History of vehicle registration plates of Georgia (U.S. state)

The state of Georgia began requiring its citizens to register their vehicles and display license plates on their cars in 1910. Since then the state has used a variety of license plate designs and has issued different designs for passenger, non-passenger, and, more recently, specialty or optional plates.

Passenger plates 1910 to 1970

For sixty years, between 1910 and 1970, Georgia issued plates annually. The plates were dated with the year of expiry. In 1940, the slogan "Peach State" was added to the plates and used for the next thirty years. County coding was introduced in 1957 and it was revised in 1962. The 1962 codes were used through 1970.

tandardisation with the rest of North America

In 1956, the U.S. states and Canadian provinces came to an agreement with the Automobile Manufacturers Association that fixed the size for all their passenger vehicle plates at six inches in height by twelve inches in width, with standardised mounting holes. The 1954 (dated 1955) issue was the first Georgia license plate that met with these standards.

Passenger plates 1971 to present

In 1971, the first stickers with the full county name appeared in place of the "Peach State" slogan, repalaciing and replace the numeric county codes. The plates began to be coded with the vwhicle weight, a pracitce that continued until about 1980 or 1981.

The 1983 plate also retains the ABC 123 serial format

For the 1990 plate, the serial format is again ABC 123, but in early 1996, ZZZ 999 is reached, and the format changes to ABC 1234 with narrow dies.

Standard passenger plates on the 1997 base continue to be revalidated through the present at the discretion of the owner, who may instead choose to receive a new plate of the current design, although issuance of this design ceased in December 2003. Original serial formats are 000 AAA, 0000 AA (though not all letter series), and 00000 QA with narrow dies. Later a format of 0000 AAA is introduced and runs until the mid-AWT series before the base and serial format are changed.

The 2005 plate continued the serial sequence of the prior base, which was not invalidated. Beginning at AVA 0001, the debossed left sticker box is removed, as the state switched to a single sticker that shows both month and year of expiry, something that would be continued on the 2007 base.

The 2007 base retains the peach state outline graphic, but it is shifted to the center of the plate, instead of being slightly off-center to the left as in the previous design.

Non-passenger and specialty plates

Georgia was one of the first states to issue optional plates, introducing commemorative issues for several of its in-state universities and colleges beginning in 1983.Fact|date=April 2008

External links

* [http://www.15q.net/ga.html Georgia license plates 1969-present]