The photos on this
website, whether provided by me or other contributors, are intended for use
solely on this website, and may not be otherwise used without permission.
This is a
reference-only website, no plate sales.
What's new
in the last 30 days?
٠ Click
thumbnail images to enlarge ٠ Click links to go to plate galleries
A new feature has been added called Needed Images to
help identify the growing number of plate types without photos. This website is
dedicated to photo-documenting as many plate types and variations as possible. Any help with pictures
of any of the listed plate types, would be much appreciated.
Many are new issues or logo updates. Also included are a number of
low-issue NASCAR plates, and several extinct or nearly extinct types from the
1980s and 90s.
This beauty is a personalized Honoring Our
Women Veterans plate. The photo is thanks to Drew Steitz (aka
Drewski) who got it for a family member to help honor another family member.
Here is the #1 82nd
Airborne Division Association plate. The photo was snapped by Ben
Vaughn in Pittsburgh. This plate type has been on the street since 2007.
The most recent observed high was 00290A/B, which was in June of 2019.
Zach Taylor posted this Conserve Wild Resources -
Otter plate photo at the end of May, which I missed. When these
plates switched to the small graphic, the series started at R/C00001 which was
back in November of 2017. At present the registered high is around
R/C05562.
While this AH-series Apportioned Truck is
not a new high, it is a picture perfect image of an unspoiled plate.
Thanks to Jim Moini for the photograph. Jim maintains an excellent website
featuring New Jersey, Apportioned, Mexican and Corporate Fleet Plates.
https://moini.net/ Check it out.
These Person
with Disability Motorcycle plates were posted by Clayton Moore.
They are actually standard Motorcycle plates with a sticker. It
is unknown when the Person with Disability stickers were first issued, but
likely in the late 1990s. Anyone know for sure?
The use of a
standard Motorcycle plate + a sticker was replaced in 2007 with Person with
Disability Motorcycle plate as shown below. See
Person with Disability, Motorcycle History page for more images.
It may be worth mentioning that a Veteran Motorcycle plate with a Person with
Disability sticker, shown below, makes it a
Severely Disabled Veteran Motorcycle plate.
► Click thisVanity Page
link to see additional personalized plates of the week.
Here is a group of 1967 New Car Dealer
plates. What I recall about such plates is that the plates were actually
surplus 1966 plates that were never issued, and rather than discard them, they
received '67 stickers. Dealer plates at the time were issued annually and
were not revalidated with stickers. This practice of re-dating plates also
took place with some 1968 and 1969 plates. The group photo is also posted
under Group
Displays. Thanks to Clayton Moore for sharing the display.
Ben Vaughn shares an interesting newspaper
article sighting vehicle registration records for 1914. The article
indicates that there were
1,167 Tractors registered that year and 116 Trailers.
Click the article to enlarge. Ben also provided a photo of a 1914 Tractor
plate. This white on black porcelain plate measures 6 inches by 12 inches
and would have been issued as part of a pair.
7/31/2022 Posting
Here is a recent photo of a Linglestown Fire Co.
#1 plate from Zachary Bent. Note that this plate has the map
outline, the previous high, 30056L/F, did not.
This plate program dates back to 2008.
We don't have a photo yet, but Bruce
Bufalini recently spotted Legion of Merit
plate number 10052L/M but was not able to get a
photo. Record check suggests that plates from 10001 to 10054 are in use.
The medal is awarded for: Exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance
of outstanding services and achievements.
It's worth mentioning that Nick Tsilakis
spotted a motorcycle version of the
International Association of Firefighters but
could not get a photo. The plate he saw was P/F0010.
Record check shows that 41 plates are in use. I don't even have a
prototype plate image, so I did a R2K request to PennDOT on Tuesday and received
nothing than an acknowledgement so far.
This is part of what I have categorized as a
Format 6 Antique Motorcycle
Plate. That group ran from 0A to 99Z. The wide bolt hole
spacing indicates that this is not one of the earliest groups of Antique
Motorcycle plates. This plate is still valid. Possibly someone can
narrow down the time period. The plate was photographed by John Fedorchak,
but had been previously spotted by Preston Turner who was unable to get a
picture.
Didn't
get any vanities posted last week, so here are a few. The far left is an
eye-catching U.S. Marine
Corps Veteran vanity. Next is a personalized Antique Vehicle plate
showing the letter "I" and numeral 1 next to each other. This photo is
thanks to Bill Stephens. Unlike most PA plates, the letter "I" has been
used as part of the serial progression on Antique Vehicle
Format 11 plates and
Motorcycle plates.
► Click thisVanity Page
link to see additional personalized plates of the week.
Finally succeeded in finding a West Point Alumni
Sample plate. For whatever reason these seem to be very scarce.
The West Point plate program dates back to 1987. This nice image came from
Worthpoint.
They didn't get much lower than this —
considering the fact that the
1949 Passenger plate series started at 1001. This initial series
eventually went to 99999 before extending into numerous alpha-numeric formats.
These plates measured 6 inches by 11 inches and were issued in pairs.
Thanks to Tim Gierschick for the photo.
Much like the plate above, this 1950 Passenger plate was
part of the initial all-numeric series running from 1001 to 99999. These
plates measured 6 inches by 11 inches and were still issued in pairs.
Thanks to Tim Gierschick for the photo.
7/24/2022 Posting
Sorry, this update didn't get posted
until 7/25.
Here is a new
Passenger high
recently spotted by John Fedorchak.
The Hearing Impaired is
one of PA's rarest plates. Do not let the 3281 serial number suggest that
over 3000 plates have been issued. The series actually started at HE-03000
on the www base. They originally dated back to 1987 on the yellow on blue
base. Thanks to Richard Than for this photo.
It's been 12+ years since PA issued NASCAR
plates, yet they are still renewable, and there are still several plate types
that have never been photographed. The 2005 racing season NASCAR 99
plates of Carl Edwards is one such plate. There were logo color
differences for 2005, 2006 and 2009, yet so far no plates have been photographed
with the green 2005 logo, except samples. The plate shown here with the
2006 colors helps establish that the group ran from N/9/90109,
or lower, to N/9/90113. Many
thanks to Richard Than for this photo. Does anyone in the hobby collect
these?
Here is a new high Official Use Truck plate
and was provided by Richard Than.
This plate would have been used on a state-owned vehicle, but not one used by
PennDOT,
State
Police or
Turnpike, as those agencies have plates with
their own logos.
What
do we have here? Yes, it's a Person with Disability
plate, and was provided by Richard Than. My first thought is that it
was part of the double plate series starting at 98000PD, but plate
check shows that plates only up to 98161PD have been issued so far.
It also appears that no plates in the 99000PD series have been
issued, except for the one shown here. Therefore, I am of the opinion that
this is a vanity plate.
It ain't pretty, but it's a needed piece to
complete photo displays of the 1945
U-Weight Class truck series. The U-series consisted of U000A,
U00A0, U0A00 and U00AA. Plate measures 6" by 11". This image is from
Worthpoint, a service to which I have a subscription.
And they're not getting any nicer, but again
it's a needed piece to complete photo displays of the 1947 Y-Weight Class truck
series. There was only a single Y-series, Y000A. Plate measures 6"
by 11". Again this image is from Worthpoint.
For 1951 R-Weight Class trucks there were 6
serial progressions, including R000A, R00A0, R0A00, R00AA, R0AA0 and R0A0A.
This plate fills the remaining photo gap. Plate measures 6" by 11".
Again, this image is from Worthpoint. '51 was the last year for plates to
be issued in pairs. This image is from Worthpoint.
This 1954 S-Weight Class truck fills the
remaining photo gap. S-class plates consisted of S000A, S00A0, S0A00,
S00AA, S0AA0, with all plates measuring 6" x 10¼". These plates were
issued as singles. This image is from Worthpoint.
7/17/2022 Posting
My apologies, Bill Stephens spotted this new
Passenger high back
on July 8, so I'm a little behind. It has, however, been posted to the High Page, thanks to Jordan.
Here is a new high Permanent Trailer I
spotted in my travels. It was a windshield shot with the truck moving.
Here is a new high Temporary Intransit
cardboard plate. The photo was snapped by Jordan.
This is a new high Truck plate recently
spotted on the fly by Nick Tsilakis. After exhausting this series at
ZVZ-9999, the next series will be ZWA-0000.
Here
is one from Bill Ceravola added to this week's
Vanity Page.
It appears that from the earliest state
issued plates there was always those who sought low number plates, especially
those with political connections. Just look at the
1912
registration records for the first 100+ plates; it kind of reads like a
who's who in PA at the time. Eventually the demand for such plates went
beyond the political arena and was made available to the average driver.
An application form was developed for 1965 Special
Registration Plates spelling out the process. Thank you to John
Willard for a copy of the form.
Click the photo to the left to enlarge this
pair of low number 1914
and 1915 Passenger
plates, or click on the photos below to see them individually. The photo
of these 100+ year old plates is thanks to John Willard. The 1914 is white
on black, while the '15 is white on sky blue. Both are 6" by 10" and were
manufactured by Brilliant Manufacturing Co.
of
Philadelphia.
These are 1929 W-Weight Class Truck
plates that were recently spotted by Tim Gierschick at Renningers. These
W-Class plates measure 6" by 15", with a documented high of W8-646. Anyone
have a Y, X or ZZ-Class?
If you didn't immediately recognize this tag
as a Truck plate, you are probably not alone. For 1930 Truck plates adopted a
new, and somewhat cryptic 2-letter suffix method of displaying the weight class
of the vehicle, abandoning the R through Z prefix classes. This plate, for
example, is a Class V with the serial formatting from 00PA to 999PZ.
Thanks to Clayton Moore for sharing the image, I also understand the plate's new
home will be with Rob B.
But wait, there's more! This 1931 Truck plate came off the
same truck! And again thanks to Clayton Moore for the photo.
It should be noted that in 1931 Truck plates went back to using the R
through Z prefix to indicate the weight class. This was after 1930 plates
used a 2-letter suffix to identify truck weight classes as seen above.
This class would have started at V0A00. This is believed to be the first
plate of this class to be documented.
7/10/2022 Posting
Here's a street shot of a new high Arcadia University
plate thanks to John Clark. This plate type dates back to 2004. It
appears likely that AU plates will remain on the www base since plates in
inventory go up to A/U00999. Arcadia is located in Glenside, PA, and was
formerly called Beaver College.
This low number St. Vincent Alumni
plate was spotted by Bruce Bufalini. This plate would have been part of a
number-for-number replacement of the first generation yellow on blue plates.
It would have been issued
on or around 7/25/2001
according to a record from the period, making it about 21 years on the road.
This plate program dates back to 1992.
This Organ
Donors Save Lives plate is not a new high. It is, however, a new
high with a sticker well, at least on this website. I should note that the
PA Archives lists D/N01822, as the high with the sticker well, but no photo.
Thanks to John Clark for this photo.
This
Pennsylvania Equine Council plate represents a new high. These
plates date back to 2012. Thanks to John Clark for this photo.
Here's another new high North Penn
Vol. Fire Co. plate. The North Penn plate program dates back to
2010. While this plate still has a sticker, a record check indicates that
no higher serial numbered plates have been issued. The photo was taken by
Richard Than.
And one more high thanks to John Clark.
John is keeping us well supplied with highs including this Distracted
Driving Awareness plate, which is part of the Special Fund series.
These plates only date back to 2019, and therefore, have always had the map
outline. There is also a
Distracted Driving Awareness motorcycle plate available.
This WHYY plate is also a
new high, again thanks to John Clark. WHYY is a PBS / NPR TV and FM radio
station operating in Philadelphia, PA and Wilmington, DE. Their plate
program dates back to 2009.
Here is a street shot of a Vietnam War Veteran
plate from John Clark. It's the highest I have, but Jordan lists V/W11416,
dated 2/24/2022 from an unknown source. In any case, that's well over
11,000 plates issued since 1999.
Here is one final high for the week, this
being a Mass Transit
plate from Bill Young.
Bill Koneski posted this 1977 keystone base
which would have been issued at the end of the run, and about the time the
yellow on blue 1984 friend base hit the street. These plates were eligible
to be revalidated up to 2000, thus the '88 & '89 stickers. This plate has
a serial number above the previous high number of GKY-744. Could the final
issued plate be higher still, maybe GKY-999 or GKZ-999?
Could anyone guess that the photo of these two sequential 1940 Tractor plates
came from Tim Gierschick? In Tim's own words, "It took awhile, but I was
finally able to bring these two sequential Pa. tractors (farm tractor) together.
I have had the 2576 for awhile." These plates measure 6 inches by 12
inches and were issued as singles. The series ran from 0001 to 8437 or
above.
This is a 1944 Tractor plate,
it's also a new high eclipsing the old high of 3952. With 9503 being so
close to the end of the 4-digit run, it wonders me, as a PA Dutchmen might say,
if the series ever extended into the A000 series. This 6-inch by 12-inch
plate was a recent acquisition of Tim Gierschick's.
Next up is this low-number 1945 Tractor plate,
also thanks to Tim. The Tractor plate number series from 1937 through 1956
started at 0001 and went to 9999 if needed, then A000 etc., also if needed.
1945 plates measured 6 inches by 11 inches.
Here is another low-number plate, this being
a 1949 Tractor.
Another thank you to Tim Gierschick. Like the '45 plate above, this tag
also measures 6 inches by 11 inches.
This is a 1918 1 Star Truck plate
belonging to Donald Harman. The single star represents the lightest of
five truck weight classes. All truck plates that year and the following
year used a 'C' prefix. The number C488, also represents the lowest
documented plate, although it is believed that the series began at C1, etc.
Plate sizes varied by the number of characters in the serial number with this
plate measuring 6" by 13½".
Didn't
get any vanities posted last week, so here are a few. The far left is an
eye-catching U.S. Marine
Corps Veteran vanity. Next is a personalized
Antique Vehicle plate
showing the letter "I" and numeral 1 next to each other. This photo is
thanks to Bill Stephens. Unlike most PA plates, the letter "I" has been
used as part of the serial progression on Antique Vehicle
Format 11 plates and
Motorcycle plates.
What
do we have here? Yes, it's a
Person with Disability
plate, and was provided by Richard Than. My first thought is that it
was part of the double plate series starting at 98000PD, but plate
check shows that plates only up to 98161PD have been issued so far.
It also appears that no plates in the 99000PD series have been
issued, except for the one shown here. Therefore, I am of the opinion that
this is a vanity plate.
Here
is one from Bill Ceravola added to this week's
Vanity Page.
of
Philadelphia. 
