British Columbia Passenger License Plates
1970 - 1972

As early as 1966, British Columbia had begun to contend with the challenges posed by the impending exhaustion of the traditional six digit serial format license plates. Production of the province's plates always began at Oakalla jail twelve months in advance of the calendar year for which they were to be issued. With vehicle registration nearing 700,000 by the end of 1966, the Motor Vehicle Branch (M.V.B.) estimated that at the average current rate of seven- percent increases per year in new vehicle registrations, the serial would possibly run out in late 1969, or 1970 at the latest. This meant the MVB was left with little over a year in which to make an important decision regarding the future course of B.C. plates.
In co-operation with a number of other jurisdictions, a joint study was undertaken to determine which of the existing numbering formats in use throughout North America was the most effective. This was a very important consideration for the M.V.B. after the questionable success of its own five-character system implemented during the three-year reign of the Totem license plates. In particular, any new system would have to be easily integrated with computers as one of the other driving forces behind the switch in serials were the creeping administrative costs associated with the current system. It was already costing the province roughly $1/plate in manufacturing expenses every year, on top of the costs of a burdensome distribution system that usually resulted in near riots at M.V.B. branches ill-equipped to handle the year end rush to renew.
1970 - 1972
Finally, in March of 1969, the province announced an experimental license plate type would be introduced in 1970 - one that would follow an alphanumeric (AAA-000) format, and that would be validated through the use of plastic decals. If the plates proved successful during an initial two to three year trial period, a five-year, or possibly permanent plate would be issued in 1973. All the new plates would continue to be made at Oakalla, but they would no longer be stamped on the standard steel base that had been in use since 1955. This change was implemented in order that the plates would have a better chance of surviving the projected three-year duration of the test. Even though other provinces, such as Manitoba, had already experimented with anodyzed aluminum plates to great success, B.C. decided to continue issuing all trucks, trailers, and buses with annual plates due to the higher wear-and-tear these vehicles were perceived to endure.

This is one of the rarest of birds, an error plate that appears to have actually been issued to a motorist. Note the position of the 'J's ...
In announcing the news, the Attorney General even teased motorists by suggesting there might be a change to the succession of blue and white colour schemes seen since 1963. Unfortunately, this idea was never followed through upon as the new base plates were to be blue lettering upon a white background. The Beautiful British Columbia slogan was retained, an embossed decal box was added to bottom center of the plate, while a dash was employed to separate the letters and numbers. That the series would start at AAA-001 (the law stipulated that AAA-000 was invalid, as zero was not seen to be a number - although some did mange to make their way out of Oakalla) was almost natural, how it proceeded from this point, however, has become one of the oddest stories in license plate lore.
1970 - Invalid Plates
In the 1960s, the stamps used by employees of the MVB for compiling licensing documents only had enough space for ten character positions. Consequently, all license plates had to be numbered in a series with no more than ten different characters in each position. For numerals, this requirement was met rather easily as zero through nine could be utilized, but letters provided a bit of a different challenge. The first ten useable letters in the alphabet proved to be A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, J, and K ("I" was excluded as it too closely resembled the number one, and it would be joined in latter series by O, Q, U, Y, and Z), and for most part these letters represented the prefix combination on the 1970-72 base (see below for exceptions to this pattern).
Number
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
[A] Series
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
J
K
[L] Series
L
M
N
P
R
S
T
V
W
X
This limited character set temporarily eliminated a problem the MVB discovered with the new plates; offensive word combinations. Words such as ALE, BAD, HAG, FAG, BED, BAG, EEK, CAD, CIA and FBI were all banned from appearing on license plates, while a second list including SEX, RUM, PIG, RAT RYE, GIN, MOO, SPY, SIN and COP, among others, would not appear on later issues. The MVB conceded that it had been in touch with other provinces and states using the AAA-000 format for advice on offensive letter combinations.
The dispersion of the new plates across the province was as follows: Greater Victoria received AAA - AKK (abetting the continuance of people seeking plates with low numbers at the head office of the MVB in Victoria - please see the chapter on vanity plates), and BAA - BBJ. All other Island points received plates starting with the letter B while Central and Northern B.C. received C plates. The Lower Mainland was allotted D, E, F, G, H and J, while the Okanagan and Kootenays received K plates. By the fall of 1971, registered cars in B.C. had surpassed the one million mark, exhausting the AAA to KKJ format. The MVB was thus required to start issuing a new series from KLL - KXX.
Regional Distribution

Victoria
(Victoria)

Victoria
(Victoria)
"BBK" to "BKK"
Vancouver Island
Central & Northern BC
(Prince George)

Lower Mainland
(Vancouver Georgia Street)
"EAA" to "EKK"
Lower Mainland

Lower Mainland
(Vancouver Point Grey)

Lower Mainland
(New Westminister)

Lower Mainland
(New Westminister)
Lower Mainland
(Mission)
1972 - Over-run
The plate pictured at left is an example of the over-run plates that the province had to commence issuing after 1971. As mentioned above, these plates ran in the KLL to KXX series. Interestingly, this particular example shows that the plates did not employ the use of a dash separator between the characters and digits (similar to the 1973 base plate).
The actually design of the license plates in use between 1970-1972 differed little from previous years. A blue-on-white colour scheme employed, the Beautiful British Columbia slogan was retained, but instead of a date stamp appearing in the upper-right corner, an embossed decal box took its place in the lower center of the plate. It was here that motorists were expected to apply their validation decals that would, henceforward, carry the expiration date. As there had been a complete re-issuance of plates in 1970, there was no need to have decals that year display a separate registration number.
Validating plates under the new decal system was subject to the same restrictions as had been in place throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Decals were to go on sale the first week of January, and motorists received a two-month grace period (until the end of February), before registration had to be current. In 1971, and 1972, decals would possess their own serial number that attached them to a specific vehicle.
Sources
Dave Richardson's "British Columbia License Plates 1969-Present", http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/downs/4412/bc.html (November 11, 2001).
Dan Howlett, "Decoding British Columbia License Plates", http://www.kasumirecords.com/bcplates/index.htm (October 28, 2001).
Vancouver Province Newspaper.
Victoria Daily Times Newspaper.
Victoria Colonist Newspaper.
Vancouver Sun Newspaper.

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