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This page illustrates some of the license plate-related projects I'm either currently working on, or am planning to start some time in the future. In most cases I don't yet have web pages for these plate categories. These various projects are ordered roughly according to priority or likelihood of ever happening. Latest noteworthy updates to this page
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Shown above are some recent additions to my collection – a 1960 expiration Oregon "Pacific Wonderland" passenger
car plate, and a 1977 Guam passenger car plate. Also shown are a couple of plate
photos submitted by others: a 1906 Pennsylvania passenger car plate
(Taylor photo / plate ), and a 2009 issue Texas standard passenger car plate
(Clinchy photo / plate ).
My personal life finally calmed down in 2009, and for a while I was able to make some good progress in making updates to various pages on this site. However, I never did get completely caught up, and now things have recently become hectic at work, limiting my free time. Therefore, I'm once again developing a backlog of updates that need to be made. I have a number of new plates in my collection, new candid photos I've taken of plates in current use, and additional plate photos contributed by others, that haven't yet made it onto the appropriate web pages.
Shown above are a few plates that I've recently photographed and/or edited in preparation for being included on one of my pages. By the time you read this, these may or may not have been posted to the approrpriate pages.
Illinois is my wife's home state. I spent several months there in 1982 when I met her, and I've periodically returned, first to see her, and ever since we've been married, to visit the in-laws. Since I'm nearly finshed with my Pennsylvania passenger plate run, and I've gotten most of the easy years for my Maryland passenger plate run, I've begun acquiring Illinois passenger car plates as opportunities present themselves. Although I'm not actively looking for them, I've nevertheless managed to acquire 50 years' worth so far. Illinois being a high-population state that issued plates in pairs annually through 1978, I don't anticipate much difficulty finishing. I don't know yet if I'll write a history of Illinois plates, but I do plan to create a Gallery of Illinois Passenger Car Plates page, featuring plates from my collection, one of these days.
The plain blue-on-white plate shown above is the back half of a pair of really nice natural 1985 expiration Illinois passenger plates that were once on my wife's first car, a new 1984 Buick Century. Before the first registration year was up, we were married and she moved to Maryland, where I lived, and she obtained Maryland plates for her car.
Maryland cardboard temporary license plates from 1959, 1973, and sometime in the 1980s or so; a Maryland
special event plate for a Shriner's Convention held in Baltimore, indicating a July 1, 1939 expiration date
(Sallmen photo / plate).
I suppose this is presently the most glaring hole among my History of Maryland License Plates pages. Temporary and special event licese plates are real license plates; they just don't stay on vehicles very long before they're replaced with permanent plates. I intend to remedy this omission with a new web page. I'm going to need some help with the special event plates – discovering what was issued and when, and obtaining photos.
A couple of cardboard "movie prop" replica Maryland license plates, a toy plate that was a premium in boxes of
Wheaties in 1953, and a 1976-1980 era toy vanity plate once sold in toy stores.
I've decided to create a page to show various kinds of facsimilie or replica Maryland license plates. This will include things like cardboard movie prop plates, toy plates intended for children's bicycles, and keychain tags once used as a fundraiser for the Disabled American Veterans. Shown above are a couple of movie prop plates and a couple of toy plates that I've acquired. I have no idea in which productions these movie props were used.
Note that I will not include on this page any full-sized metal reproductions of vintage Maryland plates. These are fakes, obviously made with the intent to deceive. They're usually used on antique cars in violation of Maryland law.
A plate "topper" used by a United Engine Co. firefighter on his personal vehicle, circa 1960s
(Casadonte photo / plate);
a Maryland State Police dashboard plate made from a motorcycle license plate blank, circa 1960s
("Whitey" photo / plate);
a souvenir plate from an International Assoication of Cheifs of Police regional conference in 1988, made from a Maryland
motorcycle license plate blank (Sallmen photo / plate).
There are a number of official and unofficial metal plates that have been used for purposes other than vehicle registration, often made from real Maryland license plate blanks. I have photos of some of these, and intend to create a page to document their existence. Again, I'm sure there are many such plates of which I am not even aware, and so I'm going to need some help with the content of this page.
The tiger plate was once in my trade box. The owl plate is a candid image of a plate in
actual use.
I've now written pictorial history pages of Pennsylvania passenger car, truck, and trailer plates, all of which may be accessed from the Pennsylvania index page. I've also been hanging onto any other types of Pennsylvania non-passenger types I get, such as the dealer and municipal government plates shown above. As I research and document additional Pennsylvania plate types, and create additional pictorial history pages, I'll be able to include photos of these plates on the appropriate pages. Actually, I'm thinking that the next Pennsylvania plate types I'll address might be motorcycle plates and other small plate types.
There are several Pennsylvania special interest plates that are completely different in appearance from standard plates. I need to get some of these, or at least some more pictures, to add to my Pennsylvania passenger plate page.
I was a Boy Scout in one form or another from age 8 to about age 23, and I earned the rank of Eagle Scout. The Boy Scouts were a very important part of my life and had a big influence on my personal development. A good number of states now have special-interest plates promoting the Boy Scouts. Living in North Carolina now, I was able to get North Carolina Eagle Scout plates registered to my own cars. Right now I'm trying to collect Eagle Scout plates from the handful of other states that offer them. I haven't yet pursued getting other types of Boy Scout license plates for my collection, but I'm sure someday I will.
Having created a page showing current U.S. passenger car plates, I was thinking that I would create a companion page that will display various non-passenger plates, extra-cost special interest plates, and other interesting plates from various U.S. states. I've put these plans on hold for now, due to the backlog of updates I have for my existing plate pages.
Unlike the passenger car plate page, I won't necessarily expect to have photos of plates from all 50 states, but rather, I'll just show images of whatever plates that I either acquire or encounter on the street.
Vehicles displaying Maryland license plates have appeared in a surprising number of major Hollywood movies. I'm v-e-r-y occasionally working on a new web page on which I'm listing each of these movies that I know about, providing details about the vehicles and the Maryland license plates seen in each.
Some day I'd like to start collecting plates from the District of Columbia. I lived in various Maryland suburbs in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and saw D.C. plates on the road regularly, for over 20 years.
2005 autumn leaves plate was once in my trade box.
I don't know if I'll ever actually collect them, but I may do some kind of web page related to Virginia plates someday; I just don't know what or when. I've lived in states adjacent to Virginia for over 40 years.
If I ever decide to start up an online license plate store, I've always wanted to use the name "Plate Daddy" for it. However, for the past few years, someone else owned the rights to the web domain name www.platedaddy.com, though they never actually used it for a web site. In June 2008, I discovered that this domain name had once again become available, and so I immediately claimed it for myself.
I can't say when or even if I'll ever actually open a license plate store for business, but at least now I have the most obvious and intuitive web site address to go with the name I want to use.
Related pages on this site |
Thanks to those who have directly contributed to the information on this page: "Tiger" Joe Sallmen, Paul Casadonte, and someone who identified himself only as "Whitey".
Sallmen, Casadonte, "Whitey", Taylor, and Clinchy photographs are presumed to be copyrighted by "Tiger" Joe Sallmen, Paul Casadonte, "Whitey", Norman Taylor, and Ross Clinchy, respectively, and are used with permission.
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