the issuing jurisdiction (state/province/country), a serial number, and the year of validity. Slogans and graphics were uncommon compared with later decades.
• Annual renewal: Many places issued new plates each year with a color change; others used small metal tabs or corner tags to validate a plate for another year. Stickers came much later.
• Front and rear display: Requiring two plates (front and rear) was common, though some jurisdictions only required a single rear plate at certain times.
• Lighting and visibility: Laws increasingly required plates to be illuminated and readable at night; character sizes and contrast rules were often specified.
• Nonstandard sizes: A uniform North American plate size (6×12 inches) did not arrive until a 1956 tri-national standardization. In the 1920s, sizes and mounting holes varied widely.
• Special classes: Dealer, commercial, and motorcycle plates existed alongside private passenger plates, often with distinct color schemes or letter prefixes.

Taken together, these practices show that 1920s plates were functional, regulated identifiers, even if their look and size varied from place to place.

Regional snapshots

United States

By the 1920s, every state required registration and plate display. The decade saw embossed steel dominate, frequent annual color changes for quick visual checks, and growing use of both front and rear plates. States experimented with metal date tabs or entirely new plates each year. County codes or letter prefixes appeared in some states, but formats were far from standardized, and sizes differed until the 1956 North American agreement unified dimensions and mounting.

United Kingdom

Plates were compulsory from 1904. In the 1920s, vehicles displayed black plates with white or silver characters, using local “index marks” that tied a registration to its issuing authority. The Roads Act 1920 introduced vehicle excise duty, and from 1921 motorists displayed a paper tax disc on the windscreen, alongside the required registration plates. Plate formats and typography evolved over time, but the requirement to display legible identifiers was well established throughout the decade.

France and continental Europe

France adopted vehicle registration rules in the 1890s and nationalized requirements by 1899, with further standardization in the early 1920s. Other continental countries had comparable early systems: German states, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and the Nordics required plates by the 1910s. While formats varied, the principle—a visible, unique identifier tied to a registration ledger—was universal by the 1920s.

Beyond Europe and North America

In Canada, Australian states, New Zealand, and Japan, registration and plates were introduced in the early 1900s, spreading nationwide during the 1910s. By the 1920s, motorists in these regions were driving with plates, though materials and renewal methods echoed the same local variations found elsewhere.

Why this matters to historians and collectors

Understanding 1920s plate rules and designs helps date vehicles in photos, verify provenance, and identify where a car was registered—valuable for researchers, restorers, and collectors.

Key considerations for identifying or authenticating a 1920s plate include:

• Jurisdiction markings and year: Many plates explicitly show the state/province and year, making dating straightforward.
• Construction details: Embossing depth, metal type, and paint style often track to specific years and issuing authorities.
• Mounting and size: Nonstandard hole patterns and dimensions can indicate a particular jurisdiction or era before 1956 standardization in North America.

Used together, these clues can place a plate—and the vehicle it was attached to—in the correct time and location with reasonable confidence.

Summary

Cars in the 1920s did have license plates. By that decade, registration and visible plates were firmly established across the United States, Europe, and other motoring regions. Plates were typically embossed metal with clear serial numbers and jurisdiction names, renewed annually, and often required at both the front and rear—though size, colors, and exact rules varied widely before later standardization.

When were license plates first required?

In 1901, New York became the first state to require license plates on cars. However, instead of being state issue, these early registration plates were made by each car owner and showed their own initials.

What was the first license plate in the US?

1903 – Massachusetts Issues First State License Plates
These cobalt blue plates were made of iron and covered with porcelain enamel. The very first plate featured just the number “1.” It was issued to Frederick Tudor, who worked for the highway commission. It remains an active registration by a member of his family.

What is the oldest license plate design still in use?

As of 2025, the five oldest plate designs in use – each with slight to moderate cosmetic changes since inception – are that of Delaware (in production since 1959), Colorado (since 1960, continuously since 1978), the District of Columbia (since 1975), Minnesota (since 1978), and North Carolina (since 1982).

What did cars do in the 1920s?

This extravagance was ignited by the introduction of Henry Ford’s Model T, a car affectionately known as the “Tin Lizzie.” Cars became a major source of freedom and adventure as well as travel, and cars greatly altered the standard of living, the social patterns of the day, and urban planning; and cars differentiated …