British Columbia Passenger License Plates
1952 - 1954

Ahhh ... the ill-fated Totem, a striking plate and probably my favourite BC plate of all time - but what a mess!
The 1952 plate would present a number of challenges in that the base was intended to be renewable over a period of approximately 5 years, but that the 250,000 to 350,000 plates that would be required over this timeframe would need to be accomodated by a 5-digital serial in order to accomodate the placement of the "Totem" emblem (being a thunderbird totem pole inside the outline of a maple leaf) at the right side of the plate.
To accomodate this, the Motor Vehicle Branch (MVB) re-introduced the use of single letters into the combination - as has occurred in the period between 1940 to 1948 when passenger registrations routinely exceeded the 100,000 combinations afforded by the 5-digit all numeric "00-000" format in use at that time.
Accordingly, one of the easiest way to understand how the 1952 series worked is to think of it as being three distinct blocs of between 50,000 to 100,000 plates that were issued to different parts of the province based upon a certain urban hierarchy.
What can be considered as the first bloc of 100,000 were the traditional all-numeric plates displaying the "00-000" format. These were issued to the majority of MVB offices across the province, the majority of which were in the smaller urban/rural areas - with the exception of Victoria which retained it status as the location from which the first bloc of plates (and, most importantly, No. 1) were issued.
1st Bloc - "00-000" format
Issuing Statistics
Victoria:
1 to 40-000
  
Fernie:
57-501 to 58-800
  
Nanaimo:
67-151 to 73-650
  
Princeton:
88-101 to 89-300
Alberni:
40-001 to 43-700
  
Golden:
58-801 to 59-550
  
New Denver:
73-651 to 74-000
  
Quesnel:
89-301 to 90-300
Ashcroft:
43-701 to 44-050
  
Field:
59-551 to 59-650
  
Nakusp:
74-001 to 74-200
  
Revelstoke:
90-301 to 90-950
Atlin:
44-051 to 44-100
  
Grand Forks:
59-651 to 60-350
  
Oliver:
74-201 to 75-600
  
Rossland:
90-951 to 91-950
Barkerville:
44-101 to 44-250
  
Greenwood:
60-351 to 60-700
  
Penticton:
75-601 to 79-550
  
Salmon Arm:
91-951 to 93-550
Burns Lake:
44-251 to 45-150
  
Kaslo:
60-701 to 60-950
  
(Summerland):
79-551 to 80-100
  
Smithers:
93-551 to 94-350
Clinton:
45-151 to 45-400
  
Kelowna:
60-951 to 65-950
  
Pouce Coupe:
80-101 to 82-100
  
Vernon:
94-351 to 98-500
Courtenay:
45-401 to 48-700
  
Lillooet:
65-951 to 66-350
  
Powell River:
82-101 to 83-700
  
(Armstrong):
98-501 to 99-000
Cranbrook:
48-701 to 51-900
  
(Bralorne):
66-351 to 66-650
  
Prince George:
83-701 to 86-300
  
(Enderby):
99-001 to 99-350
Creston:
51-901 to 53-200
  
Merritt:
66-651 to 67-150
  
Prince Ruppert:
86-301 to 88-100
  
Williams Lake:
99-351 to 99-999
Duncan:
53-201 to 57-500
                  

The second bloc of approximately 83,992 plates displayed a single letter prefix - i.e. "A0-000" - and were issued exclusively to the City of Vancouver, which was and remains the largest city in the Province.
2nd Bloc - "A0-000" format
Issuing Statistics
Vancouver:
A-1 to A9-999
 
E-1 to E9-999
 
H-1 to H9-999
 
J-1 to J9-999
 
K-1 to K9-999
 
P-1 to P9-999
 
R-1 to R9-999
 
S-1 to S9-999
 
T-1 to T4-000

The third bloc of approximately 50,051 plates incorporated a single letter as the second character - i.e. "0A-000" - and were issued to eleven mid level urban areas or regional centres of the province such as New Westminster and Kamloops, etc ...
3rd Bloc - "0A-000" format
Issuing Statistics
New Westminster:
1A-1 to 9A-999
1E-1 to 9E-999
1H-1 to 2H-999
Cloverdale:
3H-1 to 6H-999
Haney:
7H-1 to 8H-999
Chilliwack:
1J-1 to 6J-999
Kamloops:
1K-1 to 4K-500
Abbotsford:
1P-1 to 4P-999
Mission:
1R-1 to 4R-999
Nelson:
1S-1 to 3S-600
Salmo:
3S-601 to 3S-800
Castlegar:
3S-801 to 3S-999
Trail:
1T-1 to 4T-999
Ron Garay Collection
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A number of single letter prefix plates were retained at the Victoria Stock Room for issuance later in the year to other offices on an as-needs basis. While available records only make reference to the "T" and "U" prefixes, the presence of a "W" prefix with the date stamp and totem emblem is thought to signify that additional plates were required prior to the end of the 1952 issuing year.
1952 Over-run
Issuing Statistics
Stock Room:
T-4001 to T9-999
 
U-1 to U9-999

Over-run Variations
Given the placement of a letter as the first character on the following plates, it is not unreasonable to think that these might have been over-run plates issued in 1952, especially the "W" prefix which also displays the embossed Totem on the base similar to the "T" & "U" prefix plates shown above. It also seems logical that once the "T" & "U" prefix were exhausted that the MVB would start issuing plates with a "W" and possibly followed be a "Y" prefix. What is somewhat odd, however, is the disappearane of the dash followed by the later disappearance of the Totem on higher numbered "W" prefix plates. It will be interesting to see if all of the "Y" prefix plates do not have the embossed Totem as we add more photos to this section.

*     *     *     *     *
As was planned, the Totem base was renewed by validation tab in both 1953 and 1954, with the design of the tabs incorporating the same totem and maple leaf motif that appeared on the right-side of the 1952 base. The most notable design element that sets the tabs apart from the base is the coloured backgrounds (i.e. blue in 1953 and black in 1954).
1953 - 1954
Issuing Statistics
1953:
100,001 to 335,000
1954:
100,001 to 360,000


Victoria

New Westminster
At first glance it seems odd that there are actually issuing statistics for the renewal tabs, but as is evident in the above photos, each tab came with its own unique registration number.
Not surprisingly, one of the main criticisms leveled against the tab renewal system was the lack of legibility as these registration numbers become almost invisible when one is more than a few feet away from the plate.

*     *     *     *     *
Although the MVB had retained approximately 15,000 plates for future use in the Stock Room in Victoria as part of the 1952 issuance, this proved insuffient to meet the need for new registrations throughout 1953 and 1954 and a new series of approximately 60,000 plates incorporating a single-letter suffix (i.e. 0-000A) were manufactured.
Unfortunately, the available MVB records for 1953 and 1954 only provide details on the serial numbers that appeared on the renewal tabs and not the number of additonal plates that were manufactured to accommodate the need for new license plates.
Nevertheless, it is possible to identify these plates through the absence of the Totem emblem on the base plate - which has been left blank.
1953 - 1954 Base Plates
Interestingly, the letter "D" has now made an appearance, and it is thought the series ended in the "K" range.
If you have a plate with a letter combination not shown here, it is also possible that you might be looking at Commercial (C), Farm (F) or Dealer (D) plate.

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