ALPCA Garden State Region

Last week we told the tale of how we got the 2007 New Jersey Press Sample produced through some dumb luck in Trenton. This week we look at a 1997 New York Press sample that we got in 2005.

Like we said last week: when you go down to Trenton, sometimes you get lucky when you visit the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission’s Special Plate Unit office on East State Street. This is another one of those tales.

The year was 2006 and we by pure happenstance bumped into another collector at the MVC office who was getting samples. We mentioned we were there to get another New York Press sample like the circa 2005 one we purchased a few weeks before. They were behind us waiting on line and they decided they would get one, too.

We tell the clerk what we want when we get to the counter and off he goes back into the bowels of the MVC to find the requested plate. Several minutes later, he returns with a 1997 vintage NYP sample, we hand over a five dollar bill, get a receipt from the clerk and our transaction is complete. So what sort of NYP plate did the next person on line get? A circa 2005 one.

Sometimes you get very lucky in Trenton.

If you have a plate you would like featured as a Plate of the Week, please contact us or put a photo of the plate in our flickr group and drop us a line.

Last week we looked at the 1992-present Historic Vanity. This week we look at a 2007 New Jersey Press sample.

Sometimes you get lucky when you visit the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission’s Special Plate Unit office on East State Street. Somehow the right employee is manning the counter and you can get a sample of an elusive type. If you are really lucky you will get one that knows enough that they can order things they don’t have in stock and send it to you in the mail when they get it. That is how this current “sticker boxless” New Jersey Press plate came to be back in 2007.

If you have a plate you would like featured as a Plate of the Week, please contact us or put a photo of the plate in our flickr group and drop us a line.

Last week we looked at the strange case if themade in New Jersey 1992 New York Sample. This week we are firmly back in the Garden State taking a look at the 1992 to present Historic Vanity plates.

The first Historic vehicle plates in New Jersey were first issued in 1964. However, it took about thirty years for vanities to appear on this type of plate. They came with the new reflective base plate introduction in 1992. The vanity plates feature a stacked Q/Q prefix, as do the courtesy plates, and can have six other characters.

If you have a plate you would like featured as a Plate of the Week, please contact us or put a photo of the plate in our flickr group and drop us a line.

Last week we looked at the 1991 Persian Gulf War commemorative plate. This week we ask when is a New York license plate a New Jersey License plate?

In 1992, New Jersey was gearing up for production of a new license plate design that used modern reflective sheeting provided by 3M. But what does that have to do with a New York license plate made in New Jersey?

We have deduced that this plate is a manufacturing sample used to test the production of plates with the same type of reflective sheeting.

The “ensure image” hologram found on the plate is the same as found on the New York plates of the same era, in this case a 92 indicating the date of production. New Jersey would use the 3M standard lot code system with plates produced using 3M sheeting.

These plates were manufactured on a blue blank, as you can see, similar to some later passenger, commercial and municipal plates using the 1992 gradient fade design. However, the first passenger plates produced had bare aluminum backs.

So if you know any more about these and the how and why behind their creation, we’d love to hear from you.

If you have a plate you would like featured as a Plate of the Week, please contact us or put a photo of the plate in our flickr group and drop us a line.

In our last installment of Plate of the Week we finished looking at at 1992 passenger plate. This week we take a look at the 1991 Persian Gulf War commemorative plate.

In 1991, the state of New Jersey issued a front commemorative license plate to honor the men and women who served during the Persian Gulf War. The plates were issued with the fees going to veterans groups.

The plates, much like the Bicentennial commemorative front plates, were only valid for a limited amount of time. In this case between October 1, 1991 and March 31, 1992. They were manufactured using standard blue 1979 base blanks with non-reflective white sheeting with red and blue silkscreening . There were no bolt holes cut into the sheeting requiring motorists to make their own holes when mounting the plate in place of the front plate.

A card issued with the plate stated:

New Jersey is proud to honor its citizens who served in the Persian Gulf War by issuing a special Persian Gulf War commemorative license plate.

This special Persian Gulf War commemorative Iicense plate may be displayed in place of the front license plate for a period of 6 months beginning October 1, 1991 through March 31, 1992. Please secure your current front license plate in a safe place for remounting on your vehicle afier March 31, 1992.

Your purchase of the special commemorative plate will assist several non-profit organizations dedicated to celebrating or commemorating the Persian Gulf War, aiding the participants or their families, or dedicated to establishing or maintaining a memorial to any war.
Thank you for your support.

Skip Lee, Director
New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles
MVS-MISC. (9/91)

There were many left over plates and were listed on the sample plate sales list until the early 2000s when their supply finally ran out. So unissued examples are not particularly hard to find.

If you have a plate you would like featured as a Plate of the Week, please contact us or put a photo of the plate in our flickr group and drop us a line.