Rick Kretschmer's License Plate Archives 

1959 standard passenger car

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. 

1959 organizational member passenger car, standard serial format

Various civic organizations were able to reserve alphabetic prefixes on standard serial format passenger car plates.  The organizations themselves then assigned specific plate numbers with their serial prefix to their individual members.  Because of this, members of these organizations 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 member 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", which is apparently the name of their Maryland chapter. 

1959 amateur radio operator passenger car

Amateur radio operators could get 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 for cars; those with 4-30 expiration dates were issued for trucks.  Dave Nicholson, if you're out there, these were the only type of 1957-1970 expiration Maryland plates that could be had with the letter Q, as this example shows. 

1959 House of Delegates elected official

Various polital officeholders were issued plates for their personal vehicles identifying them as such.  The House of Delegates is Maryland's lower legislative body.  The large round graphic is the state seal; this was a sticker applied to the plate at the time of manufacture.  Despite some of these political plates not indicating specific expiration dates, they did in fact expire on March 31 of the year indicated on the plate. 

1959 taxi or limousine for hire

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 code.  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. 

1959 ambulance or funeral vehicle

Ambulances and funeral vehicles are Class C vehicles in Maryland.  These plates were issued to commercial ambulances, hearses, and to other vehicles used exclusively for funeral-related or cemetery-related duties.  Ambulances owned by fire departments instead bore official fire department plates. 

1959 regular truck

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 which are shown below. 

1959 regular trailer

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. 

1959 new vehicle dealer

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 trailer and motorcycle plates.  Motorcycle dealers had their own distinct, smaller sized plates. 

1959 farm truck

Farm trucks were one of those special types of trucks that were issued something other the standard truck plates.  The words Farm and Truck run vertically down the left and right sides of the plate, respectively. 

1959 intercity bus

Maryland issued several different types of bus plates.  PSC Bus plates were issued for intercity buses that charged fares and 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. 

1959 truck tractor

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. 

1959 temporary

When a dealer sold a vehicle, if the buyer wasn't trading in an old vehicle from which he could transfer existing plates, the dealer would issue temporary cardboard plates, to allow the vehicle to be driven while the paperwork was being processed to obtain new metal plates.  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 for a Hudson.