Illinois Bill Would Bring Back “Retro” 1980’s License Plates

If you want to match the year your car is.

A bunch of bills were discussed in the Illinois legislature this week and one that the state House passed involves license plate offerings.

We know about vanity plates, plates supporting different causes, your favorite sports team, or just different designs. Now you could make a statement that you love all things vintage.

HB 3391 would allow Illinois drivers to get a "retro license plate". And by that, they just mean "a replica of the license plates issued between 1983 and 2001".

The ones that look like this:

Rick's Plates has a full history of Illinois plates, if you're feeling invested, but that one was taken out of circulation in 2001 and was replaced by the one with Abraham Lincoln's head in the middle.

But, like with vanity plates and specialty plates, under the new bill, there would be an additional fee to get the "retro" plate. When you first get it, it would cost $40 with a $27 renewal fee, according to NBC Chicago. They would also be available for motorcycles too and the additional fees from it would go towards the production of them and “technology and modernization updates”.

The plates were redesigned in 2017 too, moving the picture of Abraham Lincoln to the left and changing the font of 'Illinois' and 'Land of Lincoln'.

The bill to offer the 80's plates passed the Illinois House this week and will now go before the Senate. If the bill passes, it's unclear when the plates would be available.