OUR HISTORY
ALPCA
The Automobile License Plate Collector’s Association (ALPCA) was established 1954 in New Hampshire by Dr. Cecil George, a psychiatrist, and Asa Colby, a postmaster. The small club they started grew into an international organization with over 3000 members in the United States and throughout the world.
ALPCA members receive a top-notch bi-monthly color magazine filled with license plate photos and stories, access to ALPCA’s invaluable online archives, and instant respect and fellowship with other like-minded people.
Every year ALPCA hosts a four day convention either in June or July which attracts members from across the United States as well as around the world. Members, swap plates and stories by day and attend events in the host city at night.
Members attend smaller meets across the country and around the world. Some of these meets are independent of the club, however most of the meets are affiliated with ALPCA and are called Regions. There are eighteen separate regions throughout the United States. For more information on ALPCA please visit https://www.alpca.org/
ALPCA Region #1
The history of the ALPCA Region #1 goes back to September 1966. A few collectors from New Jersey and neighboring states got together twice a year to swap tin while enjoying each other as friends. Besides the Garden State, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania formed the rest of ALPCA Region #1. Frank German from Hamilton Square in southern New Jersey became the contact person for the state and answered questions from New Jersey ALPCA members.
Throughout the years Region #1 held two meets, a spring meet held in Pennsylvania the Saturday following Easter and a fall meet held in New Jersey down the shore the Saturday following Labor Day. These meets continued into the early nineties and stopped when one of the meet coordinators moved to Florida. Region #1 started again with a meet hosted in June in Pennslyvania
The Garden State Region
In the winter of 2008 Justin Mattes and Marco Tramelli wanted to bring a license plate meet back to New Jersey. After many obstacles and talks with the ALPCA Board of Directors, the Garden State Region was founded. Our first meet was held on November 13,2008 at the Tice Community Center located in Woodcliff Lake. Over seventy collectors traveled from as far away as Michigan and Canada to attend the meet, a number unheard of for first time meets. The meet’s success was a result of the hard work of a few core New Jersey ALPCA members and their supporters The Garden State Region continues to grow as the years pass. The tradition continues as Ed Butler has signed on as treasure of the growing region. With the help and support of a very dedicated group of collectors, the Garden State has become one of the fastest growing regions in ALPCA. Here’s to many more years of success!
–Justin Mattes
President, ALPCA Garden State Region