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Passenger

It should be noted that the state first issued plates in 1906, and plates from 1906 thru 1909 were assigned to the driver rather than the vehicle. The first year that registrations were issued was 1903, done by counties and a few individual cities. To see these earlier plates, see "Pre-State".

A big thank you to Eric Tanner's "All About License Plates website for a lot of the information presented on these Passenger pages.

1965 - present



1965 - 1970

Notes Number Plate Personalized Plate Sample Plate
Serial formats:

GENERAL ISSUE
(No I, O, Q, T, W, or X used)
- 100-000 - 999-999
- A00-000 - Z99-999
- 000-00A - 999-99Z
- 0A0-000 - 9Z9-999
- 00A-000 - 99Z-999
Observed high: 62U-149

The reserve series for this year added reserved numbers for government/elected officials as well as FCC call signs. See below for more information. This base was also the first base for vanity/personalized plates.

All plates measure 6" x 12"

Manufactured in Pennsylvania prisons

Issued in singles

Colors: dark blue on gold
From Steve Ondik


From Steve Ondik
From Peter Clericuzio
From John McDevitt


(Prototype)
From Jeff Hinkle
RESERVE SERIES

(No I, O, or Q used in adjacent position to numbers)
- 1 - 99999
- A-1 - Z-9999
- 1-A - 9999-Z
- AA-1 - ZZ-999
- 1-AA - 999-ZZ
- 1-AAA - 99-ZZZ
Observed high: RC-200

Low-number plates were reserved for the Lt. Governor (2), cabinet members (3 - 23), state officials and dignitaries (24 - 999 and one-letter/one-number plates such as 3-A or 8-C).

Reserve series plates were offered and were the precursor to what we know as vanity plates today.

Plates with FCC radio & TV call sign also available (not the same as Amateur Radio plate).Fee for these plates were available at double the cost of standard passenger registration (minimum $10 extra.)
(Lieutenant Governor)
From Chuck Harrington


(Cabinet member)
From Jeff Hinkle


(State officials/dignitaries)
From Tim Gierschick


(State officials/dignitaries)
From Jeff Hinkle


(Reserve series)
From Jeff Hinkle


(Reserve series)
From John McDevitt


(FCC radio call sign)
From Jerry McCoy		 Not offered on this format Not offered on this format

1970 (Interim)

Notes Number Plate Personalized Plate Sample Plate
It is believed that inventory of 1965 plates ran out before the new 1971 base could be used (March 15) so plates were made on an interim basis with the opposite color scheme. Note the use of a '70 sticker with a "PA0000" which means that was the first sticker that plate received. The plate pictuerd is owned by an ALPCA member who provided the image to Ned Flynn. The number series comes from the Format 1 series above, possible using some unused or dead plate numbers. Observed plate numbers on this base: 100-428, 100-537, and 7R5-501.

All plates measure 6" x 12"

Manufactured in Pennsylvania prisons

Issued in singles

Colors: gold on dark blue
Via Ned Flynn		 Not offered on this format Not offered on this format

1971 - 1976

Notes Number Plate Personalized Plate Sample Plate
Serial formats:

GENERAL ISSUE
(No I, O, Q, T, W, or X used until format marked with *)
- 100-000 - 999-999
- A00-000 - Z99-999
- 000-00A - 999-99Z
- 0A0-000 - 9Z9-999
- 00A-000 - 99Z-999
- T00-000 - 99X-999* (T, W, and X only)
- 000-A00 - 999-Z99
Observed high: 693-H38

Early plates had '71 etched into center of sticker well and had gold backs. Later plates dropped the etching and kept gold backs. Late plates had unpainted backs.

All plates measure 6" x 12"

Sticker wells at top-left and top-right

Manufactured in Pennsylvania prisons

Issued in singles

Colors: gold on dark blue
From Drew Steitz


From Matt Ciecka


From Chuck Sakryd

(Invert error)
From Matt Ciecka		 Not offered on this format
From John McDevitt
RESERVE SERIES

(No I, O, or Q used in adjacent position to numbers)
- 1 - 99999
- A-1 - Z-9999
- 1-A - 9999-Z
- AA-1 - ZZ-999
- 1-AA - 999-ZZ
- 1-AAA - 99-ZZZ
Observed high: 626-MS

Low-number plates were reserved for the Lt. Governor (2), cabinet members (3 - 23), state officials and dignitaries (24 - 999 and one-letter/one-number plates such as 3-A or 8-C).

Reserve series plates were offered and were the precursor to what we know as vanity plates today.
(Lieutenant Governor)
From Chuck Harrington


(State officials/dignitaries)
From Eric Conner


(State officials/dignitaries)
From Jeff Hinkle


(Reserve series)
From Steve Ondik


(Reserve series)
From Eric Conner		 Not offered on this format Not offered on this format

1977 - 1984

Notes Number Plate Personalized Plate Sample Plate
Serial formats:

GENERAL ISSUE
(No I, O, or Q used)
- 100-000 - 999-999
- A00-000 - Z99-999
- 000-00A - 999-99Z
- 0A0-000 - 9Z9-999
- AAA-000 - ZZZ-999
Observed high: GKY-898

All plates measure 6" x 12"

Sticker wells at top-left and top-right

Manufactured in Pennsylvania prisons

Issued in singles

Colors: dark blue on gold
From John McDevitt


From Jim & Lori Wakefield


From George Kunsman

(Invert error)
From Matt Ciecka
From Jeff Lesher


From John McDevitt


From Bruce Bufalini


From Eric Conner
From John McDevitt


From Worthpoint
RESERVE SERIES

(No I, O, or Q used in adjacent position to numbers)
- 1 - 99999
- A-1 - Z-9999
- 1-A - 9999-Z
- AA-1 - ZZ-999
- 1-AA - 999-ZZ
- 1-AAA - 99-ZZZ
Observed high: 217

Low-number plates were reserved for the Lt. Governor (2), cabinet members (3 - 23), state officials and dignitaries (24 - 999 and one-letter/one-number plates such as 3-A or 8-C).
(Lieutenant Governor)
From Eric Conner


(Reserve series)
From Tim Gierschick		 Not offered on this format Not offered on this format
ODDBALL PLATE

This plate does not fall under any category known for this base. It's possibly a test plate.
From John Anshant		    

1983 - 1987

Notes Number Plate Personalized Plate Sample Plate
Observed serial range:
HAA-000 - RWP-255

All plates measure 6" x 12"

Sticker well at bottom-left

Manufactured in Pennsylvania prisons

Issued in singles

Colors: gold on dark blue
From Clayton Moore

(Invert error)
From Clayton Moore
From Ned Flynn


From Ned Flynn
From John McDevitt
ODDBALL PLATE

This sample plate may have been a conceptual plate as part of a "Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful" slogan/campaign in 1987 which apparently never came to fruition. This format is not known for any other years.
From Steve Ondik		    
FAKE/HOMEMADE PLATE

It appears that someone had a plate made up to look like this base.
From Chris Van Zandt		    

1987 - 2000

Notes Number Plate Personalized Plate Sample Plate
Serial formats:
SAA-000 - ZZZ-999
AAA-0000 - ZZZ-9999
Observed high: CEG-3865

Vanity/personalized plates available from 1 to 7 characters (all letters, all numbers, or a combination of letters and numbers). One space or one hyphen permitted, but not both. While the limit was 7 characters, an 8-character plate "MCERLANE" has been observed - see photo to the right.

All plates measure 6" x 12"

Sticker well at bottom-left

Manufactured in Pennsylvania prisons

Issued in singles

Colors: gold on dark blue
From Eric Conner


From Eric Conner
From George Kunsman


From Tim Gierschick


From Worthpoint


From Ned Flynn
From John McDevitt


From John McDevitt
ODDBALL PLATE

This sample format is not known for any other years.
From Jerry McCoy		    

1999 - 2004

Notes Number Plate Personalized Plate Sample Plate
Observed serial range:
DAA-0000 - FYC-9999

Remakes: For those who wanted to keep their alpha-numeric combination from their old standard-issue plates this was an option available only for passenger plates, motorcycle plates and plates for trucks/motor homes with a registered gross weight of not more than 9,000 pounds. The cost was an additional $20 to make this a personalized plate. Generally remakes had the small keystone separators in place of the dash separator.

Vanity plates: Available from 1 to 7 characters (all letters, all numbers, or a combination of letters and numbers). One space or one hyphen permitted, but not both. While the limit was 7 characters, an 8-character plate "HUMPBACK" has been observed.

All plates measure 6" x 12"

Sticker well at top-left

Manufactured in Pennsylvania prisons

Issued in singles

Colors: dark blue on white with faded blue (top) and yellow (bottom) bands
(Remake)
From John McDevitt


From Scott Broady
From Bill Jesse


From Ricksplates.com


From Nick Tsilakis
From John McDevitt

2005 - present

Notes Number Plate Personalized Plate Sample Plate
Format 1 (Sticker well at top-left)

Observed serial range:
GBA-0000 - KLE-9999

At the end of 2016, PennDOT discontinued issuing validation stickers. Some 2017, and even 2018 stickers are in use but were issued before 2017.

Sticker well at top-left

Manufactured in Pennsylvania prisons

Issued in singles

Colors: dark blue on white with solid blue (top) and yellow (bottom) bands
From Scott Broady


From Steve Ondik

(Invert error)
From Bruce Bufalini
From John McDevitt


From Steve Ondik


From Jordan Irazabal
From John McDevitt


From John McDevitt
Format 2 (Map outline in place of sticker well)

Observed serial range:
KLF-0000 - current high

Plates on this format first seen as vanities in January 2017 and standard plates in June 2017.

Manufactured in Pennsylvania prisons

Issued in singles

Colors: dark blue on white with solid blue (top) and yellow (bottom) bands
From Scott Broady


From Scott Broady
From anonymous


From John McDevitt
From PennDOT
ODDBALL PLATE

At least one plate has been observed without the sticker well and without the map outline (see photo to right). The following plate prefixes have been spotted, all with the map outline: KLG, KLH, KLM, KLP, KLS, KLT, KLW, KMA, KMC, KMF, KMH, KMR, and none without. Plate KLR-3601 has been observed with the map outline.
From John McDevitt		    

FUTURE PLATES

Notes Number Plate Personalized Plate Sample Plate
A general plate redesign was announced by Governor Shapiro on July 9, 2024. Orders will begin Spring 2025 and this format will become the new general issue once inventory of the previous base is exhausted.

Manufactured in Pennsylvania prisons

Issued in singles

Colors: dark blue on white with jurisdiction and legend in red
(On state vehicle for promotional purposes, taken July 9, 2024)
From Stephen Caruso
From PennDOT