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Rick's Cardinal Plates

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This page, and my cardinal license plate collection, are both dedicated to my wife, Debbie. She was born and raised in southern Illinois, where the state bird is the cardinal, and she's a life-long St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan. The cardinal is also the state bird of North Carolina, our present state of residence.

Altogether, the cardinal is the state bird of seven adjacent U.S. states: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.

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My Cardinal Plates

1997 Illinois Environmental
2003 Illinois Environmental

Illinois Environmental

The Illinois cardinal plate is a special issue plate whose proceeds are used to maintain and preserve Illinois parks. The top plate shown is a first generation cardinal plate, which was first issued in April 1994. During the 2001-2002 general reissue of standard plates, the cardinal plates were redesigned and reissued as well. The bottom plate is an example of one of these, and this style continues to be issued today. These plates currently cost $40 extra the first year, and $27 extra each renewal.

1996 Illinois Speical Event ALPCA

Illinois Special Event - 1996 ALPCA Convention

Illinois issues a multitude of license plates for special events that take place within the state. Although primarily used as souvenirs, they are legitimate state-issued license plates that are actually valid for street use for up to 60 days, expiring on the last day of the event as shown on the plate. The 1996 ALPCA convention was held in Peoria, Illinois, and the special event plate produced for this event was heavily based on the environmental plate, as you can see.

1993 Indiana Ball State

Indiana Ball State University

Ball State University is located in Muncie, Indiana, and its sports teams are called the Cardinals, obviously. The Ball State license plate is available for a $40 annual fee only to those Indiana motorists who are members of the Ball State Alumni Association. $25 of the fee goes to the Association for funding scholarships, among other things. This plate continues to be available today.

2003 Indiana Hoosier Safety

Indiana Hoosier Safety

The now-discontinued Hoosier Safety optional-issue plate cost $40 extra per year, $25 of which was a donation to the Emergency Management, Fire and Building Services, and Public Safety Training Foundation (is that a mouthful?) for various projects "to ensure the safety and well being of the citizens of Indiana". The word Hoosier means a native or resident of Indiana. A nearly identical plate with the legend "Secure Indiana" is now being issued in its place for the same cost. The new plate funds the Indiana Homeland Security Foundation.

2001 Ohio Wildlife
2006 Ohio Wildlife

Ohio Wildlife

Ohio wildlife plates with cardinals on them have been issued on several different base plates. Shown are the first generation plate introduced in about 1997, and the third generation issued beginning in 2004. The current wildlife plate costs Ohio motorists an additional $25 per year over the cost of a standard-issue plate. According to the Ohio BMV, $15 of this fee "helps to support endangered species and wildlife programs". The stickers in the lower left corners of these plates identify the motorists' counties; "23" is Fairfield County and "25" is Franklin County.

1998 Kentucky Nature
2004 Kentucky Nature

Kentucky Nature

Kentucky has issued several plates to support environmental causes, the cardinal plate being among them. There are two versions of this plate; the earlier version with a white "Kentucky" outlined in black, and the newer one, with a solid black "Kentucky" that's much easier to read. Both are now discontinued in favor of a hummingbird plate, but when issued, the cardinal plates cost an extra $25 per year.

2005 Kentucky Louisville

Kentucky University of Louisville

I know it must be hard to try to make a cardinal look tough, but I've never heard of a bird with teeth! This is the third generation of University of Louisville plates issued by Kentucky, first issued in 2003. Neither of the first two versions had a cardinal on them. This plate now costs a whopping $56 the first year and at five year intervals when the plate is reissued; it's $31 extra each year renewal stickers are issued. $10 each year goes to the university's general scholarship fund. This design is due to be replaced in 2008; it remains to be seen whether the next version will feature a cardinal.

1999 Virginia Heritage

Virginia Heritage

The Virginia cardinal plate has been on the road since the early 1990s, and is among the more popular of Virginia's numerous optional issue plates. It can be obtained for a $10 one-time fee. This plate has pretty much consumed the entire range of serial numbers in the xx-0000 format, with new plates currently being issued in the "Z" series. It remains to be seen if a new serial format will be started when ZZ-9999 is reached.

2005 North Carolina Wildlife Conservation

North Carolina Wildlife Conservation

This plate, like the North Carolina standard-issue passenger plate on which it is based, has been around for many years. These plates are not terribly popular; since they look so similar to the standard-issue plates, there is little motivation for motorists to pay $20 extra per year for the privilege of displaying them, especially with such a small picture. $10 of this goes to the state Wildlife Resources Commission's wildlife conservation fund.

Iowa State University close-up of ISU logo

Iowa State University

Iowa State University's sports teams are called the Cyclones, so you wouldn't think their plates would belong in a cardinal plate collection. But, as you can see from the close-up of the small graphic located at the upper left corner of the plate, their "cyclone" mascot has a cardinal's head (again, apparently with teeth).

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Additional Cardinal Plates

Cardinal license plates that that I don't yet have


Doesn't West Virginia have a cardinal plate?

West Virginia has the dubious distinction of being the only state whose state bird is the cardinal, but which hasn't issued some kind of cardinal license plate. For some mysterious reason, they chose to put an image of a rose-breasted grosbeak (a mostly black and white bird, with a red neck) on their wildlife plate.

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Related links

Cardinal license plates elsewhere on the web
Scott K's Cardinal License Plates - He's got a few that I don't, and vice-versa.

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Thanks to those who have directly contributed to the content of this page: Leo Good.

Leo Good plate images are presumed to be copyrighted and are used with permission.

All text and photographs © copyright 2004-2008 by Rick Kretschmer, except where noted. All rights reserved.
This page last modified: March 25, 2008