02/03/12

California

PASSENGER

1987 embossed "CALIFORNIA" base:  The following design replaced the setting sun graphic design and has the state name embossed.  The plate numbers for this design ran from "2GQA000" to "3FZZ999".

Script "California" base:  The following design featured a screened script "California" and began with plate number "3GAA000".  The design ended at the end of 1997 at approximately plate number "3XZZ999" when the state introduced the sesquicentennial in the beginning of 1998 with "4AAA000".  This design was resumed towards the end of 2000 (by removing the sesquicentennial slogan) in the "4NPA000" series and is the current design.  There are three variations of the "California" script size:

          Type I:   small ("3GAA000" through about "3KOA999")
          Type II:  medium ("3KOB000" through about the "3N" or "3P" series)
          Type III: large (about the "3N" or "3P" series onward).

2001 (blue & red/reflective white) type III vg $3.00 "3LPD317" (12016)

2002 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "4SML487" (11330)

2003 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "4WWK945" (11136)

2003 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "4WAC659" (14089)

2003 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "4TDT691" (14090)

2003 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "4VEA461" (14091)

2003 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "4VIJ487" (14092)

2003 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "4UKK914" (14093)

2003 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "4VSS767" (14094)

2003 (blue & red/reflective white) type III vg $3.00 "4PPL394" (10429)

2004 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "5EYH762" (11138)

2005 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "5GTG018" (11544)

2006 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "5PEL976" (11144)

2006 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "5MKB610" (14095)

2006 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "5MWG535" (14096)

2007 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "5XMH940" (14097)

2007 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "5SIR897" (11470)

2008 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "5YKN345" (14098)

2008 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "6BAW318" (11152)

2008 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "6BHJ120" (12125)

2010 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "6HVF957" (11947)

2011 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "6NNC823" (13321)

2011 (blue & red/reflective white) type III vg $3.00 "6FUA731" (13333)

2012 (blue & red/reflective white) type III natural vg $3.00 "6PSA706" (13325)

2012 (blue & red/reflective white) type III vg $3.00 "6GPZ834" (13330)

2012 (blue & red/reflective white) type III vg $3.00 "6KZS221" (13338)

Flat edge:  Starting sometime in the mid-2000s, one (or more) of the machines at the prison license plate manufacturing plant began producing a different shaped edge than the other machines.  This is not a design change, but rather a quirk of (probably) one machine.  While most California plates have a debossed unpainted border around the plate for strengthening, this machine is producing plates with a flat edge.  This variety was noticed in the "5" series, but has also been seen in the "6" series too.

2006 (blue & red/reflective white) natural vg $3.00 "5RBN595" (14099)

2006 (blue & red/reflective white) natural vg $3.00 "5UBE064" (14100)

2008 (blue & red/reflective white) natural vg $3.00 "5ZMU986" (13354)

2010 (blue & red/reflective white) natural vg $3.00 "6KKL104" (13357)

2011 (blue & red/reflective white) vg $3.00 "6KKG495" (13368)

2011 (blue & red/reflective white) vg $3.00 "6JGZ323" (13379)

2011 (blue & red/reflective white) vg $3.00 "6KKM268" (13381)

2012 (blue & red/reflective white) natural vg $3.00 "6KOH418" (13387)

2012 (blue & red/reflective white) vg $3.00 "6KKN540" (13389)

2012 (blue & red/reflective white) vg $3.00 "6LKG085" (13495)

1998 Sesquicentennial:  From 1998 through 2000, California added the caption "SESQUICENTENNIAL - 150 YEARS" to the bottom of the standard plate to honor the state's 150th anniversary of statehood (1850-2000):

2006 (blue & red/reflective white) vg $3.00 "4CRM172" (11160)

2011 script "California" "dmv.ca.gov" base:  This new style began in 2011 and is identical to the previous type with the exception of the slogan addition.  It is believed that the plate numbers started somewhere at the beginning of the "6TPWxxx" block.  The following is a sample picture: