The "USA" had nothing, at least nothing that spanned the country. Some states and perhaps counties I suppose had various ways and means. For your specific situation, I would recommend providing (1) the city and state you are interested in emulating, and (2) the time. Time is important - if you are building a car that reflects what it looked like after it drove off the dealer lot, you would likely not have any inspection sticker even in California, due to the age of the vehicle.