Rick's 1977 U.S. Passenger Car Plates
(My High School Graduation Year Set)

In the 1970s, Maryland passenger 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.

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.

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 can still be renewed even today.

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 with a screened "76" in the lower right corner, and the tall serial die version with first characters 8, 9, O, N, and D with a "1976" sticker covering the screened "76" on the plate, shown at left. The first serial character indicates the expiration month - September in this case.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 outline.

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.

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 issuing other formats.

South Dakota pioneered the use of screened graphics in the 1950s and by the mid-1970s had gotten pretty sophisticated. 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.

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".

On the 1975 base plates, Iowa went to an alphanumeric serial format, with each 6 character serial only used once statewide. However, 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.

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

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 (along with Oklahoma, Missouri, and Indiana) that were still replacing their plates every year.

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. A lot of other states had issued Bicentennial commemorative plates, and Indiana jumped on the 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.

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.

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 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.

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 briefly used on plates made in the early 2000s.

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.

The plate shown was issued in 1974 and 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 removed from Maine plates beginning in 1975.

The Canal Zone was a strip of land, administered by the U.S. from 1903 to 1979, that flanked the Panama Canal. 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.