How many folks glance at license plates when driving or being a passenger? Those who don't are missing out on the sublime creativity of some people in thinking up clever combinations of letters and numbers for their vehicle plates.

"People express themselves in different ways through their license plates," said Elizabeth Kaufman, spokesperson for the Illinois secretary of state's office. "They use plates to tell their occupation, hobby, nickname, refer to their car -- lots of things."

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Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt thanks North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven for presenting him with a North Dakota license plate during his visit Friday, Oct. 28, 2005, to Fargo, N.D.
AP Photo/The Forum, David Wallis

Most don't. They just have plates with random combinations of letters and numbers.

Sometimes things work out strangely. For example, my wife's long-gone 1983 Dodge Omni, which was a basically good small car that tended to self-destruct in a short time, had a random plate with the letters "NVH" and a few random numbers. That would mean nothing to anyone not tuned into cars, but auto engineers work to get what they call "NVH" (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) out of cars. That Omni's middle initials were "NVH."

Anyway, a vanity license plate contains up to three numbers only or one to seven letters only. Personalized plates contain a combination of letters and numbers with a maximum of seven on passenger vehicles.

It's hard to catch unusual "creative" plates because they're often on vehicles zooming by in the opposite direction or passing quickly in congested traffic. I'm always taking notes when in a test car, which is most of the time, so I have a pen and paper in hand in my lap or on the seat next to me to jot down unusual plate numbers and letters that spell out various things -- without taking attention from the road.

Here are plates I've spotted on roads and in public parking areas, although a few were sent by readers of the last AutoTimes license plate article:

Z WHIZ 1

HI RANK 1

PRNZS (On a Mercedes-Benz with gold license plate holders)

WRK N CAT (Young woman driver in a Jaguar)

UNHNGD

LTZ GT BZ

DSY NUT

FAB DRI

HAP E BUS (On a Kia SUV)

LIF SVR

I FXEM (On a Ford pickup truck)

PAYDAY

FLYN GY 1

MS LT1 (On a white Cadilac)

SLVR FX

BUFFER

DOCTER (On a BMW)

FLT DEK 3

TRPPLAY

DEFENSE 1

MKT GRP

BAR BIL

BAD MOJO

NROCINU (Unicorn spelled backward)

A HYPER 1

IM A DAME

PORQPYN (A reader's nickname for his daughter)

PTY BLK 1 (On a black Lexus)

MCWILD 1

BLND BLU

NERD

HAMR EM 8

QUEEN IL

525 HP (On a souped-up Ford Mustang)

BLDG IT