Vanity Plates you'll see in the Freeport area

When you move to Maine or if you live here already, you will notice an increasing number of vanity plates on the Maine roads as time glides on. That is what I've noticed in the 10 years that I've lived here. I was speaking with Don Cookson who is the Communication Director for the Office of the Secretary of State in August today and he notices this trend as well. Don's communication responsibilities include the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles. In Maine, there are a wide range of license plates to choose from including the two you see above, the Chickadee plate and the Loon (Conservation Plate) to name a few. Recently the state has added a colorful Agricultural plate with vibrant orang, red and yellow colors. Don said he will send me some statistics on the number of vanity plates owned by Maine drivers. Off the top of his head, Don thought roughly 6% or 7% of registered cars in Maine have vanity plates. Don recounted how he was at an Augusta eatery recently and out of the 25 cars in the parking lot, he estimated that 15 to 18 cars had vanity plates. For license plate fans like me, Don mentioned a USA Today article that touched upon this topic last November, and it can be found here: http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-11-11-vanityplates_N.htm?csp=34

Don is also amazed how many people like me are interested in low number plates. I drive a 007 car...well, if you squint your eyes the car almost looks like an Aston Martin! Just the other day I was at Town landing in Falmouth and Craig and his wife Charlotte whose license plate is simply "C" asked me how I came to be 007. I mentioned it all started after I took my boys to see the last 007 movie, Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig as the new 007. My boys and I have seen almost all of the 007 movies. Casino Royale was released in November of 2006 and shortly thereafter I had to register my car. I knew at that time that I wanted a low number plate, so I called the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Augusta and spoke with a woman who was in charge of issuing low number plates. She asked me what number I wanted. I paused for a moment because I really didn't know what low number plate I wanted. Suddenly, I said "how about 007"? She responded and said that the conservation plate 007 had just became available. I said "I'll take it". Craig and Charlotte, owners of a Chickadee "C", enjoyed the story. Craig then told me he was a 007 in the Korean war serving in a naval intelligence capacity. It just so happened that his Navy retirement number is 007007.

Now you say, who owns the Freeport plate, spelled Freeputt that I featured above? I think it belongs to someone who works at Maggie's gas station at Exit 20 in Freeport.