California license plate: Horseless carriage
Issued today Documented since 2026. Historic plates for car, issued by California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). One of 14 California license plates.
A single numbered series running since "Horseless Carriage No. 1", for engines of 16+ cylinders built before 1965 or any vehicle from 1922 or earlier.
Format, years and the law
- Format
-
999, for example42(9 any digit)Pure order of arrival: the statute starts the series at "Horseless Carriage No. 1" and counts upward, so a low number marks an early member of the pre-1923 club and nothing else.
The format above follows the issuing rules: a registration that fits it is one this series could have issued.
- Years issued
- Documented since 2026; the format is likely older than the first year documented. Still issued.
- Vehicle class
- Historic: vintage/oldtimer regimes (German H, ES historico). Issued for car.
- Size
- 12 × 6 in (305 × 152 mm) · every country's size
- About this plate
- HORSELESS CARRIAGE. California and Florida legislate this series in almost identical terms, a separate numerical run from "Horseless Carriage No. 1", a distinguishing but unnamed colour, permanence, which is worth recording as a genuine cross-state convergence rather than a coincidence, and as a hint that the two statutes share an ancestor. The eligibility rules differ: California's is a FIXED cutoff (1922, or 16+ cylinders pre-1965), Florida's Horseless Carriage is a fixed 1945 cutoff, and California's own Historical Vehicle series below is ROLLING.
- Who can have one
- VC § 5004(a): a motor vehicle with an engine of 16 or more cylinders manufactured prior to 1965, OR any motor vehicle manufactured in 1922 or earlier. A FIXED-CUTOFF threshold, it never moves.
- How long it is valid
- VIRPM 21.120: the plates are PERMANENTLY assigned to the vehicle and cannot be reassigned; no additional renewal fee; the plates cannot be retained by the owner; the vehicle is subject to a fixed annual vehicle licence fee of $2 (R&TC § 10753.5) and is limited to historical exhibition, parades and club activities.
- Fee
- VC § 5004: '$25 shall be charged for the initial issuance', replacement per § 9265.
Legal basis and sources
- § 5004: the 16-cylinder and 1922-or-earlier eligibility, the 'Horseless Carriage No. 1' series, 'different and distinguishing colors', the $25 initial fee https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH§ionNum=5004
- VIRPM 21.120: permanent assignment, no reassignment, no retention, the $2 fixed VLF, the exhibition-use restriction, and that these plates are NOT available personalized https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handbook/vehicle-industry-registration-procedures-manual-2/special-plates/historical-ve...
This plate in your app
The series id is us-ca-horseless-carriage. The API returns its format, validation, colours and designs with the rest of California's series:
curl -s https://vehiclesdb.com/api/v1/plates/us-ca \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $VEHICLESDB_API_KEY" \ | jq '.series[] | select(.id == "us-ca-horseless-carriage")'
- Plate image (SVG, sample serial): https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/us-ca/us-ca-horseless-carriage.svg
- Blank template, filled on your side: https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/us-ca/us-ca-horseless-carriage/template.svg
