Rick Kretschmer's License Plate Archives 

Maryland

bordered by the District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware

In the 1970s, Maryland passenger car plates all expired on March 31 of the year indicated on the sticker.  The red-on-white base was the standard issue; the graphic Bicentennial plate was an extra-cost optional issue.  Both plates were first issued in 1975 and were valid through March 1980 with appropriate stickers. 

District of Columbia

bordered by Maryland and Virginia

D.C. Bicentennial plates were standard issues first seen in March 1974.  Low serial numbers up to 1250 were VIP plates assigned by the Mayor's office.  Regular people were issued serials beginning at 100*001. 

From 1933 to 2001, D.C. issued special event plates for U.S. presidential inagurations.  These were valid license plates that could be used on any vehicle in the U.S. for a period of a few months.  President Jimmy Carter was inaugurated in 1977. 

Virginia

bordered by Maryland, the District of Columbia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina

Like Maryland, Virginia offered a plain standard passenger car plate as well as an extra-cost graphic Bicentennial plate.  Notice the completely different dies used to embosss the serial numbers on these two bases.  The standard plate was issued from about 1973 to 1980 and was used for several years beyond that.  The Bicentennial plate was introduced in 1975 and can still be renewed even today. 

West Virginia

bordered by Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania

West Virginia passenger car plates from the mid-to-late 1970s are confusing.  I'll spare you all the details, but there were no plates or stickers indicating the year 1977.  Two versions of the 1976 "map" graphic plate expired in 1977 – the short serial die version with first character 1 through 7, a screened "76" in the lower right corner, and no year stickers; and also the tall serial die version with first character 8, 9, O, N, or D, with a "1976" sticker covering the screened "76" on the plate, as shown at left.  The first serial character indicates the expiration month, September in this case. 

Kentucky

bordered by Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio

This 1975 base plate was valid for three years with appropriate renewals stickers.  The stickers themselves were rounded at one corner so they'd fit snugly against the embossed border in the proper corner of the plate.  The motorist's county of residence is indicated at the bottom center. 

Tennessee

bordered by Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri

When 1976 annual registrations expired statewide in February 1977, Tennessee simultaneously introduced their first graphic plate and converted to staggered registrations.  The earliest staggered expiration date was September 1977.  1977 expirations were indicated on this base with a month sticker in the lower left corner and the screened "'77" in the lower right corner.  The number "5" to the left of the dash in the serial number indicates that this motorist resided in Sullivan County. 

North Carolina

bordered by Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia

It's hard to believe that a state where slavery was legal until the 1860s would promote themselves as First in Freedom, but that's exactly what North Carolina did on this 1975 base plate.  The controversial slogan was absent from newly issued plates starting in about 1979, but these 1975 plates continued to be renewed and used until about 1985. 

South Carolina

bordered by North Carolina and Georgia

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 supposed to be a palmetto, the state tree. 

Georgia

bordered by Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Alabama

Georgia used this base plate from 1976 to 1982 with appropriate validation stickers.  Despite the seemingly generic numbering format, the first serial letter was actually a weight class code.  "C" was one of the letters used for the lightest weight class, which was for cars weighing only 1,000 to 3,000 pounds.  The motorist's county is identified with a sticker applied at the lower edge of the plate. 

Florida

bordered by Georgia and Alabama

1977 was a transition year for Florida license plates.  Not only did they begin a state-wide replate, but also the new plates abandoned the long practice of using county codes and weight codes.  Pictured is an outgoing, old-school plate; the "12" indicates Lake County, and the lack of a letter indicates a passenger car weighing between 2,501 and 3,500 pounds. 

Alabama

bordered by Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi

This graphic Alabama plate is considered to be a U.S. Bicentennial plate due to the logo in the lower right corner, but was introduced in September 1976, two months after the date of the actual event.  The plate was valid without stickers through September 1977.  Some of these plates had a county name sticker covering the blue bar at the bottom. 

Mississippi

bordered by Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas

Mississippi issued its first graphic plate in October 1976.  The plate had a screened '77 date in the sticker well, and was valid without stickers through October 1977.  The motorist's county of residence is embossed at the bottom of the plate. 

Louisiana

bordered by Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas

Arkansas

bordered by Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Missouri

Arkansas introduced a plain, red-on-white base plate in 1968, but by 1975 had added the legend Land of Opportunity to newly issued plates. A graphic plate was introduced in late 1977, while both all-embossed versions continued to be renewed through 1982.  One unique feature of Arkansas plates of this era is that they issued a new month sticker each year that matched the colors of the year sticker. 

Oklahoma

bordered by Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri

Oklahoma was one of only four states in 1977 still issuing new plates every year. The slogan Oklahoma is OK was first used in 1967; it seems rather lame today.  The prefix letters "CG" indicate the plate was issued to someone living in Craig County. 

Texas

bordered by Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico (and Mexico)

This base plate was introduced in 1975.  Early versions had a star for a separator; in late 1975 or early 1976, the separator was changed to the state map. 

New Mexico

bordered by Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado (and Mexico).  Shares a corner with Utah.

Arizona

bordered by New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and California (and Mexico).  Shares a corner with Colorado.

Utah

bordered by Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado.  Shares a corner with New Mexico.

Utah issued a number of plain, black-on-white base plates between 1973 and 1985, with minor differences between them.  All of these may continue to be renewed today.  That triangle-shaped thing in the middle of the plate is supposed to be a beehive, which is the state symbol.  Beehive plates were issued to new registrants between about 1975 and 1978. 

Nevada

bordered by Arizona, Utah, California, Oregon, and Idaho

California

bordered by Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon (and Mexico)

Oregon

bordered by Nevada, California, Washington, and Idaho

These orange plates were issued to new registrants in the 1970s and 1980s, and like all Oregon passenger car plates issued since 1955, can still be used today if continuously registered. 

Washington

bordered by Oregon and Idaho (and Canada)

Idaho

bordered by Utah, Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Wyoming (and Canada)

Montana

bordered by Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota (and Canada)

This base plate was issued from 1976 to 1990, with the last registration period expiring in 1991.  The "4" serial prefix identifies this plate as having been issued in Missoula County. 

Wyoming

bordered by Utah, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Nebraska, and South Dakota

This was Wyoming's first multi-year base, issued in 1975 and renewed in 1976 and 1977 with stickers.  The "2" to the left of the bucking bronco graphic indicates this plate was issued in Laramie County. 

Colorado

bordered by Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Kansas, and Nebraska.  Shares a corner with Arizona.

Colorado introduced its long-running white on green mountain base plate in 1977, and it was valid without stickers during its first year.  In 1978 and subsequent years, these plates were validated with stickers applied to the rear plate only.  The "BE" serial prefix identifies the plate as having been issued to a Denver County motorist.  The xx-0000 serial format was issued during the first few years; as each county's allotment of prefix letters were used up, they then switched to other formats. 

Kansas

bordered by Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska, and Missouri

Nebraska

bordered by Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa, and Missouri

South Dakota

bordered by Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa

South Dakota pioneered the use of screened graphics in the 1950s, and by the mid-1970s had gotten pretty sophisticated with them.  This base plate was issued and used in 1976 without stickers, and was kept current with renewal stickers through 1981.  The "ME" serial prefix identifies this plate as being from Minnehaha County. 

North Dakota

bordered by Montana, South Dakota, and Minnesota (and Canada)

Minnesota

bordered by South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa (and Canada)

Minnesota used the dated 1974 base through 1977; staggered expiration months were introduced in 1975.  The orange paint tended to fade pretty readily on these.  There were three different die sets used for serial numbers during the life of this base. 

Wisconsin

bordered by Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan

Hello, Wisconsin!  This is the type of plate that would have been used on Eric Forman's Vista Cruiser or one of the other classic cars featured on That 70's Show.  The letters at the bottom left corner actually read "APR", indicating an April expiration.  The bolt hole clobbered most of the right leg of the letter "R". 

Iowa

bordered by Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Illinois

On the 1975 base plates, Iowa went to an alphanumeric serial format, with each six-character serial only used once statewide.  Despite that, they also retained their county number codes, resulting in a bizarre 0/0xxx000 serial format.  "94" is the number code for Webster County.  This base plate was renewed with stickers through 1978. 

Missouri

bordered by Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois

Only people whose registrations expired during the first half of year actually had these spiffy 1977 expiration Bicentennial plates on their cars on the date of the actual anniversary.  Everyone else still had the completely ordinary 1976 expiration plates, and only got their Bicentennial plates after the event was already over. 

Illinois

bordered by Kentucky, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and Indiana

Illinois quickly ditched their graphic 1976 Bicentennial plates, reverting back to the same plain design they had been using since the 1950s.  In 1977, Illinois was only one of four states that were still replacing their plates every year.  Passenger car serial formats could be all-numeric, or using a two-letter prefix as shown here. 

Indiana

bordered by Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio

This plate would seem to have expired in March 1976, but really it was March 1977.  During the 1970s, Indiana still annually issued new plates to all registrants.  Once staggered expirations were begun, the expiration year was normally shown on the plate; Indiana plates actually expiring in 1976 had the 1976 date on the plate and were non-graphic.  Indiana jumped on the Bicentennial bandwagon at the last minute, with these plates that were issued in 1976 and expired in 1977.  Plates issued in 1977 and expiring in 1978 once again bore the expiration year.  The number(s) to the left of the minuteman graphic identify the county; "38" is for Jay County.

Michigan

bordered by Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio (and Canada)

In my book, this plate wins the prize for "Plate of the Decade" for the entire 1970s.  It's patriotic, and very colorful – like a loud, plaid sport jacket with extra-wide 1970s lapels.  This base was valid for use during 1976 without stickers; a single renewal sticker was applied to the rear plate for 1977 and 1978. 

Ohio

bordered by West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania

In contrast to the Michigan plate, they don't get much more boring than this one from neighboring Ohio.  Ohio used a variety of serial formats to identify the region of the state the plates was issued; this format with a single letter prefix would be from the central part of the state, near Columbus.  This base plate was issued starting in April 1976 and was valid through May 1977 without stickers. Stickers indicating the expiraiton month and year were then used to validate this plate through 1980. 

Pennsylvania

bordered by Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York

Pennsylvania was the first state to issue Bicentennial plates in March 1971, and was also among the first to replace them in March 1977.  These plates were valid without stickers in 1977 and were on the road through 1999. 

Delaware

bordered by Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey

Non-embossed plates with screened registration numbers have become commonplace in recent years, but the company that produced Delaware plates pioneered this method of plate manufacture beginning in about 1970.  Delaware plates have remained essentially unchanged since then, except for a couple of different serial number fonts used on plates made since the early 2000s. 

New Jersey

bordered by Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York

New Jersey made plates in this same style from 1959 until mid-1977, with the only real change during that time being the serial format switch from letters at the front to letters at the end.  Evidence of current registration was provided by means of a windshield sticker.  During 1977, for the first time ever, New Jersey began issuing plates with the state name spelled in full. 

New York

bordered by Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont (and Canada)

New York used these obnoxious blue-on-orange plates from 1973 to 1986.  Six-character serials were issued until 1980, and some letter suffixes were loosely assigned by county, although apparently IKG was not among these.  The sticker box was never used; current registrations were indicated with windshield stickers.  Because of this, and since serials weren't issued sequentially, there's usually no way to precisely identify when a particular plate was issued. 

Connecticut

bordered by New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts

Rhode Island

bordered by Connecticut and Massachusetts

Massachusetts

bordered by New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, and New Hampshire

Vermont

bordered by New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire (and Canada)

New Hampshire

bordered by Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine (and Canada)

Maine

bordered by New Hampshire (and Canada)

The 1974 base plate shown at top left was obviously renewed several times.  At the time, Maine instructed motorists to apply subsequent year stickers in each successive corner in a clockwise direction. 

The embossed year was absent from newly-issued Maine plates beginning in 1975.  The undated base at bottom left is one of these; this one has a natural 1977 expiration.  I can't say why this motorist chose to put the expiration sticker in the lower right corner of the plate. 

Alaska

(bordered by Canada)

This attractive graphic plate, featuring a standing bear, was introduced for the 1976 registration year and used through the early 1980s.  It was quite different from any other Alaska plates before or since, which have pretty much always used the color blue along with yellow and/or white, and have usually featured the state flag. 

Hawaii

(Pacific islands)

American Samoa

(Pacific island)

Guam

(Pacific island)

The island of Guam had a few different plates that were used on passenger cars in 1977.  One of them was this dated 1974 base plate with a 1977 renewal sticker.  The others had no embossed year, but rather a debossed "77" in the sticker well, and were used without stickers during 1977.  Hafa Adai means "Hello" in Chamorro, the native language of the Mariana islands, of which Guam is a part. 

Canal Zone

(bordered by Panama)

The Canal Zone was a strip of land flanking the Panama Canal that was administered by the U.S. from 1903 to 1979.  A 1977 treaty between the U.S. and Panama returned jurisdiciton of the Canal Zone to Panama in 1979, and turned over operation of the canal itself in 1999.  Note that the legend on the plate is written in English, rather than Spanish, the language of Panama. 

Puerto Rico

(Carribean island)

U.S. Virgin Islands

(Carribean islands)

Yes, I realize that this is a 1975 plate.  However, the U.S. Virgin Islands used their dated 1975 plates for two additional years; proof of current registration for 1976 and 1977 was indicated via windsheild stickers.  Single-letter serial prefixes were used for passenger car plates; the letters could be either C, J, or T, corresponding to the islands of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas, respectively.