Rick's 1959 Maryland License Plate Types
(My Other Birth Year Set)

All passenger car plates expired on March 31 of each year, and Maryland made sure you didn't forget it, either. The passenger car serial format was xx-00-00. From 1954 to 1961 expirations, only the letters A through L (excluding the letter I) were used in either serial prefix position. Standard-issue plate numbers were issued sequentially and could not be kept from one year to the next.

Various civic organizations were assigned reserved alphabetic prefixes in the standard-issue passenger format. The organizations themselves assigned specific plates to their individual members, so organizational plate holders were able to, and frequently did, obtain the same plate number year after year. Otherwise, there's no way to distinguish one of these organizational plates from a regular passenger plate without already knowing that a given prefix was reserved. "BF" prefix plates were reserved for members of the Tall Cedars of Lebanon, a masonic group. It's been reported that "BF" stood for "Baltimore Forest".

Amateur radio operators could obtain plates with their call letters beginning with the 1957 expiration plates. These were sort of an early type of vanity plate. Amateur radio plates with 3-31 expiration dates were issued to cars; those with 4-30 expiration dates were issued to trucks. Dave Nicholson, if you're out there, these were likely the only type of 1957-1970 expiration Maryland plates that could be had with the letter Q, as this example shows.

Most all non-passenger plates expired annually on April 30. Several vehicle types shared serial format 00-00-xx, with the first letter indicating the vehicle class. Taxis are Class B vehicles in Maryland, as were most for-hire limousines back in the day. One exception: limousines used exclusively for funeral duty would have been registered as funeral vehicles.

Ambulances and funeral vehicles are Class C vehicles in Maryland. These plates were issued to private ambulance companies for their ambulances, and to funeral homes for hearses and other vehicles used exclusively for funeral-related duties. Ambulances owned by fire departments bore official fire department plates.

Trucks are Class E vehicles, so "regular" trucks (those that don't fall into any special category) were issued plates with the first serial letter "E". Various special types of trucks (farm truck, dump truck, truck tractor, etc.) recieved different types of plates. Some of these are shown below.

By now you probably realize that trailers must be Class G vehicles. "Regular" trailer plates from 1954 to 1975 pretty much all have the letter "G" as the first letter. There was at least one special type of trailer (dump trailer) that received a distinct 1959 expiration plate.

Dealers of new vehicles used these plates on their demonstrator vehicles. Used vehicle dealers were issued similar plates, but with a stacked "U/C" prefix to the left of the plate number. Dealer plates were issued in pairs back then, just like most every other type of Maryland plate except for trailers and motorcycles. Motorcycle dealers had their own distinct, smaller sized plates.

Farm trucks were one of those special types of trucks that did not receive the standard truck plate. The words "Farm" and "Truck" run vertically down the left and right sides of the plate, respectively.

Maryland issued several different types of bus plates. "PSC Bus" plates were issued to intercity buses for hire that traveled on fixed routes, such as Greyhound or Trailways buses. The letters "PSC" stood for Public Service Commission, the state agency that regulated certain types of for-hire transportation.

In Maryland, plates marked "Trac", "Tractor", and even "Traction" were not issued to farm tractors, but rather to truck tractors (the front part of a tractor-trailer). For 1954 to 1970 expirations, these plates bore the partial word "Trac" running down the right side of the plate.

Maryland license plates stay with the owner, not the vehicle. When a dealer sells a vehicle, if the buyer isn't trading in an old vehicle, the dealer will issue a temporary cardboard plate to allow the vehicle to be driven while the paperwork is being processed to issue a new metal plate. This plate is slightly smaller than standard metal plates, about 5 7/8" by 11", and does not have pre-punched bolt holes. This particular plate was issued to a Hudson.