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License Plate Gallery

The Wisconsin Pages:

Passenger, 1942-1967

Multi-year plates validated by metal tabs were introduced in 1942. Due to WWII metal rationing concerns, the production of full-size plates was suspended from late 1942 to late 1943. In the meantime, small motorcycle-size plates with three or four letters and numbers in various configurations were issued to passenger vehicles.

The highest numeric serial confirmed on the 1942 base is 771 626.

After 1945, Wisconsin became the first state to stagger registrations between all twelve months of the year. Motorists received a new plate expiring anywhere from June 1946 to May 1947. "46"-dated plates were distributed only for codes from "6" to "12," while "47"-dated plates only encompassed codes "1" through "5." Subsequent new registrations received undated baseplates.

Numerous base, die, and stamping variations may be found on these plates. A fair number of motorists ordered replacement plates during this six-year timespan, so later plates with lower numbers and mismatched pairs abound:

Confirmed serial ranges and break points:

46/47 passenger	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
46 dated, small prefix						6-1 6-30000	7-1 7-10000	8-1 8-60000	9-1 9-2612
46 dated, large prefix						6-30001 *6-62324	7-10001 7-27972	8-60001 8-84059	9-5368 9-95754	10-1 10-90796	11-1 11-57175	12-1 12-81070
46 dated, diagonal prefix											11-61653 11-77126
47 dated	1-1 1-80935	2-1 2-92628	3-1 *3-83228	4-1 4-91307	5-1 5-92462
Undated, narrow bolthole position	1-88764 1-96948	2-95007 2-99662		*4-97647		6-75043 6-84226	*7-30625 7-37313			10-92864 10-98673	11-79131 11-87852	12-92726 12-99376
Undated, wide bolthole position	1-97105		3-81153 3-92467			6-87244	7-41134 7-49172	8-90090 8-96515			11-94745? 11-96875
Undated, squared corners	1- 98938 1-120-000	2-106-319 2-120-822	3-100-234 3-128-330	4-102-882 4-130-196	5- 97002 5-130-148	*6-89976 6-123-090	7- 59301 7- 85281	8-100-379 8-129-662	9-104-107 9-128-558	10-101-973 10-121-955	11- 97890 11-107-779	12-101-081 12-126-176

In 1952, the license plate format was changed to implement a stamped month abbreviation and alpha serial prefix. Alpha prefixes were keyed to the month of expiration, and through 1960 a two-letter format was employed if a given month series overran its initial allocation. A series of two-year bases (or three-year, in the case of the 1965 issue) followed. Adhesive stickers replaced metal tabs in 1961 (coinciding with 1962 expirations), although tab slots were retained on the baseplates themselves through 1963.

Confirmed serial ranges and break points:

		Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
53		A 1 A99-899	B 1 B96-337	C 1 C99-880	D 1 D99-902	E 1 E99-119	H 1 H97-850	J 1 J82-449	K 1 K92-211	L 1 L97-398	P 1 P86-533	T 1 T85-766	V 1 V98-526
55	6.25" x 13.5"	A 1 A95-719	B 1 B99-157	C 1 C99-999 CK-1001 CK-8718	D 1 D99-999 DK-1001 DK-7766	E 1 E99-999 EK-1001 EK-9082	H 1 H99-999 HK-1001 HK-1768	J 1 J93-066	K 1 K99-999 KK-1001 KK-8366	L 1 L99-999 LK-1001 LK-5970	P 1 P99-999 PK-1001 PK-1974	T 1 T93-836	V 1 V99-999 VK-1001 VK-3210
	6" x 12"							J94-447	KK-9148	LK-8012 LK-9711	PK-4134 PK-4551
57		A 1 A99-999 AK-1001 AK-8847	B 1 B99-999 BK-1001 *BK-8497	C 1 C99-999 CK-1001 CL-8782	D 1 D99-999 DK-1001 DL-8760	E 1 E99-999 EK-1001 EL-8113	H 1 H99-999 HK-1001 HL-5426	J 1 J99-999 JK-1001 JK-3039	K 1 K99-999 KK-1001 KL-9445	L 1 L99-999 LK-1001 LL-1910	P 1 P99-999 PK-1001 PL-1245	T 1 T99-999 TK-1001 TK-5300	V 1 V99-999 VK-1001 VL-3895
59	WIS right of bolt	A 1 A99-999 AK-1001 AL-3607	B 1 B99-999 BK-1001 BK-9914	C 1 C99-999 CK-1001 CL-8765	D 1 D99-999 DK-1001 DN-2572	E 1 E99-999 EK-1001 EN-9076	H 1 H99-999 HK-1001 HN-5861	J 1 J99-999 JK-1001 *JK-6809	K 1 K99-999 KK-1001 KN-4060	L 1 L99-999 LK-1001 LL-9663	P 1 P99-999 PK-1001 PK-7270	T 1 T99-999 TK-1001 *TK-6210	V 1 V99-999 VK-1001 VL-6971
	WIS left of bolt									LN-1807	PL-5718		VL-7611 VL-8027
61		A 1 A99-999 B10-001 B20-995	C 1 C99-999 D10-001 D25-344	E 1 E99-999 F10-001 *F39-367	G 1 G99-999 H10-001 H39-731	J 1 J99-999 K10-001 K42-779	L 1 L99-999 M10-001 M35-362	N 1 N99-999 P10-001 P17-497	Q 1 Q99-999 R10-001 R42-294	S 1 S99-999 T10-001 T33-321	U 1 U99-999 V10-001 V21-534	W 1 W99-999 X10-001 X21-009	Y 1 Y99-999 Z10-001 Z30-064
63	Tab slots	A 1 A99-999 B10-001 B34-386	C 1 C99-999 D10-001 D29-502	E 1 E99-999 F10-001 F44-370	G 1 G99-999 H10-001 *H51-183	J 1 J99-999 K10-001 K48-880	L 1 L99-999 M10-001 M50-727	N 1 N99-999 P10-001 P25-557	Q 1 Q99-999 R10-001 R41-893	S 1 S99-999 T10-001 T40-782	U 1 U99-999 V10-001 V40-030	W 1 W99-999 X10-001 *X25-755	Y 1 Y99-999 Z10-001 Z30-517
	No tab slots							P36-681 P38-636				X27-062
65	Tab slots	A 1 A1n-nnn
	No tab slots	A21-305
	Tab slots	A34-057
	No tab slots	*A49-714 A99-999 B 1 B46-991	C 1 C99-999 D 1 D48-353	E 1 E99-999 F 1 F71-094	G 1 G99-999 H 1 H77-452	J 1 J99-999 K 1 K85-369	L 1 L99-999 M 1 M81-302	N 1 N99-999 P 1 P61-727	Q 1 Q99-999 R 1 R75-558	S 1 S99-999 T 1 T66-121	U 1 U99-999 V 1 V62-876	W 1 W99-999 X 1 X44-056	Y 1 Y99-999 Z 1 Z47-680