Well Richard I guess the vehicle title agencies in the USA (and France for that matter) haven't been semi-privatised, like the said UK agency, which since not so long ago has been able to offer for sale all sorts of rubbish for quite a lot of money to try to help self-fund. It doesn't seek the sort of silly money the specialist UK number plate selling companies (yes, there are loads of them) ask, but it's no way to run a railway.
Shouldn't have said that, of course, 'cos they can't run one of those either.
Anyway, it all just goes to show the lengths people will go to to satisfy their vanity - and how vain some people are. IMHO there is only one good reason for buying a particular number, and that's where it becomes possible to reunite a vehicle with its original plate, if it has lost it along the way. How could that happen, you might innocently ask? But, oh, it happens quite easily in the UK, because the powers-that-be have taken it into their heads to interfere serially in private property rights in ways which would make you guys tip more tea in the harbour and a Frenchman wonder how the loonies were granted control of the asylum.
I must not presume upon our long-suffering moderator's goodwill, so with great difficulty I'll restrain myself from developing the theme any further! Suffice to say, probably the best overall regime (despite a couple of downsides) for keeping old vehicles on the road this side of the pond (that's evaporated, shifted and soaked me all week) is the French one, which is one of the principal reasons I live here and like it. Groily