Montana Plate Generator

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Choose a place, enter text and save the drawing. Templates are simplified novelty artwork; the rules and sources are below.

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Montana is the state page about prefixes, not about script type or a vanity cap. The serial shapes in the plate article are 1-12345A and 10-1234A. The number before the hyphen is the county. The current colors in that article are a white base, dark blue characters, and the slogan Treasure State.

County codes I will stand behind

The article lists 56 codes. I am reprinting the ones the research notes quote directly, and leaving the middle of the list on the article itself so I do not mistype a seat of government.

CodeCountySeat named in the notesStatus
1Silver BowButte1 source
2CascadeGreat Falls1 source
3YellowstoneBillings1 source
4Missoula1 source
5Lewis and ClarkHelena1 source
54MineralSuperior1 source
55PetroleumWinnett1 source
56LincolnLibby1 source

Code 1 is the smallest number and the 1930 population rank, not “the capital.” Helena sits under Lewis and Clark at 5. Billings is Yellowstone at 3. If you are drawing a Billings car, the prefix is 3, then the hyphen, then the rest of the serial. A two-digit prefix such as 10 uses the shorter tail 1234A so the blank still fits.

The justice department URL is in the source list because it is the real office. The fetch hit a block, so I am not quoting a sentence from that site. Personalized-plate length for Montana stays blank on the state index for the same reason.

Preview a 3- prefix string from the generator. Random rolls that follow 1-12345A are on the random page.

Questions

Why does the plate start with a number?

Since 1934 the leading number has been a county code, ordered from 1930 population. There are 56 counties, so the prefix runs from 1 to 56.

How many sources confirm the county list?

One. The state justice site blocked the fetch, so the county names rest on the plate article alone. Status on this page is 1 source.

Sources

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