Rick's U.S. Bicentennial Plates

Pennsylvania was the first state to introduce a license plate in recognition of the U.S. Bicentennial, and the only state to use colors other than red, white, and blue. This base plate made its debut during a March 1971 statewide reissue. It was renewed each subsequent March with stickers through 1976, with the 1976 sticker expiring at the end of March 1977.

D.C. Bicentennial plates were introduced in a March 1974 general replacement. These plates were issued through about February 1978, and were valid with appropriate stickers through September 1986. Regular people were issued serials beginning at 100*001. Low serial numbers up to 1250 were VIP plates assigned by the Mayor's office.

These optional reflective plates with screened graphics made an attractive alternative to Virginia's plain, painted standard-issue passenger car plates. Virginia stopped issuing new Bicentennial plates in the mid-1980s or so, but they have the distinction of being the only Bicentennial plates still in use today. The few that are still on the road are in pretty sad shape after 30 plus years of use.

This was South Carolina's first graphic plate, and their first multi-year base plate since World War II. It was valid through November 1976 without stickers, and was used through 1980 with the appropriate expiraiton stickers. That red thing in the middle of the plate is a palmetto, the state tree.

In the mid-1970s, Illinois still issued annual plates that expired each December 31, and so this plate was used just during 1976, give or take. According to one source, there was a two month grace period following the stated expiration date. This plate was a significant departure from the ordinary all-embossed plates issued before and after.

Maryland issued plain red-on-white painted plates during a general reissue in March 1975, but then later in the year offered these graphic reflective Bicentennial plates at a nominal additional cost. They were available until late 1976 or early 1977; stickers were used to renew these plates through March 1980.

Like Illinois, Oklahoma still issued new plates every year in the mid-1970s, and acknowledged the Bicentennial on their 1976 plates. However, they took a very minimalist approach, resulting in the most plain design of any of the Bicentennial plates. The serial prefix identified the county of issuance; the PF prefix is one of several assigned to Payne County. Oklahoma plates expired each December 31, so I assume the next year's plates could be used starting sometime in December.

Back in the day, Indiana also issued new plates annually, but registrations were partially staggered to expire each January through June. Usually, the expiration year was shown on the plate, but these graphic Bicentennial plates bore the year of issuance, 1976, and expired in 1977 in the month indicated on the sticker. So, there were two years of dated 1976 plates and no dated 1977 plate. The number(s) to the left of the little letter identify the county; "38" is for Jay County.

Similar to Indiana, Missouri issued new plates annually, but waited until 1976 to issue plates acknowledging the U.S. Bicentennial. Therefore, only people whose plates expired during the first half of year actually had these spiffy 1977 expiration plates on their cars on July 4, 1976, the date of the actual Bicentennial. Everyone else still had the completely ordinary yellow-on-blue 1976 expiration plates, and only got their Bicentennial plates after the event had already passed.

When Nebraska created this rather busy design, they forgot to leave a space for the expiration sticker. They apparently didn't instruct people where to place them, either, because Nebraska motorists applied them in just about every conceivable location on their plates. The stacked "59" indicates this plate was issued in Sarpy County, a populous suburban county just south of Omaha.

Michigan issued these plates during a general reissue in March 1976 and renewed them with stickers for 1977 and 1978. Registrations expired in the following March after the year indicated on the plate or sticker. Michigan U.S. Bicentennial plates are widely regarded as being among the best-looking license plates of the 1970s.

This plate design doesn't actually say "1776" or "Bicentennial", nor does it display a Bicentennial logo or any Revolutionary War graphics, but I'll give South Dakota the benefit of the doubt, due to these plates actually being issued in 1976 and the flag-like graphic design at the top. There's a screened "76" in the lower right corner; in 1977 and subsequent years thorugh 1980, these plates were renewed with year stickers placed in the same location. The ME serial prefix identifies this plate as being from Minnehaha County.

Alabama showed up for the Bicentennial party as the other guests were preparing to leave. This plate has the U.S. Bicentennial logo in the lower right corner, but it wasn't introduced until September 1976, two months after the actual date. These plates were valid without stickers through September 1977. Frequently, but not always, a blue on white sticker indicating the motorist's county of residence was placed over the blue bar along the bottom edge.