PA PLATES (Current Pennsylvania License Plates)

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Pennsylvania License Plate Images

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Received this new CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE plate yesterday for an old bike I own. This is also the high number plate for this type, and a rather unusual plate. According to PennDOT statistics, there were only 304 classic motorcycles in PA in 2007. Not sure if the starting point on these plates was ^C/_L0000 or ^C/_L0100. I'm leaning toward the latter since I have 9 images of classic motorcycle plates all in the 100, 200, 300, 400 and now 500 series, but nothing below ^C/_L0103. Posted 8/31.

Fellow ALPCAn, Brendan Sherry, has kindly provided several images of #1 plates. Brendan was the prime mover behind the VIRGINIA TECH plate program. Posted 8/29.

Another nice #1 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIREFIGHTERS image. This plate is also from Brendan. Posted 8/29.

This ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY plate image was sent in by Brendan as well. For whatever reason RMU plates don't seem to find their way to the eastern end of the state. Posted 8/29.

This unique STREET ROD plate on the left appears to have undergone some modification of its own. It's not unusual to see these plates altered by covering the street rod image with a picture of the vehicle that the plate is on. In this case Pennsylvania has been abbreviated, STREET ROD has been moved, and the graphic image has been removed with an NSRA sticker added. The plate on the right is the standard issue. Posted 8/24.

Is this new a HOT ROD type on left? Not really, just a standard PASSENGER plate customized by covering up the yellow visitPA stripe and adding the words HOT ROD. Posted 8/24.

Added this EMERALD SOCIETY of Bucks and Montgomery Counties prototype to the pending proposed list. Information received from Paulie Bagnarol. Posted 8/24.

Based on information received from Steve Ondik, this CONRAIL HISTORICAL SOCIETY plate has been removed from the Pending / Proposed list and place in the Plates That Didn't Make It group. Posted 8/24.

Fellow ALPACA member Salvatore J. Dodd, Sr. shares this image of a remake of a 1977 PASSENGER base plate. Original plate would have been blue on yellow KEYSTONE STATE base. Plate could be 6-digit numeric or 5-digit with an alpha character in the 1st, 2nd or 6th position. Posted 8/18.

The section on ANTIQUE MOTORCYCLE plates has been somewhat revised. While this website focuses primarily on current plates, Antique Motorcycle plates can date as far back as the mid-1950s, therefore they are current, at least by my definition. The goal of this effort is to catalog / document the entire progression in terms of number sequence, number and letter formats, the placement of plate legend, and the spacing of the bolt holes. All of these variables have produced about 10 format variations. For example, the three plates shown here may look similar. They all have a single letter followed by a 2-digit number, but upon closer examination it can be seen that the left plate has PENNA on the top while the others have it on the bottom, while the plate on the right shows the use of wide hole spacing. This wide spacing is seen on all subsequent plates. This is a research work in progress. In fact, more data and images are needed to complete this effort. If anyone has plates or plate images in their collection that would help bridge some of the gaps, the images or data would be appreciated. I am especially interested in any plates in the 1 to 999 range. I also know that there are Antique Samples with a single 0 and those with three 0s. Those images would also be appreciated. Posted 8/15.

Noted on the Plate Highs page that PA has apparently exhausted the current TRUCK series, with a reported high of YXX-8312. It is not known if the series was fully exhausted to YZZ-9999, but in any case a new series in a new format has been reported. This new format was spotted on plate Z-0012AD. This is a marked departure from the standard passenger, trailer and truck plate formats. The reason for this format change is not known. I don't have an image of one yet. Posted 8/14.

Added PLYMOUTH FIRE COMPANY #1 as a new special organization plate. Posted 8/14.

Spotted on the road today . . . I saw a BUS plate on a SCHOOL BUS, and while this combination is not that unusual, what made the plate somewhat unique was the number — BA28644. Up to this point the lowest bus plate number spotted on the www base was BA31500. When PA re-plated back in 2000, all existing bus plates were reissued on a plate-for-plate basis. This included anything between BA-10000 to BA-47999. These replacement plates in the BA10000 to BA47900 series on the www base did not use the dash separator. The dash separator was added at BA-48000 for newly issued, not reissued plates. So why are the low numbered plates so rare? As far as I know, the numerical series actually started on the 68 base with BA-10000 and has progressed from that point. Posted 8/12.

Chuck Harrington was kind enough to provide some additional information about this IOCC plate. The plate age is either 1965 or 1966. A number of plates such as of Mayor, Council, Commissioner, etc. also have silk screened state seals. This IOCC plate is on a 1965 base plate. It wasn’t until 1967 that the state went to the expense of buying state seal dies for embossing. Anything on the 1965 base plate with an embossed state seal is from 1967 to 1970. Posted 8/12.

Clayton Moore recently informed me that he spotted an ANTIQUE HISTORIC CAR plate number BA11 without the embossed white border. Up till now I had listed the plate series as beginning with AA00 and going to ZZ99 as having the white embossed border. Now it appears that AA00 to BZ99 did not have the white embossed border, which did not come along until CA00. Clayton is attempting to get a picture of BA11. In the meantime I saw this BM63 plate at a car show on Saturday. Also for comparison, I posted a plate from the C series showing the border. Posted 8/3.

Bruce Bufalini provided this CLASSIC CAR plate image. What's unusual about this plate is the PERMANENT validation sticker which has not previously been seen on this plate type. In recent years some of the newest plates in the C10000 series and above have been seen with annual validation stickers, but only on a small number of plates. These are considered permanent plates so why the need for any stickers? Posted 8/2.

Images and photos are always welcome. Please send to:

John McDevitt, Walnutport, PA

ALPCA #4376