Little question for anyone who bought and registered cars in the mid/late 60's.

In todays world when you buy a new car, or license one, you get a tab with Next years year listed on it. Was this the same back in the old days, or did cars get year tabs for the year of the car??

I recently aquired the original license plates for my car. I bought a couple reproduction 1966 license plate tabs for it at the swapmeet last weekend.

Then at a cruise in last weekend I spotted a new challenger, and noticed it has 2010 tabs, then it hit me that I should have 1967 Tabs on my car, not 1966 ones.

Later, I figured i'd put the 66 stickers on anyway. I used a razor blade to take the tabs off one at a time. Under all of them was a 1966 Tab????

What the heck? So back in the day, did cars get tabs for the year they were registering for, or for the next year or what? This car was bought new in March 66, and the tabs on the car show MAY & 1966 with a code of "A 006917"

So now I know that it did come with a 1966 sticker, but just thought that was goofy so had to ask. Anybody remember what they did back then?

Thanks-
Ben

tabs? never had tabs back then. We got new plates every yr. IF my memory sevres me right

tabs? never had tabs back then. We got new plates every yr. IF my memory sevres me right

spoke w/ an older guy at work said the same thing, He said he lived in mn. at the time. found this interesting.

I guess that was true a LONG time back... the older washington plates had the year stamped in them... then in the 50's they started having METAL tabs wiht the year stamped in the, but by the 60's they had sticker year tabs....

new plates each year was the case in Minnesota right up to 1968 when it changed to stickers.

In Texas, we got new plates each year--were made by the state prison residents.

Ohio and Michigan issued new plates every year. And they came out in January so you could go out in the cold and try to remove seriously rusted nuts and bolts. I think that lasted thru the 70's.

Here in MI the plates, like back in the '60s had the year they were for and they changed color every year. All plates expired the same time every year. Well a little variation, passenger cars on one date, comerrcial plates a few weeks before that.

Now they have a little sticker that goes in the corner that shows when they expire, which is your birthday. I bought my tabs/sticker in June 08, it has Jun 09 on it.

WOW, you Michigan guys must be old not to remember those little metal tabs we had back here; http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/autoshow/l_plates/1959-61.html

and here as well; http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/autoshow/l_plates/1962-64.html

We went to stickers in 72...

IL. went to the multi year plate in 1979!

WOW, you Michigan guys must be old not to remember those little metal tabs we had back here; http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/autoshow/l_plates/1959-61.html

and here as well; http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/autoshow/l_plates/1962-64.html

We went to stickers in 72...

Or possibly we're not old enough to remember them.

Each state has and had a bit different scheme. In Washington State back in the 1960s they issued Plates at various intervals and the Year Tab was attached when renewal time came around each year. Your 1966 Cutlass would have had 1966 tabs on a new plate that was issued in 1966.
It can be permanently registered now in Washington with the original plate and a "66" tab on the plate.

WA state registration for collector cars (http://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/sprestored.html)

History on 1960s era plates (http://staff.washington.edu/islade/58-81King.htm)

Dan

We had to replace the plates here every year,they would change the colors every time to, if I remember right it only cost like $5 too!

new plates each year was the case in Minnesota right up to 1968 when it changed to stickers.
a couple of summers ago when i was hauling scrap iron, i ran across a few MN license plates from the early 70's- they had the year stamped right into them. i think they were truck plates, tho, since they had a "T" in the number.

I didn't know you had to license a vehicle that long ago. :D

Or possibly we're not old enough to remember them.


We can go with that. :D

If you're wrong, then just pretend you bought it in the fall of 65, when it hit the showroom. That way it would have 66 tags.

In that era in Pennsylvania, New plate each year. Exp. date was stamped into the plate. Also Truck plates in PA. On the left side of the plate mixed in with the numbers and letters, The first letter on the left side for a 1/2 ton truck was the letter " R ". Not real hard for a Cop to figure if you had the wrong plate.
R= 1/2 ton
S= 3/4
T= 1 ton
U= 1 1/2 ton
V= 2 ton and so on, Very E-Z to identify the correct plate for the truck, See a " S " plate on a coal bucket--DAAAAA.
A half ton truck back then may have a plate number such as- R7632J
In 1956 the PA plates were steel not Alum.
So much for the " Geeser Report "
Bob ACES--AACA:thumbsup:

Each state has and had a bit different scheme. In Washington State back in the 1960s they issued Plates at various intervals and the Year Tab was attached when renewal time came around each year. Your 1966 Cutlass would have had 1966 tabs on a new plate that was issued in 1966.
It can be permanently registered now in Washington with the original plate and a "66" tab on the plate.

WA state registration for collector cars (http://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/sprestored.html)

History on 1960s era plates (http://staff.washington.edu/islade/58-81King.htm)

Dan

Dan, thanks for the info and the link- i had read a bunch about this, but had not seen the info presented so thoroughly before...

I had already registered the plate as soon as i got it from the previous owner.
ABI-656

I was just really curious after i peeled back all the tabs to find the 66 tab there- I knew it had to be right, since i knew these were the original plates, but just seemed odd to me based on the way we do tabs today.

Thanks!
Ben

In that era in Pennsylvania, New plate each year. Exp. date was stamped into the plate. Also Truck plates in PA. On the left side of the plate mixed in with the numbers and letters, The first letter on the left side for a 1/2 ton truck was the letter " R ". Not real hard for a Cop to figure if you had the wrong plate.
R= 1/2 ton
S= 3/4
T= 1 ton
U= 1 1/2 ton
V= 2 ton and so on, Very E-Z to identify the correct plate for the truck, See a " S " plate on a coal bucket--DAAAAA.
A half ton truck back then may have a plate number such as- R7632J
In 1956 the PA plates were steel not Alum.
So much for the " Geeser Report "
Bob ACES--AACA:thumbsup:
I'm not quite that old, but, when I bought my firrst junker back in 1962 a 54 plymouth with a bad transmission for $5.00. The license plate stayed with the person, not the vehicle. When you sold a car you kept the plate and transferred the plate to your next vehicle. They all expired at the end of the year.
That's no typo. At that tme, a junkyard would give you $15 but you had to be able to drive it in under it's own power. I bought a lot of cars for 10 or 25 dollars when they wern't runnung. Pennsylvania also had a 9 month State safety inspection that was real strict. Any car with expired safety inspection would be worth almost nothing. They would fail you for worn wiper blades, leaking shocks, any crack in the windows, headlights out of adjustment play in the kingpins or balljoints, tie rods. They would pull a front and a rear wheel and check brake cylinders and lining, horn, tire tread had to be so deep. Not to mention the emergency brake.
Ah the fun days.
Squido

In Okla, we got new plates every year up into some time in the 70s. Then they switched to a new sticker each year. The prisoners in McAlister, OK made them. Then one year (about 1976) the prisoners rioted and burned down the license tag shop inside the prison. I don't know who or where OK plates are made now.