Tech News
← Back to articles

Using TypeScript to obtain one of the rarest license plates

read original related products more articles

Most people never think twice about the random mix of letters and numbers the DMV assigns them.

I'm not one of those people.

Online, I've always chased having a clean and memorable digital identity. Over the years, I've been able to pick up handles like my first + last name on Instagram (@jlaf) and full words across platforms (@explain, @discontinue). So when the DMV mailed me my third reminder to renew my registration, that same instinct kicked in: why hadn't I considered getting a distinctive plate combination of my own?

In the world of license plates exists a rarity hierarchy:

Single number license plates (10 possible)

Repeating number license plates (10 possible)

Single letter license plates (26 possible)

Repeating letter combinations (??? possible)

Two letter plate combinations (676 possible)

After some research about the history these rare plates, my curiosity got the best of me. How rare could you really go? And how far can you push a state's public lookup tools to find out?

... continue reading