Circa 1990s "Personalized Licence Plate" Brochure

The history of vanity plates in British Columbia, or as they are more often referred to today; Personalized license plates, is a much longer tradition than one might initially suspect. We are all familiar with the current incarnation of these plates; the specialty base plate designed in 1980 specifically for motorists wishing to personalize their car with a certain slogan or combination of letters and numbers. The reality, however, is that since the first B.C. plates, some people have sought out “that one plate” which best represents who they are as an individual.

From 1913 until 1969, with the brief exception of a three year period between 1952-1954, the province generally issued all of its plates based on a four (0-000) to six digit (000-000) format, commencing at number one. Unlike other jurisdictions across North America, British Columbia did not engage in the practice of reserving low license plate numbers for dignitaries or high-ranking politicians. The only exception to this rule is made for the Lieutenant-Governor who, as the Queen’s representative and the nominal head of the province by law, may not be taxed.

To distinguish the Lieutenant-Governor’s car, a large, die-struck British Columbia coat-or-arms is attached to a generic base-plate and affixed to the official vehicle. Consequently, low-numbered plates remained available to the public often on a first-come, first-served basis. That the old central office of the Motor Vehicle Branch (MVB), in Victoria annually reserved the first block of numbers further created an opportunity for motorists to play a numbers game and vie for specific plates.

Under the province’s registration system, plates usually remained valid for a two-month grace period after their annual expiration, and new plates could generally be purchased in the first week of January or February. This resulted in the formation of long lines outside the Victoria office on the night before the new plates went on sale as drivers sought to obtain their coveted numbers. The rule-of-thumb in distributing plates was that if a motorist had displayed a specific number the year before, they were entitled to request it again the following year. If, however, a registration was allowed to lapse, which was usually a few weeks after plates began to be issued, the number would be re-assigned to the first person to ask for it.

Registration data for 1923 shows that numbers ranging as high as the 8-000 range were becoming the subject of special requests, but invariably the most popular was for No. 1. In 1928 alone, the MVB received 88 requests by mail alone seeking the coveted first plate, including one from the widow of the late Dr. Miller, ex-plate holder of the 1927 No. 1. While all low numbers were inevitably sought after, other plates also held significance for motorists. Poker hands, such as 1111 (denoting four aces), and bridge hands were a popular choice, along with historic dates such as 1492 and 1066, phone numbers, and house addresses.

Other interesting stories have been related involving plate #54 which was sought by the Provincial Secretary in the 1950s at the behest of his children, after the popular television show “Car 54, where are you?” In this case, the best that the MVB could provide was #52, which happened to be the first year the Secretary had been elected, and the year that his party had come to power - so he accepted. It was also reported that a sales representative of the Heinz Company routinely reserved plate #57 (for obvious reasons).

Competition for these numbers became so intense over the years that the MVB eventually resorted to implementing a special reserve list that only applied to numbers between 1 to 7,000 - a total that was later reduced for administrative purposes to numbers 1 to 3,000. Special exemptions to this rule were allowed for Premier John Hart in the 1940s, who requested plate number 15,000 for use on his own vehicle. The province’s fleet of cars was also reserved numbers between 19,000 to 19,999 in the 1950s and 1960s.

The history of plate No. 1 in this period provides the most interesting tale of all the “vanity” number plates. After registering the first motor vehicle in British Columbia in 1904, John Barnsley would maintain the No. 1 plate until 1919 or 1920. Its ownership throughout the 1920s is little less clear but it was reported in 1923 that the plate had been issued to Dr. G.L. Milne, medical officer for the Dominion Immigration Department.

Later, in 1928, MVB records indicate that Pauline Miller, wife of Dr. Howard Miller attempted to retain the No. 1 following the death of her husband stating that "as Dr. Miller held it for so many and I should like very much to have it for reasons of sentiment." A blank cheque was provided to the Superintendent to help facilitate the request:

Duff Pattullo

Plate No. 951

The province would retain the rights to No. 1 through 1954 and the three-year, experimental Totem base plate. With the return to a six digit (000-000) format in 1955, the MVB warned motorists that the headache of deciding whom to award plate No. 1 to did not warrant its re-release. Instead, it was now to be hung from the wall of the central office of the MVB in Victoria as a “memento.”

Following the demise of the Totem base in 1952, staff at the Motor Vehicle Branch (MVB) decided to head-off the administrative nightmare known as the annual request for the No. 1 license plate, rumoured to be in the hundreds, if not thousands, that it was announced that the number was being retired.

Starting in 1955, the No. 1 license plate would, instead, “be nailed up on a wall of the motor vehicle branch offices for everyone to look at, including the scores who probably still will file requests for it.”

And that is precisely what happened for the next 15 years; one of the No. 1 plates was displayed at the MVB's main office on Menzies Street in Victoria, while the other was purportedly stored in a desk at one of the Ministry's offices near the Legislature.

Many years later, one of these sets was discovered and offered to collectors (pictured at left). The other half of the set appears to have been dispersed and is floating around in various collections.

In preparing for the transition to a new alpha-numeric combination in 1970 that would be renewed annually through the use of validation decals, the Attorney-General, Leslie Peterson, was adamant that the end of the 000-000 format would also mark the end of the special reserve list. He was quoted at the time as saying: “It is a big expense to the taxpayer to service a small number of people.”

Despite the Attorney-General’s best intentions to save the taxpayers money, what did not change was the distribution of plates from the central office of the MVB in Victoria. In keeping with tradition, the provincial capital was to once again receive the first bloc of plates. And, predictably enough, at midnight of the day the new series were to go on sale, a line formed outside the MVB offices to obtain AAA-001 (the law stipulated that AAA-000 was invalid, as zero was not seen to be a number). After waiting eight hours, and having been shown the coveted plate by a clerk working inside the office, the first person through was awarded with plate AAA-003!

For two weeks the MVB remained silent on the subject as the local press speculated as to where the first two plates may have ended up? All that the authorities were willing to concede was that the plates had been legally issued, but not to any MVB employees. When the truth finally came out, it was revealed that a clerk with the Liquor Control Board (LCB) had been awarded plate AAA-001 (AAA-002 had gone to a member of the Canadian Armed Forces). The LCB had routinely loaned employees to the MVB in previous years to assist with the January rush, an opportunity this particular LCB employee used to their advantage!

The 1970 base plate would be used for three years, and when a new base was introduced in 1973, the series would start at LAA to XKK, with Victoria being given a 200,000-plate bloc in the VD range. With no apparent low numbered plates now available to motorists, pressure began to build on the province by the end of the decade to follow the lead of Ontario, and numerous other American states to introduce a special personalized plate.

Acting in his dual capacity as Minister of Energy, Transport and Communications, Premier Bennett announced in May of 1978 that, following the hundreds of requests from motorists, he would be taking a proposal to cabinet allowing license plates to carry unique names, numbers or messages. Beginning July 2, 1979, the province began accepting applications for slogans on a first-come, first-served basis, at a cost of $75 for five years in addition to the average $22 annual license plate fee.

Production of the plates was farmed out to Acme Signal Signs of Montreal, while design problems prevented the plates from being issued until late December of 1979. The Minister of Highways presented the first personalized plate; “HEALEY,” in a ceremony on December 6, 1979, to Richard Rogers of White Rock for use on his Healey sports car.

That wonderful feeling that comes when affixing a new personalised license plate to your car!

Although slogans could be anything from two to six characters, the MVB was so determined that nothing offensive, or any double entendre slip through that everything from foreign language computers to mirrors were employed to catch offending phrases. Some of the most popular requests were for “BIG MAC,” “SMOKEY,” “HELP,” and “MAYDAY.” Many other slogans, however, would not make it through the MVB’s list of 2,500 unacceptable words culled from the brainstorming of Branch employees, and lists provided by Texas, Oregon, California. Some of the forbidden words revolved around any references to drugs, liquor, race, politics and sex, including “SEX.”

Of the first 2,000 applications only fifty-five were to be rejected, including “IMEASY,” “IM4SEX,” “HOOKER,” and “GORF” (frog backwards – a cultural insult in Canada). Over the years there has been almost no change to the design of the personalized plates. The now familiar mountain-ocean graphic was the first graphic base plate ever issued in the province. Astrographic Industries Ltd. took over production of the plates in the mid-1980s when it won the contract to supply all of the province’s license plates.

We aren't sure if this is an early prototype personalised license plate - as it is utilising the 1979 passenger base with reversed colours? Or, is it a manufacturers specimen of the actual passenger base - as it displays the alpha-numeric AAA-000 serial? Either, it is displaying a somewhat cool combination of letters and numbers and was intended to convey a specific slogan.

Note that on the plate shown at left, the slogan bleeds into the ocean graphic, whereas on the plate shown at right the slogan has been shifted slightly higher in order to improve legibility. The other change relates to the colour of the slogan and ocean graphic, which are now the same shade of blue as is used on the standard passenger plate.

Mary Ann Hardee

As the story goes, the “WTF” letter combination was the first one available to motorists when the state switched over from blue- to red-lettered plates, and just under 10,000 sets were issued, including a pair to 60 year old grandmother and elementary school teacher Mary Ann Hardee. Not unreasonably, Hardee was blissfully unaware that, in the vernacular of cell phone text messaging, “WTF” is a commonly used acronym denoting “what the f***!"
When Hardee’s teenaged grandchildren tipped her off as to the techno-shorthand of her license plate she apparently developed such an acute case of "self-consciousness", that she petitioned the DMV for replacement plates (free of charge, of course). The DMV obliged and went a step further by offering to replace all 10,000 “WTF” sets free of charge.

Offending North Carolina license plate

WTF is this?!?!