Long Island Regional License Plate, Featuring Montauk Lighthouse, Wins International Contest

Robert Ross knows a good license plate when he sees it.

The Hampton Bays resident has had decades of experience, starting as a child playing the license plate game, sparking a quirky, lifelong passion — one that has drawn out the relentless side of him.

In the 1970s, he fought the Department of Motor Vehicles to have “I,” his middle initial, included as a letter on New York plates. And in 2019, the stage agency unveiled the commemorative 9/11 license plate, marking the end of a 15-year-long battle to get it made, Ross said — and it hasn’t left his own car since.

Not even for the most recent winner of the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association’s 2023 Best Plate Award.

For the first time, New York State won the annual contest for its Long Island regional license plate, featuring the iconic Montauk Lighthouse — one of 10 new plates released last June. The plate won 12 percent of the votes, which was more than 30 percent ahead of all 20 other plates that were nominated. The closest contenders were Florida, with 9 percent of the votes, and Oregon with 8 percent of the votes.

It was a record year for participation, with 547 members voting — compared to 516 last year, which was a near record.

“I was very excited,” said Ross, the vice president of community and government relations at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and former Southampton Town deputy supervisor, who nominated the plate alongside Ross Day. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Founded in 1954, the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association, or ALPCA, is the largest license plate hobbyist organization in the world, boasting over 3,000 enthusiasts from all 50 states and 19 countries.

“I tell people I’m into license plates and they look at me like I’m crazy,” Ross said. “But there are thousands of people who are, and it’s just amazing the collections that these people have.”

Ross doesn’t consider himself much of a collector, though he can rattle off no less than six plates he’s had on his own car, plus the Snoopy edition from California — “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz’s home state — just for fun.

“I kept changing my license plate constantly,” he said, “which is very expensive in New York to do.”

The state has more than 200 custom license plate designs, offering a vehicle for drivers to better express themselves — from sports teams, special causes and colleges to law enforcement, professions and military — but, last month, Ross discovered where he draws the line.

“They’ve just come out with, the first state in the country, an entire set of 12 new plates — astrology,” he said with a laugh, “not that I’m into it. I saw it and I’m a Scorpio, and I said, ‘I’m not going for it.’”