California 1951 Base Plate
1951–1955California · base
Yellow on black, tabbed through to 1955, and the last California plate made before the states agreed on a common size. Everything after it is six inches by twelve; everything before it, including this, was whatever the state felt was right. The plate shown is a reconstruction carrying an invented serial, so no real registration is depicted.
One plate, several years
This design served from 1951 to 1955 rather than for a single year. A plate that stays on a car across several registrations cannot date itself, so the year is proved separately, by a tab or sticker in the earlier period and by a windscreen sticker later. It is the opposite arrangement to the annual plates, where the plate WAS the registration.
Before the standard
This plate is long and shallow rather than the familiar oblong, roughly 13.4 by 5 inches. The uniform 6 by 12 inch size was settled later through the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, and until it was, plates were sized to each state's own taste. That is why one of these will not sit in a modern frame.
Stamped, not printed
Every character here is pressed into the metal and stands proud of the surface, along with the raised rim just inside the edge. Run a hand across it and you feel the whole design. The plate was struck from flat stock in a press, then the raised faces were rolled with paint, which is why wear shows first on the tops of the characters.
Sources
Reference photograph of an issued plate (Public domain, Nctriadguy). Issue period, the annual tabs and the serial format (CC BY-SA).
- Issued
- Standard issue
- The plate you received by default when you registered a vehicle.
- Serial format
- 9A 99 999
- Material
- Embossed steel
- Source license
- Public domain
- Reference
- View original