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
Here's the first of two 'plates of
the week'. This
Passavant Memorial Homes Family of Services plate was recently
photographed by Bruce Bufalini.
Here is a link to the
organization's website. Presently about 29 such plates have been
issued, yet the PennDOT page of
Approved Special Organizations doesn't even list the plate! It
would be an improvement if the official page would at least be up to
date and reflect what's current and what's pending. There are other
organizational plates that are not listed as well.
Here's the other plate of the week.
This
Ridley School District has been mentioned several times recently
but this is the first image of an issued plate. There are about 22
serial numbered plates in use. It is also one of several plates
that is not listed on PennDOT's page of
Approved Special Organizations. Thanks
to Tom Perri for this perfect
image.
Here is a photo of a
Pennsylvania Equine Council sample plate which was provided to
Paul Bargnarol by the organization. At present some 149 serial
numbered plates have been issued. Their plate program dates back
to 2012, and plates are available to non-members.
PA Amateur Radio
plates with the number 3 as the call sign indicator for this region
would not be considered rare. On the other hand, PA plates with
other than 3 would be considered unusual. The plate shown here
with the call sign with 9 as the region identifier would have originally
been issued to someone from Indiana, Illinois or Wisconsin who later
moved to PA. Thanks to Bruce Bufalini
for sharing this photo.
This is a very early www base Dealer plate likely
issued on or close to 9/1/1999. This plate was also likely a
replacement for one the previous series Dealer plates. The
previous series progressions used A00-000A, through F99-999F, excluding
C00-000C. The G00-000G series was never needed. The
re-plating in 1999 launched the series shown here. Thanks to
Bruce Bufalini for sharing this photo.
This personalized Disabled Veteran
plate was recently spotted by Arthur Levine. I'm going to guess
that 1STID stands for 1st Infantry Division. It appears that this
plate does not have the sticker well. This change was previously
spotted on serial numbered plates.
Here is a new high number Mass Transit
plate spotted by Brandon Sowers. This series, which is believed to
have begun in 1982, started at M/T10000.
The series has continued with that progression since the start, and now
38 years later the series is still below 50,000, which means actually
less than 40,000 considering the starting point was 10-thousand.
These were also number gaps when switching to new bases in 1984 and
2000.
This Format 2 1937 Trailer
plate shows what the PA Archivist describes as a new high number.
While the paint is not in great condition, Drewski, the owner, feels it
a nice candidate for a restoration. This plate measures 6 inches
by 12 inches. Format 1 was all numeric from 0001 to 9999, Format 2
started at A000.
Here's a very nice 1915 3-Star Weight Class Truck
plate. As you may know, truck plates were first issued in 1914.
During 1914 and '15 the plates were porcelain on steel. The
aluminum band on the left depicted the weight class by the number of
stars ranging from 1 to 5 for the lightest to the heaviest classes.
The aluminum keystone was riveted to the plate with the words
NON TRANSFERRABLE
showing the MAKERS
NUMBER which is the same as
today's VIN number. Thanks to Tim Geirschick for the plate photo.
Here are several welcome additions
to the 1924 Truck
photo gallery. 1924 marked the beginning of the R to Z letter
classes. 1924 also saw the first use of alpha characters on
Passenger plates starting with A. So to keep the series separate,
the Truck series used 8 letter classes at the end of the alphabet
excluding X. Here we have an R-overflow plate on a 6" by 12" base.
These with the R in the suffix position were used after the original
series hit R99-999. Next is a Class W plate. While many
5-character plates measured 6" by 12", this plate with the wide W used
the 6" by 15" base. Finally the addition of this Y Class plate.
These image are from Worthpoint, a service I subscribed to for research
purposes; however, if the owner of a plate wishes, I can acknowledge
them as well.
Posting 1/19/2020
I had knee surgery this past
week. While recovering over the next couple weeks, additions to
this website may be limited.
While this is not a new Boy
Scouts of America high, it is the highest plate spotted that
still retains the sticker well. Thanks to Bruce Bufalini for the
photo. Plate 00171B/S, without the
sticker well, was previously spotted by Brendan Sherry. This
organization's plate program dates back to 2007.
To the left and below are a couple
recent veteran's plates from Bruce Bufalini.
Oft times these traffic shots aren't perfect, but always worth the effort as
with this
Expeditionary Forces. This is one of those 'tweener'
plates without a sticker well but still no map outline. This plate type
dates back to 1996.
This tough traffic shot was also taken by Bruce Bufalini.
And while it's not the first example of a vanity Vietnam War
Veteran plate, it is the first one spotted with the map outline.
These veteran plates date back to 1999 when they were fully embossed and
remained so until 2014 when the color graphic base was introduced.
This remarkable 65 year old plate is
part of a matching pair of 1955 Motorboat
plates. For 1955 the series ran from 1 to at least 43609.
Starting in 1955 Motorboat plates looked much like motorcycle plates of
the day except for the colors and legend. These plates were on
eBay this past week, and my thanks to eBay user snortwheeze55 for the
use of the photo. There were also Motorboat Dealer plates which
used an 'X' prefix.
Here is a pair of 1933 Passenger
plates. The first of these shorties is a 3-digit Format 1 plate
which went from 1 to 99999. The next is a Format 2 which ran from A to Z9999.
Both plates measure 6 inches by 10 inches. The first image is from Worthpoint,
a service I subscribed to for research purposes; however, if the owner
of a plate wishes, I can acknowledge them as well. The other plate
is from eBay user zekeyman50.
These
photos are of before and after 1916 Trailer
plates. The early photo was from Judd Clemens which I've had for
several years, the new owner of the plate is Clayton Moore who
refinished the plate. He also confirms the actual size of the
plate to be 6 inches by 14¼ inches. The series started at T1 and
extended to at least T427. T+1 digit and T+2 digit plates are
believed to be 6 inches by 11 inches.
This 1951 Trailer
plate is thanks to eBay user j0hnnyo (not a typo). It is part of Format 3
where the progression ran from 0A00 to 9Z99. Plates measure 6" x
11". The Archives lists 667R as the high, but in 1952 the series
went to a 5 digit format at least as high as 17663. I would not be
surprised if some 5 digit plates were issued late in 1951.
This is a
1942 R-Weight Class Truck
plate with a '43 tag. The R weight class used 4 serial
progressions that year including: R000A, R00A0, R0A00, R00AA. The
photo gallery now has an image of each of the four serial progressions.
Thanks to eBay user PA-Collector for the use of this photo.
This is a 1951 Y-Weight Class Truck
plate. Unlike the '42 above, there was only a single serial
progression for the Y-class — Y000A. All plates measured 6 inches
by 11 inches. Thanks to eBay user j0hnnyo for the photo.
Posting 1/12/2020
Here's a new high
Mario Lemieux Foundation plate recently spotted by Bruce Bufalini. This plate type dates back to 2006, then at or before
01680L/F the map outline was added.
Then later between 01791L/F and 01813L/F,
the logo received a facelift.
On the far left is the latest iteration of a
PA
Chiropractic Association plate. The near left plate is an example
of the plates that have been in use since their beginning in 2006. The new
sample plate image was provided by Paul Bagnarol. It is unknown if any
plates have been issued with the new logo.
Here is a low number
Pennsylvania Coal Alliance Inc. plate recently spotted by Bruce Bufalini.
These plates have been on the street since 2016, and so far according to vanity
check about 170 serial numbered plates have been issued. Bruce spotted
several of these plates outside a mining company entrance in Armstrong County.
The Temple University
Alumni Association has been in the license plate business since 1987 on
the yellow on blue base. Then around 7/3/2001 the first generation plates
were replaced by the www base as shown here on this low-number plate. Thanks
to the LicensePlateKingCompany for the photo.
Here's a recent high Limousine plate. At first
glance I didn't see the sticker well, but the photo shows that it's still there.
According to a July report, a new batch of
plates will start at LM-31000, and vanity check shows the current high as
LM-30950.
For those who watch and track Truck plates, here's the latest
high from Bruce Bufalini.
Here is a 1954 Format 4 Passenger
plate. This series ran from 10A0 to 99Z99, so both 4 and 5-character
plates made up this progression. All plates measured 6 inches by 10¼
inches regardless of the number of characters. This photo is also thanks
to the LicensePlateKingCompany.
This is another one of those plates that
looks just like another piece of rusty old steel from 1925. There is no
legend or other marking except for the E-prefix, which in this case identifies
it as a Tractor plate
with the 'E' symbolizing Engine. 1925 was only the second year to use
alpha-prefix letters on Passenger plates, but the run only extended into the
B-series, so not to be confused with this plate. Thanks to Tim Gierschick
for sharing this photo.
No question about this being a Tractor plate with
that legend and '58 date embossed + a '63 sticker. This would have been a
very early issue based on the series which started at 100-000. Note the
presence of the tab slot which was never used and later removed somewhere
between 131-000 and 132-000. Again my thanks to Tim Gierschick for sharing
this photo.
This is a very nice 1953 Class S Weight Class Truck
plate. Class S consisted of 5 serial progressions including: S000A, S00A0,
S0A00, S00AA, S0AA0, with this plate being part of the first progression.
All plates measure 6" x 10¼", and were issued as singles. This plate photo
is thanks to eBay user Tper3750.
Here is a pair of 1964 Truck plates.
On the far left is a low number T Weight Class plate with that class starting at
T00-00A making this the 33rd or 34th plate made in this class. Thanks to
Rob Baran for the photo. The near left YT plate is a
3-axle truck tractor which used both
YT0-00A and YT0-0A0 serial progressions. Both the 1958 and
1964 truck series used separate weight classes for
3-axle truck tractors including WT, YT and ZT. There were
also distinct classes for 3 and 4-axle straight trucks, which were not truck tractors.
This image is from Worthpoint, a service I subscribed to for research purposes;
however, if the owner of a plate wishes, I can acknowledge them as well.
Posting 1/5/2020
This is the latest image of an AFSCME Council
13 plate from Jordan Irazabal. This plate type dates back to 2008.
Plate 00092A/U still had the sticker well,
while 00103A/U and the plate shown here are without the sticker well. Some
109 serial-numbered plates have been issued.
Here is a nice low number Eureka
Volunteer Fire and Ambulance plate thanks to Arthur Levine. Their plate
program dates back to 2017, so from the beginning the white map outline was part
of the plate. Vanity check indicates that so far about 13 serial numbered
plates have been issued. They are located in York County.
We've seen this State Senator plate before, in fact the
far left photo was taken on January 4, 2011 by Eric Conner, while the near left photo is from
this past December by
Jordan Irazabal. Note the 6-11 and 6-17 stickers. This State
Senator plate was issued to the senator representing the first senatorial district
located in Philadelphia.
This is one of those plates that at first
glance you might simply pass it off as just another 5-digit Passenger plate.
Upon further scrutiny, Passenger plates did use a 5-digit format but that series
started at 10-000, while this plate actually starts with the letter 'O', not the
number zero. The 'O' prefix makes this a 1926 Bus plate
reading O6-875. After 1926 alpha characters were made smaller than
numbers, thus the confusion about the first character of this plate. Need
more confusion, there was also another class of Bus plates at the time with an
H-prefix. Click
the link to see more. Many thanks to Clayton Moore for the use of this and
so many other plate images.
Needless to say this is a rare plate.
It's a 1929 Format 1 Passenger
plate. That series went from 2 to 9999 on a 6 inch by 10 inch base before
adnancing to the 10-000 format and a 6 by 13 inch plate. Thanks to Clayton
Moore for the use of this photo.
Here is another 1929 Format 4 Passenger
plate, which ran from A-1 to F-99, then to F999, on 6" x
10". It should be noted that while Formats 4, 5 and 6 are
shown as separate groups, the series actually progresses as one group with the
alpha character being the last to advance, and the series progressing as A-1,
A-2, etc. to A99-999, then B-1, etc. to F23-960. This image is from Worthpoint,
a service I subscribed to for research purposes; however, if the owner of a
plate wishes, I can acknowledge him or her as well.
Here is a pair of 1941 Passenger plates.
The far left is a Format 3 which ran from 1A00 to 9Z999. So 4-character
plates measured 6" x 10" and 5-character plates were 6" x 12". Thanks to
eBay user Stationstuff for the photo. The near left photo is a Format 4
consisting of 10A0 to 99Z99. So again both sizes were used with this plate
being 12". Thanks to eBay user Nekollena for the use of the photo.
This 1949 Passenger Sample plate
photo came from Paul Bagnarol. I believe this is the last of these I have
to post. This leaves only 1925, 1931 and 1944 samples needed. In
addition to Paul, many thanks to
Eric Tanner for all their
help filling in the gaps.
Here
is a pair of 1941 Trailer
plates. The far left plate is a needed Format 2 plate using the A000
serial format, while the near left plate is a previously undocumented format for
1941, and will be referred to as Format 3 using 0A00 as the serial format. These image are from Worthpoint,
a service I subscribed to for research purposes; however, if the owner of a
plate wishes, I can acknowledge him or her as well.
Posting 12/29/2019
Happy
New Year
Personally
I don't put a lot of effort into watching and tracking Passenger and Truck
plates, but many plate enthusiasts do. Here is a pair of recent Passenger highs
spotted by
Jordan Irazabal on the far left and
Eric Conner on the near left. To see a comprehensive listing of all PA
highs, check out Tom Perri's
www.PAPlates.com.
Nick Tsilakis spotted this latest high Person With Disability
plate. The use of the map outline is believed to have started at 72000PD.
For the past few years PD plates have also been available personalized. In
addition, a 2-plate option is available to vehicle owners who have a device on
the rear of the vehicle for carrying a wheelchair or personal assistive device.
These plates originally date back to 1965 and were called Handicapped or HP
plates.
This
Amateur Radio error plate was spotted
by Bruce Bufalini. Note the use of the number zero (0) as the next to the
last character. Bruce, who is a ham radio operator, points out that only
one number is used in any call sign. The format would be 1 or 2 letters to the left and 1 to 3 letters to the
right of the number, never more than 6 characters.
Here is a parking lot shot of a personalized
Moravian College
plate, now with the map outline. This is the the first photo of a Moravian
plate with the map. It is unknown if standard issue plates have the map
yet. Frequently personalized plates are the first to be spotted with
formatting changes. Moravian's plate program dates back to 1990.
This is a
Shippensburg University Alumni sample plate thanks to Pail Bagnarol.
Shippensburg's plate program dates back to 1989 on the yellow on blue base.
Sometime between 2013 and 2014 they switched to the graphic base as seen here.
Their latest plates have been spotted with the map outline.
This is a 1933 Format 3 Passenger plate. This
serial grouping ran from 0A to 9Z999, so
2, 3, 4 and 5 character plates were issued. The 2, 3 and 4 character
plates would have been 6 inches by 10 inches, while the 5-character plates were
12 inch. Thanks to eBay user rqb507 for the use of this photo.
This 1935 Format 7 Passenger was also
provided by eBay user rqb507. The serial number is part of AA to ZZ99 and AA100 to ZZ999
serial progression. This plate measures
6 inches by 10 inches, and of course the 5-character plates would be 12
inches.
Here
is another pair of Sample plates. The far left is a 1947 thanks to Paul
Bagnarol, while the near left
1948 is thanks to Eric
Eric Tanner and Worthpoint. Both of these plates
measure 6 inches by 11 inches. Next week I will have a couple more
samples.
In Older Truck Plate News: I received
an interesting and insightful email from
Eric Tanner concerning the
use of RA000 and SA000 Truck series during 1935,
1936 and
1937. These series were
listed in the 1935 BMV Design of Registration Plates document, however, none were ever
seen. During this period approx 240,000 R and S plates would have been
issued, yet not a single plates from these series has ever been seen. If
my memory serves me correctly, Rick
Kretschmer may have also brought up this issue, so at the time I listed
these series as needing confirmation, and now we have it.
While we're talking trucks, here's a 1945 Class R Truck plate.
This depicts the third of four serial formats which include R000A, R00A0, R0A00, R00AA. The plate gallery now shows one
of each group. Thanks to Ebay user Our Favorite Things for the use of the
photo.
PA Amateur Radio
plates with the number 3 as the call sign indicator for this region
would not be considered rare. On the other hand, PA plates with
other than 3 would be considered unusual. The plate shown here
with the call sign with 9 as the region identifier would have originally
been issued to someone from Indiana, Illinois or Wisconsin who later
moved to PA. Thanks to Bruce Bufalini
for sharing this photo.
These
photos are of before and after
1916 Trailer
plates. The early photo was from Judd Clemens which I've had for
several years, the new owner of the plate is Clayton Moore who
refinished the plate. He also confirms the actual size of the
plate to be 6 inches by 14¼ inches. The series started at T1 and
extended to at least T427. T+1 digit and T+2 digit plates are
believed to be 6 inches by 11 inches. 
Here
is a pair of 1941 Trailer
plates. The far left plate is a needed Format 2 plate using the A000
serial format, while the near left plate is a previously undocumented format for
1941, and will be referred to as Format 3 using 0A00 as the serial format. These image are from Worthpoint,
a service I subscribed to for research purposes; however, if the owner of a
plate wishes, I can acknowledge him or her as well.
Personally
I don't put a lot of effort into watching and tracking
Passenger and Truck
plates, but many plate enthusiasts do. Here is a pair of recent Passenger highs
spotted by
Jordan Irazabal on the far left and
Eric Conner on the near left. To see a comprehensive listing of all PA
highs, check out Tom Perri's
www.PAPlates.com.
Nick Tsilakis spotted this latest high
Person With Disability
plate. The use of the map outline is believed to have started at 72000PD.
For the past few years PD plates have also been available personalized. In
addition, a 2-plate option is available to vehicle owners who have a device on
the rear of the vehicle for carrying a wheelchair or personal assistive device.
These plates originally date back to 1965 and were called Handicapped or HP
plates.
This
Amateur Radio error plate was spotted
by Bruce Bufalini. Note the use of the number zero (0) as the next to the
last character. Bruce, who is a ham radio operator, points out that only
one number is used in any call sign. The format would be 1 or 2 letters to the left and 1 to 3 letters to the
right of the number, never more than 6 characters. 
Here
is another pair of Sample plates. The far left is a
1947 thanks to Paul
Bagnarol, while the near left
1948 is thanks to Eric
Eric Tanner and Worthpoint. Both of these plates
measure 6 inches by 11 inches. Next week I will have a couple more
samples.
