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Pennsylvania License Plate Images

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News and postings from 2012

Weekly Posting 4/8/2012

The PA legislature has finally passed the PA YOM law, known as House Bill 1203. The vote was unanimous in the house and senate. It is now on the Governor’s desk as of April 4 awaiting his signature. When signed, the act will take effect in 120 days. The link above will take you to the act. This bill would provide for Vintage Registration Plates, better known to vehicle and plate enthusiasts as Year of Manufacture or YOM plates.

Tom Perri has generously provided quite a few nice images beginning with this first image of a Delaware Valley Chapter of the BMW Car Club of America plate.

This first image of a McDonald Volunteer Fire Company plate was also provided by Tom Perri.

This Monroeville Vol. Fire Dept. image also came from Tom Perri.

This nice Chatham College (Pittsburgh, PA) plate image comes from Tom Perri also.

And finally from Tom Perri is this # 1 Pittsburgh Central Catholic (High School) plate image.

Brendan Sherry sends along this current high number St. Vincent Alumni (Latrobe, PA) plate image.

Waynesburg University has gotten the go-ahead with their plate program. The facility is located in Waynesburg, Green County, which is on the southwest corner of PA.

Here's what appears to be a Press Photographer validation sticker for 1966. The image was provided by Shawn Bergan. I do have one PP plate image with one of these stickers. It appears that they were used between 1965 and 1970, or there about. I've also seen PP plates from that era with standard stickers.

This 6-17 validation sticker is likely for a trailer plate as there is a provision for a 5-year registration option. The image was provided by Clayton Moore.

Weekly Posting 4/1/2012

Here is one of PA's rarest dealer types — the Farm Equipment Dealer. The image on the near left was the first plate produced on the www base, and was captured by Tom Perri & Jordan Irazabal some time ago. The images on the center left and far left represent the current high. Those images were also thanks to Tom & Jordan. At the end of 2010 there were only 54 of these tags in use by 39 dealers. The 2011 stats have not been released yet. By comparison, other unusual dealer types include Fleet Transporter with only about 70 plates, and Repossessor with 381 plates in use at the end of 2010. Some of the other Dealer types such as Moper Dealer have very limited numbers. Trailer Dealer and Watercraft Trailer Dealer are believed to have only a few hundred each in use.

While on the subject of dealer types, I've decided to place some additional images onto the Dealer Page where only one image was previously displayed. These aren't new images. Shown are a Repossessor on the far left, Trailer Dealer, center left and Watercraft Trailer Dealer, near left.

Every once in a while one of these Fire Fighter Vanities is spotted. Fire Fighter plates were the first special organization plates to be issued. They made their debut in 1983 on the '77 base. These were the only special organization plates to be issued on the '77 base; however, they remained on that base until reissued on the www base. When first issued, they could be gotten as vanities for a short while. Many of those vanities continued to be re-validated, and eventually reissued on the www base. See a couple of the first vintage vanity plates.

This 2-digit Press Photographer plate was courtesy of Tom Perri & Jordan Irazabal. The 2-digit plates of this series are quite scarce. Press Photographer plates are not organizational plates, but a class of plate all by itself under the PA vehicle code.

Tom Perri made a trip across PA recently and managed to capture a few 'western' plate images. This is not the first image of a Point Park University plate but a nice addition. The facility is located in Pittsburgh.

Tom Perri also successfully captured the first image of a Pennsylvania Resources Council 'Don't be a LitterBug' license plate. I have many more images to post but

Here's the current high Motorcycle plate. Check out Tom Perri's Pennsylvania Highs Page for the latest updates on Pennsylvania's highs, many with pictures — take a look.

Finally this first generation Washington and Jefferson, or W & J College sample plate image has been added to the Special Organization Plate History Page.

Weekly Posting 3/25/2012

Here's the first look at a K-prefix Dealer plate, from Bill Cerevola. The previous series would have ended with J99-999J. These plate have been on the visitPA base since J38-000J.

Bad Day in the Big House? Maybe. It does tend to make one wonder how such a plate escapes everyone's scrutiny. In this case it's a Passenger Error plate, and not the first inversion error seen. Plate image has been placed on the Oddball Page. Image courtesy of Bruce Bufalini.

Here's the first image of a Northampton Township Volunteer Fire Company. The picture was provided by Tom Perri.

This is the second image of Lehigh Township Volunteer Fire Company No 1's new plate. Image courtesy of Tom Perri.

And here's another DeSales University plate — this one being the # 1 plate. Image courtesy of Tom Perri.

And finally this week is this PSU oddball. I'm guessing that the PSU stands for Penn State University, and while the coat of arms may make it look official to the casual observer, the use of PENNA for the state name does not. My guess is that this was some kind of favor or courtesy plate. Other plates with similar characteristics have been seen. Image courtesy of Tom Perri.

Weekly Posting 3/18/2012

Lehigh Township Volunteer Fire Company No 1 (Northampton County) now has a group of 22 plates for its members. Nice plate.

Here's a new addition to the list of specialty plates — Action for Animals Humane Society, Latrobe, PA.

Tom Perri sends along this very nice image of a Pennsylvanians for Nebraska Alumni Chapter plate.

Tom Perri also provides this # 1 U.S. Naval Academy plate image. While some may think of this as a military plate, PA lists it as an special organizational plate, therefore not a military plate.

Clayton Moore provides this Municipal plate image on a 77 base, which is still a current base. See anything unusual about it? The plate prefix, MG, is reversed. This would be considered an error plate but it is also part of a run. I also have a picture of GM-17014. This plate is also in the Municipal History section

Finally from Clayton Moore is this low number Handicapped Person picture. See the complete pictorial history of Handicapped Person / Person with Disability plates.

Weekly Posting 3/11/2012

On the far left is another image of a Philadelphia University plate from Tom Perri. On the near left is a better prototype than the one shown on 2/26, which again features the updated design. As previously stated, this is the only example I can think of where a plate already on the visitPA base has been redesigned. It does give the plate a bolder look.

Here is a first generation St. James Alumni plate that is still in use, note the stickers. It will make a nice addition to the Special Organization Plate History Page. The image was provided by Tom Perri. St James was a Catholic High School in Chester, which is now closed but apparently still has a thriving alumni association.

This remarkable 1929 Governor's plate was recently auctioned on eBay. I asked the previous owner for permission to use the image and he preferred to wait for the new owner. I was hoping to have contact with or from the new owner but so far nothing. I also posted a request to get the name of the new owner on two plate lists without success. I don't particularly like to use eBay pictures, but this plate is too historically important not to include it in the Governors' Plate Page. If anyone knows who the new owner is, please let me know.

In any case this is the first and only know example of a PA Governors' plate in the 1920s. And while is not the oldest Governor plate (first was 1912), it is the first known example to have the word Governor spelled out on it.

For unknown reasons, this School Vehicle plate type seems to change its appearance regularly. These aren't major changes, mainly about using or not using the keystone separator. See the complete current series by going to the above link. By the way this is also the current reported high and was provided by Nick Tsilakis.

Brendan Sherry provided this Friends of Drake Well, Inc. image.

There was an interesting news article in the Harrisburg Patriot News and also on line at www.PennLive.com about PA's license plate program in the 'Big House' at the State Correctional Institution at Fayette, PA. There were also a number of pictures showing the production process, passenger plates well into the J series, etc., and what looks like a possible change in Vietnam War Veteran plates.

Weekly Posting 3/4/2012

Tom Perri and Jordan Irazabal provided this first image of an M Club Foundation, University of Maryland plate. Note this is also the # 1 plate and a challenging plate to find.

Also from Tom Perri and Jordan Irazabal is this # 1 Midway Volunteer Fire Company plate image.

This high number Syracuse University Alumni Association plate image has been provided courtesy of Tom Perri.

And also from Tom Perri is this fairly low number B.P. Order of Elks plate image.

This U.S Marine Reserve sample plate image has been added to the Special Organization Plate History Page.

Likewise this Veterans of Foreign Wars sample image has also been posted.

Spotted this NASCAR 91 Bill Elliott plate. This is not the first of this plate type, but it does remind me that there are quite a few NASCAR types with plates likely to be still in use, of which there is no photograph. In other words there are NASCAR plate varieties out there, but no pictures to provide confirmation. See the Images Needed page for a complete list.

Last, but certainly not least, is this pair of U.S. Congress plates. The difference in the formatting allows two vehicles to be registered to the same owner. These pictures were taken in the dark which explains the image quality — not bad considering. My grateful appreciation goes out to Tom Perri and Jordan Irazabal for these pictures.

Weekly Posting 2/26/2012

It would appear that Philadelphia University has changed the design of their plate. This plate type has only been out since late 2008, more likely no plates were on the street till 2009. Now just a few years later the design has changed. Actually this is the only example I can think of where a plate already on the visitPA base has been redesigned. I don't consider some of the annual changes seen on NASCAR plates to be the same thing. Those were the result of changes in sponsorship, cars, drivers, etc.

Clayton Moore provided these 2-12 validation sticker images with a PA0000 serial. Many years ago (1959 thru about 1974) these were used to indicate a 'natural' plate — a plate during it's first year of issue. These stickers are still in use but their purpose or significance today is unclear. Could it be a replacement sticker?

Clayton Moore sends along an Antique Vehicle image from a recent car show. This plate in the Z series is the current high and suggests that the A00A series has just about run out of combinations and a new series should be on the horizon if not already in use. Clayton suggests it may be 0AA0, which I would agree is very possible.

We also have this high number Collectible Vehicle plate image from Clayton Moore. Considering that this plate type dates back to 1996 and probably began at CV0100, not that many have been issued in 15 years. The Collectible Motorcycle counterpart is so rare that it has never been photographed.

This U.S. Army Reserve and U.S. Coast Guard sample plate images have been added to the Special Organization Plate History Page. In PA these have always been considered part of special organization rather than military.

I have mentioned this once several years ago that the website Wikipedia has license plate pages and that from time to time fake, made-up plate types appear. The first two plates are supposed to be livery plates, the NX is supposed to be for a rental vehicle. Pennsylvania does not use or issue any such plates. I believe the posting of fictitious information does a disservice to the hobby by inviting skepticism and distrust.

Weekly Posting 2/19/2012

Here's a prototype of a Perseverance Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 plate. It's also the last of a recent group of new organizations.

This Motor Home plate image was provided by Jordan Irazabal, and is the current reported high.

This St. Thomas More Alumni Assn. sample image has been added to Special Organization Plate History Page. St. Thomas More is a catholic high school for boys in Philadelphia.

This U.S. Armed Forced Retired sample image is also being added to the Special Organization Plate History Page. This is one of only a few organizational plates that are no longer available. This plate (on the www base) was discontinued around 2006, but is still in wide use and renewable.

This Veterans of the Vietnam War, Inc. or just Vietnam Vets sample image has been added to the Organization Plate History Page courtesy of George Kunsman.

And finally here's a very nice Zem Zem Temple sample plate image from George Kunsman.

Saw a yellow on blue Farm Truck plate on eBay which suggests that the run of 'Version 3' (Plate History Page) plates went at least as high as FM-58999. Previously the high was believed to be somewhere above FM-56999.

Weekly Posting 2/12/2012

McDonald Volunteer Fire Company joins the ever-growing list of specialty plates. These plates have been especially popular among volunteer fire companies / departments, and with PA having almost 2500 such groups, I see the number continuing to grow. They are more popular in the southeastern part of the state for now, but as time goes on there will probably more of an expansion into other areas, such as the McDonald Fire Company, a suburb of Pittsburgh. Another factor that helps is the elimination of a minimum order of plates.

The second new prototype plate image is the Northampton Township Volunteer Fire Company from Bucks County, a suburb of Philadelphia.

This very nice Pitt Bicentennial plate image is courtesy of George Kunsman and dates back to 1988. Later after the switch to the www plates the name was changed to the University of Pittsburgh.

Another very nice image, also courtesy of George Kunsman, is this St. Joseph’s University plate. This plate type dates back to1985.

And finally from George this week is this West Catholic High School plate on the far left. This school is located in Philadelphia. Also shown is the companion sample image. This plate type dates back to 1997.

Jordan Irazabal provided this Temporary Intransit cardboard plate image. This is the current reported high; however, there are counterfeit plates out there with much higher numbers.

Jordan Irazabal has also provided this Motorcycle high. I'm guessing that during 2012 this series will hit the 9999Z mark and advance to the next series which is likely to be 000A0.

And finally for this week is this School Vehicle high plate image from Brendan Sherry.

Weekly Posting 2/5/2012

On the far left is the first image of LaSalle University's new graphic plate. The image was provided by Tom Perri. On the near left is an image of the much more familiar version. Henceforth only the new style will be issued, but it is not known if both varieties will coexist, or whether the new will completely replace the old.

Also note on today's posting below is an image of the first generation LaSalle University plate from George Kunsman.

This Marshall University Alumni plate image was provided by Brendan Sherry. Marshall is located in Huntington, West Virginia.

Enterprise Fire Company is one of the newest group of fire companies to launch their own plate program.

Members of the Lower Macungie Fire Department will also be sporting their own plates in the near future.

As promised, here's the next group of plate images from George Kunsman. This first picture is of a very nice Ducks Unlimited plate with a 6-91 validation sticker.

Next on the list from George Kunsman is an IUP or Indiana University of Pennsylvania Alumni Association plate with a 10-98 sticker.

Here's the first generation LaSalle University plate mentioned above. This very nice plate with a 6-89 sticker is well preserved.

And the final image in the group for this week is a Lehigh University Alumni plate with a 1-90 sticker.

I appreciate the opportunity to photograph so many of George's plates. Watch for more next week.

Weekly Posting 1/29/2012

The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers is now offering plates to its members. No tags are on the road yet.

Lincoln University will soon have a specialty tag available for students, faculty, staff, etc. For years Lincoln University has also had an official plate as one of PA's four state affiliated universities. The others include Penn State, Pitt and Temple. These are different from the 14 state-owned universities.

In addition to the two new issues above, the following fire companies now have plate programs. At this time none of the organizations has plates on the street yet. Images will be coming soon.

• Enterprise Fire Company (Hatboro, Montgomery County)
• Lower Macungie Fire Department (Lower Macungie Township, Lehigh County)
• McDonald Volunteer Fire Company (McDonald Boro, Washington County)
• Northampton Township Volunteer Fire Company (Bucks County)
• Perseverance Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 (Souderton, Montgomery County)

PA's Specialty Organization list now shows 285 groups or organizations. Exactly 5 years ago there were 160 organizations, and 10 years ago there were only 83. The real proliferation came in 2005 with the advent of the specialty plate program allowing color graphics and allowing fewer than 300 plates to qualify as a minimum order.

Here's a B.P. Order of Elks plate image from Jordan Irazabal.

And here's another from Jordan Irazabal. This one being the current Perm-Trailer high number.

Here's another high. This West Virginia University Alumni Association image was sent by Brendan Sherry.

And also from Brendan Sherry is this first picture of an Ingomar Vol. Fire Co. No. 2 plate.

George Kunsman shares this nice image of a first generation Temple University Alumni plate.

Here a nice looking pair of what Temple University Alumni plates should not look like. These Temple University Alumni plates appear to have been put on the "You've Got a Friend . . ." base, I'm guessing by mistake. This pair is also from George Kunsman. Watch for more of George's plates in the next week or two.

Weekly Posting 1/22/2012

Here's the first image of a DeSales University plate. These just hit the streets a few weeks back, and there are only about 6 plates in use so far.

Here's a pair of 'first' images from Tom Perri. He along with Jordan Irazabal found and photographed this pair of Lower Frederick Fire Company plates.

Here's the image of the number 1 Support our Troops plate from Tom Perri.

Two images were needed to complete the history section on Handicapped Person / Person with Disability plates, and fellow ALPCA member Geroge Kunsman offered to help by allowing me to photograph these plates. Based on a discussion with George, I also reversed the order of Version 4 and 5 with the ^HP96110 being issued prior to ^HP3342. Read the description of the versions for a better understanding of how the alpha-numeric progression evolved.

Also watch for more plate images from George over the next week or two.

Here's another gem from George Kunsman. I've been searching for an image of a Version 1 Salvage Yard, with silk screened Salvage Yard plate legend. This feature was replaced with an embossed plate legend in later plates.

It is unknown if there was a yellow on blue base after Version 2 which used the standard font for the state name in place of the "You've got a Friend" Pennsylvania font. If so, it would likely have been above WL-10000, such a change was seen in Version 3 of Rep / Ser Towing plates. Anyone have a Salvage Yard plate above WL-10000?

Here's a vey nice Lion Member sample image, courtesy of George Kunsman.

And the same for this well-preserved Lafayette College plate image with a 12/92 sticker, also from George Kunsman.

Last but not least is this undated first issue Purple Heart plate image, again courtesy of George Kunsman.

Weekly Posting 1/15/2012

Steve Noll sent details about House Bill 2101 introduced in the PA House on 12/20/11. (You may recall back in August Steve provided information on an effort to address funding and look at future transportation funding.) This bill extends the registration period to every other year and eliminates registration stickers. It also grants a two-year exemption from inspection for current model-year vehicles newly registered in PA with under 5,000 miles on the odometer, stating that a certificate of exemption will be affixed to the windshield. Driver license renewals go from every four to every eight years.

HB 2099 is of interest as well — it has the proposed structure of fees for various registrations. Passenger goes from $36/year to $49… so $98 every two years. The one-time vanity charge goes from $20 to $30.

Brendan Sherry provides this Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. image.

Shawn Bergan provides this nice grouping of high resolution validation stickers. Note that they are all PA0000 stickers except the 72 SAMPLE image. Between 1959 and 74 these were used on newly issued plates. The PA0000 would indicate that the plate was a "natural". Renewal stickers had a serial number. Today they still seem to be in limited use but I can’t explain their current use.

While we're on the subject of stickers, here is a pair of Snowmobile registrations and validations for 2009 and 2012.

Here's grouping of historic Tractor Dealer plate images. While this plate type dates back to 1916, I have no early images. The 1935 is really a BMV artist's depiction or design of what that plate was to look like. The colors should be yellow on dark blue. The '64 plate was borrowed from eBay and uses a TX prefix with a keystone separator after the 3rd character. The 1966 plate image was taken from an old BMV document, as was the 1971 plate image. These last two are likely samples. Note each plate uses a different format. Actually a total of six images was added. Unfortunately several are from non-traditional sources. If anyone has images they would be willing to share, they would be very welcome.

Weekly Posting 1/8/2012

I spent Saturday afternoon at Temple University for a basketball game with my son Jim. (His alma mater (Dayton) had a game with Temple and a great win.) It was also a good day for plate spotting. We parked near the Temple Police Dept. so their cars made great photo ops. This first grouping of Temple University Official plates show a nice low number plate. Actually there is an image of the # 1 plate in the ALPCA Archives (members only).

This next group of images shows the front and rear combination. Temple University Official is one of only a handful of PA plate types issued in pairs. Very few vehicles actually had two plates.

And finally a new Temple University Official high. I actually saw T0219U but was unable photograph it. I also noticed that Temple has quite a few vehicles without official plates. Many were using standard passenger or truck plates. I can’t explain this. Could Temple have discontinued using official plates or could PennDOT have stopped issuing them?

Sticker Shock — the image on the far left was provided by Jordan Irazabal, and has the most stickers I've seen. The other plate is a close second.

Here is another, but only the second image of an NRA Foundation plate. Image was taken at night and provided by Tom Perri.

Added this first generation Emergency Medical Services sample tag to the Special Organizational Plate History Page.

This Marine Corps League plate image has also been added to the Special Organizational Plate History Page. This image was provided by Jordan Irazabal.

Happy New Year

Weekly Posting 1/1/2012

This unusual looking Flagship Niagara plate image was provided by Jerry McCoy. There seems to be a number of these 5-digit (4-digit is normal) Flagship plates in collections but not on the street. I’ve also seen F/N00052, 00053 and 00285. None have wear marks around the bolt holes, so it would appear that none were ever registered. This plate has a sticker but since the sticker date is 3-04 and these plates were discontinued in 1997, there should be evidence of more stickers. This is likely some kind of test plate.

Here's an example of the first version of Municipal plates. This first series dates back to 1971 and is on the Plate History Page. Plate image was provided by Tom Perri.

Here's a pair of older (1st generation) Temple University Alumni plates. These plate images have been added to the the Special Organizational Plate History Page.

This 1st generation U.S Air Force Reserve sample plate has also been added to the Special Organizational Plate History Page.

Here's another pair of Person with Disability plates that depicts the spacing variations on some of the latest plates. Tom Perri provides these images. It is Tom's opinion (and I would agree) that the change happened at 23000 PD. In his photo archives he has 24258^PD, 24672^PD, 24777^PD, 25886^PD, 26559^PD, and 27491^PD, all confirming the shift to the left.

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