# Massachusetts license plate: Standard spirit

> The Massachusetts standard spirit license plate: format 9LLL 99, for example 7KTH 78, 1993 to today, car and van.

Page: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--massachusetts/standard-spirit · Markdown version of the HTML page, which is canonical. Site map: https://vehiclesdb.com/llms.txt · Terms of use: https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/terms

Part of [Massachusetts license plates](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--massachusetts) (6 registration series).

![Massachusetts (United States) license plate, Standard spirit (1993 to today)](https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/us-ma/us-ma-standard-spirit/massachusetts-license-plate-standard-spirit.svg)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | `9LLL 99` (L is any letter, 9 any digit) |
| Years | 1993 → today |
| Class | standard |
| Issued for | car, van |
| Plate size | 12 × 6 in |
| Colours | background #FFFFFF; characters #C8102E |
| Rear plate differs from the front | no |
| Checking a registration | The format above follows the issuing rules: a registration that fits it is one this series could have issued. |
| Series id | `us-ma-standard-spirit` (https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--massachusetts/standard-spirit) |

Sources:

- [M.G.L. c.90 §2: the statutory reflectorization duty delegated to the registrar; the SIX-character cap and no-duplication rule on distinctive initial (vanity) plates; the Cape and Islands statutory design.](https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter90/Section2)
- [§6: display, the sixty-foot rear illumination rule](https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXIV/Chapter90/Section6)
- [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Massachusetts)
- [RMV Passenger Plates Booklet, July 2014 — the RMV's OWN catalogue; used here for the plate-type inventory, not for serial grammar](https://web.archive.org/web/20140704083521/http://www.massrmv.com/Portals/30/docs/manuals/passenger_plates_manual_public.pdf)

## About this plate

MASSACHUSETTS STANDARD ISSUE, "Spirit of America" base. PERIOD: 1993 is the reported year this base became the standard PASSENGER base; the base itself was first issued in 1987 for vanity and some non-passenger types, so 1987 and 1993 are both true of different things and the file says which. Both dates are secondary. Those are not given series of their own because they are the SAME design and the SAME period differing only by month-block, the month rule makes them one system, not several, and because no primary bounds them.

## How numbers are issued

The final digit is the MONTH CODE, not a counter, so the sequence advances within a month-block. Reported blocks as of 25 May 2026 run from 1AAA 11 to at least 6ZZL 51 (January), 1AAA 12 to at least 6NZT 22 (February), and so on per expiry month.

## Before and after

| Relation | Series | Years |
|---|---|---|
| It replaced | [Standard green](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--massachusetts/standard-green-1977) | 1977 to 1993 |

## Other standard plates here

- [Apportioned](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--massachusetts/apportioned) (2021 to today)
- [Commercial](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--massachusetts/commercial) (2019 to today)
- [Standard green](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--massachusetts/standard-green-1977) (1977 to 1993)

## Use it

- Plate image (SVG): https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/us-ma/us-ma-standard-spirit.svg
- Make it with your own text: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plate-generator/massachusetts?series=us-ma-standard-spirit
- API: `GET https://vehiclesdb.com/api/v1/plates/us-ma` returns this series as the entry with `"id": "us-ma-standard-spirit"` (https://vehiclesdb.com/api)

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Open data, CC BY 4.0: reuse it with a visible credit to VehiclesDB and a link (https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/attribution). Plate images show sample serials and are not open data (https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/image-license). Dataset commit db0ec0a: https://github.com/vehiclesdb/vehiclesdb