The Ontario Project - The Andrew Turnbull License Plate Gallery

The Ontario Project

What is the Ontario Project?

The Ontario Project is a quest to take pictures of Ontario license plates on the roads! The objective is to capture one of each major letter series (A, B, C, etc.) in the passenger and commercial series, and to capture as many non-passenger plate types as possible.

Why are you doing this?

Since coming to Ontario for graduate school, I've been fascinated by the license plates of the province's vehicles. Ontario has not had a general plate reissue for passenger cars since 1973...and as a result, more than 40 years of history may be observed on highways and in parking lots. No Canadian province or territory (and only four U.S. states, including Oregon) has lapsed longer without a replate, and no other province or territory matches Ontario's breadth in plate types and registrations.

Is it "license plate" or "licence plate?"

Most official sources in Canada (such as the Ministry of Transportation) use "licence plate" with some consistency. Most Canadian collectors, however, seem content with the "license plate" spelling. When Joseph Sallmen wrote and edited the most comprehensive reference book on the topic, he titled it with an S.

Maybe we should be like the Brits and call them number plates, side-stepping the issue entirely. :P

Enough about spelling! What are some rules?

Only photos of currently-validated plates in use on vehicles. Mostly.
- I've included a few photos from collections on a stopgap basis until more "on-the-road" shots are procured.
Plates obscured by frames or covers should be avoided, unless they're rare.
Stickered plates (rear for cars, front for trucks) are preferred, but not absolutely necessary.
Plates in good condition are preferred, but plates in bad condition shouldn't be avoided. It'll be interesting to see what batches of plates are wearing worse than others, after all.

Of course, being the site author and photographer, I have the option of taking these rules and flagrantly ignoring them. The application and condition of most Ontario plates in use today is far from ideal, and at the end of the day this web page is a reflection of that reality.

I'm not yet interested in submissions, because for now this is strictly a personal challenge to see how many letter series I can capture on the road. I may be eventually, though!