British Columbia Passenger License Plates
1936-1948

A special thanks to Tom Lindner, Dallas Doyle, Graham Casey and Ron Garay for providing many of the plates pictured.

1936 - 1948
Issuing Statistics
1936:
1 to 85,550
1937:
1 to 87,400
1938:
unknown
1939:
unknown
1940:
1 to 90,000
1941:
1 to 91,000
1942:
1 to F1,000
1943:
1 to 89,000
1944:
1 to 92,950
1945:
1 to 96,000
1946:
1 to B1,040
1947:
1 to B7,000
1948:
1 to J9,999

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For the 1940 licensing year, the Motor Vehicle Branch (MVB) made the decision to order an initial run of approximately 90,000 sets of plates. Available licensing data, however, indicates that their were approximately 101,452 vehicles licensed that year - representing an over-run of at least 11,452.
This presented a dual challenge for the MVB, as not only were an additional bloc of plates required from the plate manufacturing facility at the Oakalla prison, but the number of plates needed was going to surpass the available combinations that could be used on an all numeric five-digit plate.
To remedy this, a decision was made to retain the five-digit serial through the introduction of single letter prefixes on passenger plates. The letters to be used included "A" (for Vancouver Island), "B" (for Vancouver) and "F" (for New Westminster).
Available media reports from 1940 indicate and that the "same system will be used when the white and blue plates of 1941 are issued", and by 1946 the MVB had expanded the system to include the letter "H":
In the event of Issuing offices requiring further allotments of passenger plates, these will be supplied in the usual manner.  However, if the ordinary numerical passenger sequence is exhausted during the licence year, Mainland points will be supplied with a series beginning with the prefix “H” (with the exception of Vancouver Motor Licence Office which will be allotted “B” and New Westminster Motor Licence Office and Sub-Offices which will be allotted “F”.  The alphabetical prefix for Vancouver Island being “A” as in previous years.

It is thought the range of letter prefixes from 1946 also included "K", and by 1948 possibly as many as twelve different letters due to the rapid growth in private vehicle ownership in British Columbia following the end of WWII.
Of note, the use of the "F" prefix for passenger vehicles was discontinued in 1948 following amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act in 1947 which created the separate category of Farm Tractors - which henceforward would be issued the "F" prefix.
1940-48 Passenger Prefix Plates
1942
"A" Prefix
1943
"A" Prefix (?)
1943
"B" Prefix (?)
1946
"B" Prefix (?)
Ron Garay Collection
1946
"J" Prefix
1948
"B" Prefix
1948
"Y" Prefix (?)

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Due to material shortages associated with the War Effort, British Columbia (as well as many other jurisdictions) opted to issue only a single license plate for the 1942 license year, and would continue to do so through 1947.
This decision, however, was only made after Oakalla had already produced pairs of 1942 plates. So that the metal did not go to waste, the pairs of 1942s were split-up with one plate heading back to Oakalla were it would be re-stamped for issuance in 1943 and repainted, and the other plates being issued to motorists.
Although not generally visible from the front of the plates, it is possible to see the restamping process on the back of the 1943 plates (with some plates showing this better than others):
 

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On March 1, 1948, the MVB reported that "a defect had developed in a large number of motor-vehicle licence plates issued for 1948 (the white paint on the numerals and letters coming off after exposure to dampness) it is necessary that such plates be substituted ..." It is thought that the plate shown above represents an example of this "defect".

1904-1912  | 1913-1914  |  1915-1917  |  1918-1923  |  1924-1935  |  1936-1948  |  1949-1951  |  1952-1954
 1955-1963  |  1964-1969  |  1970-1972  |  1973-1978  |  1979-1985  |  1985-2001  |  2001-2013  |  2013 and beyond

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