Steve Jobs needs no introduction. The late Chairman and CEO of Apple was known for his unconventional thinking. He created a brand that revolutionised the way we live. He was a majority shareholder at Pixar Animation Studios – a Walt Disney Company. Even though he achieved so much, Steve Jobs lived a modest life. He lived in a house in the neighbourhood of Palo Alto, with an open driveway.
While he was rooted to the ground, Steve Jobs liked the idea of being different and discovered a perfectly legal way to permanently drive without a number plate. He was pretty infamous for his liking to park his car in the designated area for specially-abled people. He was also considered an outlaw for driving around his favourite car, which was a Silver Mercedes SL55 AMG, with a blank licence plate.
While it was a mystery how he managed to drive around without a registered number on his car, many theories were created around it. Some said that he used to pay the fine every time he was caught or he had some special leverage granted by the Government of California.
Many even believed that even though he led a simple life, he was a billionaire and may have bought a new car every month to keep up with his acquired taste for blank number plates.
These inconsistent theories may be a long list, but Quora users recently provided some interesting answers. Let’s see what theories they suggested.
Steve Jobs was a genius and had somehow found a loophole in the California Vehicle Code – the state rule book having traffic laws for the US.
According to the California Vehicle Code, any person who owns a brand-new car has a time limit of six months to get a registered number plate and fix it to the vehicle. So, Steve Jobs made an official arrangement with the car company that he could change cars after the completion of the sixth month of the lease. This enabled him to exchange his old silver Mercedes SL55 AMG for another new one every time. He never broke any law as he was not required to use any number plate for his car during the given period.
Steve Jobs had reportedly also once said that he did so due to privacy reasons. Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011, due to his relapsed cell pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour, which resulted in respiratory arrest.