does anyone know what the mv stands for on this plate? i have been looking online but have not found the info.
Hmmm...I'm thinking it doesn't stand for anything. It is simply a letter prefix. I have a couple of CA 1930s plates like that with various letter combinations. Definitely let us know when you find out for sure.
all i could find was P over C that meant " pneumatic commercial"! came across another: A over E but drew a blank.
just sent him and email. hopefully he has a definite answer. this is driving me crazy, like a bad song stuck in your head.
Just guessing the same as that ^ I have 2 pairs of 1932 Connecticut plates with 2 stacked letters in front of the numbers.
Manifold Vacuum Mount Vernon Married Virgin Many Vehicles Music Virtuoso Marvin Vargens Messy Vineyards ok, now I'm even annoying myself dj
From the ALPCA... 1937 orange/black; 14 x 6 1/8; "19 CALIFORNIA 37" bottom; 0A0000 serial format with no separators; later A over A 00 00 serial format; NOTE! when 2,160,000 serial was exceeded extra plates were needed and 2 stacked letters on the left were initiated. The upper letter is either A or M; A went through A/A to A/J and M went through M/A to M/V; A = Northern California and M = Southern California; this is the only year when stacked letters were passenger; all other stacked letters were non-passenger plates. There was two exceptions - MS and MR were not stacked You do know you need these plates in pairs, right?
Thank you!!! I would need a pair of them but this plate is not going on a car. This plate along with 4 others have been in my dads garage since the 50s. T.hey are going up in my garage now. He had a 36,37,38,39, and a 40. All singles no pairs. I think im going to try and finish his collection and get one plate from each year and mount them all on the wall. If anyone has any old single plates they want to sell cheap let me know.
That's cool. Just know in advance the early plates will be expen$ive depending on condition. You'll also need 4(!) 1941 plates, as these were the base for 1942, 1943 and 1944. Actually, in '44 the '43 was on the car and the decal below was on the windshield (I assume next to the ration decal). There is no 1944 plate per si. Plate collectors refer to this as a state run. Start saving your newer (cheaper) plates when you can.
I've noticed that strange lettering on only the 1937 series and didn't know myself why they did this. California has many odd number/letter combinations over the years, and I haven't been able to figure out many of them. This info here is good to know, thanks. In 1924 they pushed to the next digit and ended up making a few plates extra wide, and they also used a star, which I believe is also after they ran out of numbers. Some 1923 plates also have a star.
1941 - Base plate 1942 - 1942 tag on 1941 Base plate 1943 - 'V' tag on 1941/1942 plate 1944 - Windshield decal 1945 - New plate
swifster, is there any record of how many plates were made that year? by the info you posted it would seem that this plate would be a late 37 plate. im just wondering how late in the production run it is. also my mom gave me a little history on these plates. these belonged to my dads uncle carl who left them in the garage so they have been in there since the early 50's. btw the garage in my avatar is the garage they came out of. thats my dad in the 60's working on his car. my mom still lives in the house. my dads uncle carl also gave my dad a big box of model cars. me and my brother used to rob parts out of it to make our models when we were kids. the box of model parts is still in the basement.
I'm unsure on the plate production. While 'M' may be Northern California. I'm sure certain counties 'sold' more than others. The other thing is that old scrap metal (including old license plates) were usually donated for scrap drives during the war. Anything prior to WWII will be in short supply (and more expensive) than later plates. During the war, metal was in such short supply that some states made plates from cardboard/fiberboard/soyboard to make plates in '43 & '44. Others did what CA did and made windshield decals or only issued single plates instead of the more common two (pairs).
Single plates should be cheap. No need to check if the numbers clear. Except for those years that only a single plate was issued.