Colorado 1935 Annual Plate
1935–1935Colorado · annual
Black on yellow with a raised border, and the number before the dash is the county. Colorado began coding counties into the serial in 1932, ranked by population, and kept doing it for the next sixty-seven years. Several serial shapes ran side by side in any given year depending on whether the county code was one digit or two, which is a thing about Colorado plates that catches people out: the shape tells you where, not when. The plate shown is a reconstruction carrying an invented serial, so no real registration is depicted.
A plate for one year only
Colorado replaced its plates every year in this era, which is why 1935 is stamped into the design rather than carried on a sticker. The plate was the registration: it was surrendered and replaced twelve months later, and the colour pairing usually changed with it so an officer could date a plate at a glance. That is also why plates from these years are scarce, each one having been current for a single year.
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 (CC BY-SA 4.0, Absecon 49). Colours, the county coding and the parallel serial shapes (CC BY-SA).
- Issued
- Standard issue
- The plate you received by default when you registered a vehicle.
- Serial format
- 9-99999
- Material
- Embossed steel
- Source license
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Reference
- View original