License Plates and Registration Numbers
from April 1950 to March 1960
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1950 April 1, 1950-March 31, 1951 |
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Unlike 1951 and later years, official documentation in which 1950 Washington, D.C. license plates are described has not been located. Data presented below (except registration statistics) has been compiled from alternative sources and based upon examination of 1950 plates. Furthermore, assumptions have been made regarding characteristics that are not likely to have been changed from previous and subsequent years. |
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An overview of registration numbers used from April 1948-March 1955 is provided on our page upon which plates of the 1940s are described. Click here to get there. Passenger. These eight prefix letters have been observed on 1950 auto plates: A, E, F, J, K, N, P, and S. If it is assumed that no other prefix letters were used this year and including the 99,999 plates without a letter prefix (numbers 1 through 9-9999), there are a total of 179,991 possible passenger registration number combinations. The highest observed number is S-3325. Non-Passenger. Refer to the 1948-55 registration numbers section referenced above for information about to which non-passenger types plates with prefix letters B, C, D, G, H, L, M, R, and T, as well as DPL, were assigned. |
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1951 April 1, 1951-March 31, 1952 |
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This general information about numbering formats utilized on 1951 Washington, D.C. license plates was included in the April 1950 document referenced below: "Not more than a single letter or numeral prefix and four digits, or a single numeral and single letter and three digits shall be used on any plate; no series of numbers shall commence with the figure "0". Reference to classifications shall be by letter symbol rather than by full name designation." |
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An overview of registration numbers used from April 1948-March 1955 is provided on our page upon which plates of the 1940s are described. Click here to get there. Passenger. These seven prefix letters have been observed on 1951 auto plates: A, E, J, K, N, P, and S. If it is assumed that no other prefix letters were used this year and including the 99,999 plates without a letter prefix (numbers 1 through 9-9999), there are a total of 169,992 possible passenger registration number combinations. The highest observed number is S-907. Non-Passenger. Refer to the 1948-55 registration numbers section referenced above for information about to which non-passenger types plates with prefix letters B, C, D, G, H, L, M, R, and T, as well as DPL, were assigned. |
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1952 April 1, 1952-March 31, 1953 |
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The last of five consecutive annual plates marked with the year of issuance, not the expiration date, was issued in the spring of 1952. Beginning with the 1952 registration year, D.C. Gov-ernment plates were changed from standard-looking plates with a G prefix to red-on-white plates with three stars, representing the city government's three commissioners, embossed vertically on the left side. D.C. GOVT. is stamped at the bottom. Smaller plates, also red on white, were issued for govern-ment-owned motorcycles, although whether they include three stars is unknown. Plates of both sizes |
were considered permanent upon their introduction. "The numerals shall commence with 1 and continue in sequence to as high a number as is necessary," according to a March 27, 1951, memo with which the new series was established. Plates of these two government types were not issued for use on police and fire department vehicles because separate types already existed for those agencies. Plates with a letter G prefix were released from restriction and issued to owners of privately-owned passenger vehicles. |
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An overview of registration numbers used from April 1948-March 1955 is provided on our page upon which plates of the 1940s are described. Click here to get there. Passenger. These eight prefix letters have been observed on 1952 auto plates: A, E, F, G, J, K, N, and P. If it is assumed that no other prefix letters were used this year and including the 99,999 plates without a letter prefix (numbers 1 through 9-9999), there are a total of 179,991 possible passenger registration number combinations. The highest observed number is P-111. Non-Passenger. Refer to the 1948-55 registration numbers section referenced above for information about to which non-passenger types plates with prefix letters B, C, D, H, L, M, R, and T, as well as DPL, were assigned. |
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1953, '54 April 1, 1953-March 31, 1955 |
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It could be argued that the 1953 license plate is more different from its immediate predecessor than is a D.C. plate of any other year. It can, in fact, take time for even some experienced plate collectors to recognize that the sloganless, yellow-on-black dated 1952 plate was immediately followed by the green-on-white dated 3-31-53 issue, the first Washington, D.C. plate to include a slogan. With the exception of Antique Car plates and some U.S. Govenment plates marked DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, this was the last D.C. plate to be revalidated with a tab. Perhaps most interesting about plates of this two-year period is what didn't happen for 1954. In a May 1, |
1952, memo, officials indicated that it was their intention that new plates would be issued for that registration year, and that they would feature "the identification number in blue with all other letters and figures in red on a white background." Why the planned tri-color plates were not issued is unknown, but perhaps an eleventh hour discovery that they could not easily be produced resulted in 1954 (dated "55") tabs being issued instead of new plates. Also noteworthy about the 1953 plate is that it is the first (since 1917) made in the 6”x12” format that was to become the national standard a few years later. |
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Passenger. The passenger (but not the non-passenger) section of the overview of 1948-52 registration numbers that appears on our page upon which plates of the 1940s are described also applies to how 1953 baseplates are numbered. Click here to get there. Furthermore, an additional series, which is only discussed below because it was not used in other years, was required for this base because it was the general-issue base for two years, not just one. Whereas no more than eight prefix letters were used on any single one-year base issued from 1948 through 1952, 14 letters were used on the two-year 1953 baseplate, and even those weren't quite enough. Specifically, these prefix letters were used on 1953 baseplates: A, E, F, G, J, K, N, P, S, U, V, W, Y, and Z. (Taking into consideration letters set aside for use exclusively on non-passenger plates, only I, O, Q, and X were left unused.) If it is assumed that no other single-letter prefixes were used this year and including the 99,999 plates without a letter prefix (numbers 1 through 9-9999), there are a total of 239,985 possible passenger registration number combinations using the standard all-number and single-letter-prefix combinations. However, 239,985 passenger registration combinations were apparently not quite enough to get through the two-year life of this base. Therefore, a short run of plates with two-letter prefixes was introduced, presumably towards the end of the 1954-55 registration year. Numbers in this series began at number AA-1 and progressed to AA-999, then began at AB-1 and proceeded sequentially. The highest verified number is AB-334. Non-Passenger. Whereas passenger plates of this base were numbered in the same manner as plates of the previous five years, non-passenger plates introduced in April 1953 were marked differently than they ever had been before. The single-letter prefixes set aside for each type were the same as they had been in the past, but for 1953 in most cases they were followed by a serial letter, beginning with A, then four numbers beginning at 1000. Therefore, for example, Bus plates began at BA-1000, which was followed by BA-1001, BA-1002, etc. Plates of only two types continued to be numbered in the manner of 1948-52 plates: Motorcycle and Diplomatic plates began at M-1 and DPL-1, respectively. Specifically, here are the nine known non-passenger types made on the 1953-54 base and the first assigned number of each: Bus, BA-1000; Commercial (Truck), CA-1000; Dealer, DA-1000; Diplomatic, DPL-1; Hire (Taxi), HA-1000; Livery, LA-1000; Motorcycle, M-1; Rental Car, RA-1000; and Trailer, TA-1000. |
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1955 April 1, 1955-March 31, 1956 |
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Continuing through a period of unprecendented and unpredictable change, District of Columbia license plates issued in the spring of 1955 bear little resemblance to the 1953 two-year plates that they replaced. The color scheme was new, the slogan slightly modified, and the registration number configured in a completely new format. This last change was addressed (although its purpose was not explained) by the Dept. of Vehicles and Traffic in a memorandum of May 21, 1954: "Numerals following the prefix [letters] shall start with 10-00 and end with 99-99." The configuration was presumably adopted in order for Washington, D.C. plates to more closely resemble those of neighboring Maryland, which had |
used the AB-12-34 format since April 1953, but it was abandoned by D.C. after only two years due probably to having far more possible registration number combinations than this small jurisdiction would ever need. Even today, with it having made a return, it will take decades to use all of the possible combinations from AA-0000 through ZZ-9999. Not only was the new numbering format likely copied from Maryland, but so too was the use of small diamond separators. Maryland first used diamonds on its 1954 (dated "55") plates, which were in use, and much in evidence in Washington, when the District's 1955 plates were designed. |
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1956 April 1, 1956-March 31, 1957 |
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Notes: 1. According to a memorandum dated January 17, 1957, which was 9.5 months into the life of the 1956 plates, the supply of commercial plates was amended to include only plates numbered through CC-20-00, with higher-numbered CC-series plates, namely CC-20-01 through CC-99-99, being released for issuance to private auto owners. This indicates that late in the registration year the supply of A- and E-series numbers was depleted, and officials decided to use C-series plates for passenger cars rather that introduce and have manufactured plates of another letter series (such as F, G, or J). 2. Registration numbers have been presumed. Rental is inexplicably excluded from the referenced April 4, 1955, document. |
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1957 April 1, 1957-March 31, 1958 |
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Almost everything about 1957 Washington, D.C. license plates was new. A completely new color scheme, new dies, and a new numbering format resulted in a plate that appeared unlike any issued during the first half-century that they were provided by the District government. Even subtle differences, such as dies used to stamp the expiration date and the size of bolt holes, are found to have been changed upon close inspection. The use of new, shorter dies and a new numbering format for all types (except Commercial, Motorcycle, Trailer, and Diplomatic) was described by the Dept. of Vehicles and Traffic in a memorandum of Feb. 9, 1956, from which three particularly relevant passages have been excerpted: "For the registration year commencing April 1, 1957, the motor vehicle identification tags shall be of uniform size...with 2 5/8" letters and numerals patterned after the national standard adopted by the American |
Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators." "Numerals following the lettered prefix shall start with 100 and end with 999." "The dies used by the Lorton Reformatory for manufacturing the District's automobile license tags are worn out and must be replaced for next year's issue. It seems appropriate at this time to recommend a new identification system which will be much simpler and easier for the public to remember, and since there is an adequate supply of numbers available for this purpose, we are recommending that each passenger car tag have not more than two letters and three numbers instead of two letters and four numbers as now. The present system is being retained for commercial vehicle tags. The prefix of all of the commercial series starts with "C" and there would not be sufficient numbers available for this purpose if the passenger car numbering system were followed." |
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Notes: 1. Registration numbers have been presumed. Rental is inexplicably excluded from the referenced documents. 2. An alternative source indicates that the allocation of reserved-number plates was increased to 1250 (its present level) for the 1957 registration year. |
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1958 April 1, 1958-March 31, 1959 |
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1957 is the final year for which official correspondence in which D.C. license plates are described has been located. Data presented below (except registration statistics) has been compiled from alternative sources and based upon examination of 1958 plates. Furthermore, assumptions have been made regarding characteristics that are not likely to have been changed from the previous year.
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1959 April 1, 1959-March 31, 1960 |
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This page last updated on September 29, 2008 |
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