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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 |
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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. All plates measure 6" x 12" Manufactured in Pennsylvania prisons Issued in singles Colors: dark blue on gold |
 From Steve Ondik  From Steve Ondik |
Not offered on this format |  From John McDevitt  (Prototype) From Jeff Hinkle |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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ODDBALL PLATE This sample format is not known for any other years. |
 From Jerry McCoy |
1999 - 2004
| Notes | Number Plate | Personalized Plate | Sample Plate |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |