1966, '67

April 1, 1966-March 31, 1968

Washington, D.C. license plates of the 1966-68 and 1968-74 baseplates are often confused for two reasons. First is their similar appearance. They share a color scheme, so only the reversed positions of the city name and slogan and the blocks of numbers that appear on auto plates may be used to tell them apart. Second, with the introduction of this base in early 1966 plates of certain non-passenger types were not replaced, contrary to the past practice of always replacing passenger and non-passenger plates simultaneously. This overlapping of three bases (1965, 1966-68, and 1968-74, as discussed in the Non-Passenger Numbering section below) continues to confuse collectors today.

There are two distinct varieties of this two-year baseplate: dated and undated. Both styles have "3-31" embossed in the lower left corner. The dated version, examples of which are numbered from 100-001 through 300-000, have "67" stamped in the lower right corner. The undated variety does not have the "67" designation, and plates of this style are numbered 300-001 through at least 367-444. The dated version was used for the 1966-67 registration year with no other form of validation (i.e. a plate or window sticker), whereas for the 1967-68 registration year dated plates were validated with white-on-green dated “68” stickers placed in the upper right corner. It was during this second registration year that the undated variety was issued. Both the dated and undated versions were replaced during March 1968 for the registration year that began on April 1, 1968.

The white-on-green stickers affixed to Washington, D.C., plates for the 1967-68 registration year were the first stickers used by the city; earlier multi-year plates were validated with metal tabs. As discussed on the Validation Stickers page, effective with the "68" sticker the final three digits in the serial number should match the final three numbers on the plate.

License plate collectors should note that mint (unissued and unused) examples of both styles of the 1966 base are relatively plentiful.

After several years of experimenting with various numbering formats, officials of the D.C. DMV returned to the one that had served well for many previous years: numbers assigned sequentially as high as necessary. Registration numbers for non-passenger vehicles continued to feature letter prefixes to denote the type.

Passenger. During the two-year useful life of this baseplate registration numbers associated with privately-owned passenger cars were assigned from two sequences: reserved plates with up to four digits are numbered from 1 through 1250, and general-issue plates are numbered from 100-000 through at least 367-444. Specically, general-issue plates numbered from 100-000 to 300-000 have "67" stamped in the lower right corner whereas higher-numbered plates do not.

Non-Passenger. The numbering of 1966 base non-passenger plates is consistent with 1965. And, in fact, for he first time in the history of Washington, D.C. license plates, prior-year plates of certain types were revalidated for a new registration year (1966, in this first instance) when auto plates were replaced. Previously, plates of all types, passenger and non-passenger, were replaced (or not) simultaneously.

The black-on-white color scheme and new, narrow dies of 1966 baseplates were actually introduced one year earlier on Commercial plates of 1965 (and marked EXP. 3-31-66 as shown above). These 1965 Commercial plates were revalidated with stickers for several years, and right through the two-year life of the 1966 baseplate, so that there is no Commercial plate on this base. Plates of some types (such as Bus, Livery, and Rental) were replaced with new black-on-white plates for 1966 that were used beyond the useful life of auto plates of this base, whereas other non-passenger plates (we believe that Medical Doctor and Diplomatic are examples) were replced in 1966 and 1968 on the same schedule as auto plates.

In short, the period of April 1965 through March 1974 is a confusing one when it comes to identifying when non-passenger plates were issued and replaced. Compounding the problem is that many examples of these plates held by collectors today are unused and thus do not include validation stickers that would provide information as to their period of use. For further information, visit our page dedicated to this period by clicking here.