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Pennsylvania License Plate Images

John McDevitt, Walnutport, PA

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The photos on this website, whether provided by me or other contributors, are intended for use solely on this website, and may not be otherwise used without permission.


What's new in the last 30 days?

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GENERAL PLATE DISPLAYS


  Antique, Classic, etc.


  Bus, Limo, Taxi, etc.


  Dealer & MV Business


  Miscellaneous & Passenger


  Official Plates


  Political Plates


  Veterans Plates


SPECIALTY & SPECIAL ORG.


  College, University, etc.


  Fire, EMS & Police


  Fraternal, Non-Profit, etc.


  NASCAR


  Special Fund Plates


  Pending/Proposed Plates


UNUSUAL & UNIQUE PLATES


  Governor & Related Plates


  Mystery, Oddball, DCNR, etc


  Special Event Plates


  Front Plates


  Sample Displays, R. Dragon 


REFERENCE MATERIAL


  Historic docs & misc references


  Legislation


  Needed Images


  Plate Codes  


  Plate History (Misc.)


  Plate History (Special Org.)


  Validation Stickers


  Vehicle Code (Registration)


ARCHIVED HOME PAGES


  2013 Archives


  2012 Archives


  2011 Archives


  2010 Archives


  2009 Archives


  2008 Archives


  2007 Archives


  2006 Archives (from 7/22)

Weekly Posting 5/19/2013

This Korean Defense Service plate image was provided by Ryan Battin.  The current high number is 00091K/D.

 

 


Spotted this Bronze Star plate recently.  Unfortunately neither the flash shot nor the shot with ambient light came out well.  This plate is the current series high.

 

 


I have made a couple updates to the section on current Municipal plates and also to the Municipal plates section on the History Page.  The image on the far left was provided by Klassy Karz and the image on the near left was courtesy of Clayton Moore.  These plates are on a '77 base and were issued up to 1984; however, these are permanent plates and a number of these are still in use.

 


The Philadelphia Union Foundation is now offering a plate.  Proceeds from the sale of the plate are to benefit the Philadelphia Union Foundation.  From their website, "The Philadelphia Union Foundation is helping build relationships and change a generation. The mission of the Foundation is to provide opportunities for children through the power of relationships to offer transformational change in the areas of education, community, health and recreation". Visit http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/puf/license-plate.  This organization is now selling plates, but the plate does not yet appear on PennDOT's list.

 


On the far left and center left is a pair of 65 base Motorcycle plates showing 3- and 4-charactor versions. These were undated and were revalidated with stickers thru 1970. The series began at 1 so there were 1-digit and 2-digit plates such as 12 and A1.  Eventually plates in this series exhausted all the 4-character combinations and was expanded to 5-charactors.  At this time the stacked M/C was removed and was replaced by the word MOTORCYCLE along the bottom border.  See more plate data on the History Page.  The first plate was from ebay, the source of the second plate is unknown and the third plate came from Jeff Francis/ebay.

Watch next week for images of nice 1914 and 1915 porcelain motorcycle plates.

 


For the next several weeks I will be posting images of Apportioned plate Validation Stickers.  Apportioned Buses and Apportioned Trucks use an annual 5-YY (YY= 2-digit year) where all such plates have a May to May validation year.  The stickers all have PA APPORTIONED across the top.  Since these plates were first issued in 1982, the first validation stickers had 5-83 on them.

 


The Pennsylvania Auctioneers Association now has active plates in use.

 

 

 


Legislation update: Senate Bill 1 continues to move forward.  As of May 14th it was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.  See the posting from 5/12 for more information on this expansive bill, or click the link above and read all 97 pages of the bill.

 


Weekly Posting 5/12/2013

Here is an image of the current high Honoring Our Veterans plate from Ryan Battin.

 

 

 

 


Another new high is this Operation Enduring Freedom from Brendan Sherry.

 

 

 

 


This amazing find can be credited to Tom Perri.  For whatever reason there are apparently only two Little League Baseball plates in use and here we have a beautiful image of # 1.

 

 

 


This Superior Court plate image was provided by Tom Perri.  This is a great find as these plates are exceptionally rare. 

I have images of a total of 4 Superior Court plates, 3 Commonwealth Court plates, but not a single image of a current Supreme Court plate.  Our research suggests that there are likely only 2 or 3 plates in existence.  Several attempts have been made by a few PA plate enthusiasts to photograph these elusive plates, but so far the efforts have be futile.

 


Blue Moon Cruisers Rod & Custom Association (Cumberland County) is marketing this brand new plate to their membership.  No plates are on the road yet.

 

 


In other plate news, PA Senate Bill 1, if passed, is set to raise the cost of most fees associated with licensing and registration.  it would increase the cost of vanity (personalized) plates from $20 to $76.  It would increase the cost of the standard passenger car registration from $36 per year to $104 for a 2-year registration, the fee for a driver's license would go up as well.  Here is a link to the Post-Gazette Article, and here is a link to Senate Bill 1.  The bill appears likely to pass in the Senate, but is less certain when it gets to the House.
 


Here's a trio of Motorcycle Dealer plates from 1954, '57 and '71.  There are a lot of similarities but you can see changes as the plates evolve.  The earlier plates have the expiry date along the top border while that feature is missing from the '71 plate.  The '71 plate says MOTORCYCLE along the top border and PENNA along the bottom since the stacked PA from the earlier plates was removed.  The '54 and '57 years used a serial format starting with 1 and and going to 3 or 4 digits, while the '71 series started at 1000.  Note the switch from MCD to DLR to designate dealer.  Watch for additional Motorcycle and Motorcycle Dealer plates in the future.

 


Weekly Posting 5/5/2013

Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA, has redesigned their plate on the far left.  The new graphic is the Moravian Star.

 

 


The Gettysburg College Orange & Blue Club will be hosting a plate program.  It is presumed that this is in addition to the existing Gettysburg College plate.

 

 


Thiel College, located in Greenville (Mercer County), PA, is also launching a plate program.  Greenville is about 80 miles north of Pittsburgh.

 

 


This first image of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia plate was provided by Tom Perri.

 

 

 


This drive-by image of a Waynesburg University (60 miles southwest of Pittsburgh) was provided by  Brendan Sherry.  It's also the first image reported.

 

 

 

 


This is very likely the first Ex-Prisoner of War plate issued.  If so, it dates back to 1982.  The image was caught by Steve Ondik in his travels.

 

 

 


A few more Motorcycle plate images have been added to the Motorcycle Plate History Section.  I will try to add a few more each week.

 

 


This 1927 Motorcycle Dealer image was provided by Jerry McCoy.  This is the first plate in a new section in the Motorcycle Plate History Section.

 

 


And finally in other plate news, it appears that the Delaware County Fallen Firefighter and EMS Memorial Committee and the Gilbertsville Fire & Rescue Company each have or very shortly will have plates on the street.

 


Weekly Posting 4/28/2013

We knew the redesigned Zoo plate was coming, and were fairly certain it would become a visitPA clone.  The Support Your Zoo plate on the far left (prototype) and center left is the replacement for the Save Wild Animals plate on the near left.  You can form you own opinion of the plate.  Note the placement of the P/Z is now in the suffix location, and a new legend, Support Your Zoo.

 


The legislation to authorize U.S. Military Airborne Units plates was passed back on October 24 with a 180 day waiting period.  Plates are now available.  The plate images are Jump Wings and Glider Wings.  To qualify a person would have had to be a member of one of the following:  Parachutist or Glider Units, Glider Troopers, Paratroopers, Air Assault Troopers, Rangers, U.S. Army Special Forces, USMC Recon, U.S. Navy Seals, U.S. Air Force Special Operations, Troop Carrier Command including Glider Pilots and the 160th SOAR.  The required form is MV-150 and the fee is $20.

 


The same piece of legislation that sponsored the above plate also authorized a U.S. Merchant Marine plate.  Any person who served in the U.S. Merchant Marines during World War II may purchase a Merchant Marine registration plate by completing Form MV-150W, and submitting a $20 fee. This plate may be used on a passenger car or truck with a registered gross weight of 14,000 lbs. or less.

As a little side note — more, but not all, of PA's veterans' plates are now permitted on cars and trucks weighing up to 14,000 lb.  There are now about 28 military veteran plates available, not counting the organizational plates such as National Guard and Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine and Coast Guard Reserve, and several others.

 


This first image of an Eastern University plate was provided by Tom Perri.  Very Nice.

 

 

 


This first image of a Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue plate was also sent by Tom Perri.

 

 

 


Here's the current Farm Truck high number plate courtesy of Ryan Battin.  This type progresses slowly and my guess is that they will likely switch to the visitPA base upon reaching the D suffix.

 

 


I've said all along that I would not do a Motorcycle History section.  But what am I supposed to do when contributors send great pictures?  LOL.  Anyway, Jerry McCoy has provided this image of a '27 Motorcycle plate on the center left.  He also included a 27 Motorcycle Dealer, so watch for an MC Dealer section coming soon.  The image on the near left was from is a 1916 Motorcycle plate.  As always I welcome images, and have a number of pictures to post over the next few weeks.  

 


Pennsylvania has at least two more new plates on the launching pad.  These include Gettysburg College Orange & Blue Club and Thiel College, which is roughly 80 miles north of Pittsburgh.  In addition, Moravian College, of Bethlehem, will be giving their plate a facelift.  Watch for images next week.

 


In other plate news, it appears that the reuse of Antique Motorcycle numbers continues.  We've seen images in recent months of new A45 and C86 plates.  Now from two sources it has been reported that plates X5 and 8G have been issued.  After the A0A to Z9Z filled up, the only remaining 3-character combination appeared to be 0AA (first character is zero), however, this series has not been seen.  Instead older number are being reissued.  Hopefully in the next few weeks we will have a picture of a new 2-character plate.

 


Clayton Moore saw an older Municipal plate at Carlisle the other day.  This plate was MG-91034 and it was the blue-on-white base.  This helps to better establish the changeover from the blue-on-white to the white-on-blue base.  The changeover point is now thought to be at MG-92000.

 


Weekly Posting 4/21/2013

Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company adds its name to the ever-growing list of Specialty/Special Organization plates.

 

 

 


St. Francis University is updating their plate with a color graphic logo and now on the visitPA base.  A prototype of the new plate is on the far left, with a sample of the existing plate on the near left for comparison.

 

 


These picture perfect images of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation plates were provided by Tom Perri.  Finding the number 1 plate is always a bonus, especially when it's not shrouded by a frame.

 

 


First of it kind and first first image of a Little League Baseball plate.  Credit goes to Tom Perri & Jordan Irazabal for this find.

 

 

 


Nick Tsilakis points out that there is a difference in spacing between the Maltese Cross and the serial number on these Fire Fighter plates.  It appears that plates in the 36000 and 37000 series have a narrow spacing while plates in the 38000 series have a wider spacing.  In my opinion this was a matters of inconsistent placement of the number dies rather than an intentional change in formatting.

 


This new high Perm-Trailer image was provided by Bruce Bufalini.

 

 

 

 

 


Tom Perri spotted this Vietnam Vets plate still in use.

 

 

 


I have never tried to present a section on older Motorcycle plates.  That being said, Tiger Joe Sallmen sent me this image of what is believed to be a 1936 Motorcycle sample.  So this is the first image of an older M/C plate.  If anyone has other images of (older) M/C I'll post them.

 

 


This license plate handicraft shows a unique use for a license plate, in this case a Conserve Wild Resources - Owl sample plate used to cover a bird house.  This was made at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview.  This is not the same facility that produces license plates.

 

 

 

 


Weekly Posting 4/14/2013

So where are the new PA Zoo plates?  These Save Wild Animals / Tiger / PA Zoo special fund plates were expected to be unveiled around April 3rd, taking the place of the plates that were originally released in April of 1996, but so far nothing.

 


This Honoring Our Veterans plate image comes from Jerry McCoy.  It is the current high suggesting that sales have been brisk but not great.  I do believe that Pennsylvania's commitment to basing every new license plate on the visitPA design severely limits its marketing potential.  For example, take a look at the Kentucky plate below.  I'm just saying from 50 feet away there is nothing to make one PA plate stand out stand out from another.  As a result in the long run sales will be disappointing.  The same thing can be said about the DARE plates that went from the distinctive black to the not-so-special visitPA base.

 

 

 

 


This very low number PA Society of Physician Assistants plate image has been provided by Bruce Bufalini.

 

 

 


I spotted this Pennsylvania College of Technology plate recently.  It's a new high.

 

 

 

 


Here's a nice low Tinicum Township Fire Company plate image from Tom Perri.

 

 

 


And another low, Purdue University, this one from Eric Conner.  Eric has recently put together a website called Pennsylvania Politicals (http://www.pennsylvaniapoliticals.com/).  The site provides lots of history of PA's Governors, Lt. Governors, Senators etc.  There is even a section on license plates.

 


The Ohio State Alumni plate image on the far left was recently taken by Brendan Sherry.  It is also the current high.  The photo on the near left was taken several years ago and is a good example of the previous generation plate on the www base.

 


In other plate news, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia appears to have about 75 tags in use.

 

 

 


And finally: On or shortly after the 22nd of April, we can expect the arrival of new plates for members of the U.S. Merchant Marine who served during World War II, and for veterans and members of United States military airborne units.  These new plates were authorized by Act 158 (formerly House Bill 1830) which was signed into law on 10/24/2012 with the act taking effect in 180 days.

 


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Images and photos are always welcome.  Please send to:

John McDevitt, Walnutport, PA

ALPCA #4376