1956 dated

Issued: To all vehicles in 1955, and probably a little while beyond.

The original gold-on-blue style of the fifties, theoretically still in use today but understandably few and far between on the roads. Slots and holes were provided in the upper right corner for annual metal validation tabs. The design presented a bit of a challenge for validation placement when stickers replaced tabs after 1960, but most motorists managed nevertheless to squeeze them in the gap between "Oregon" and "56."

Serials carried month coding whereby "A" indicated January, "B" indicated February, and so on, skipping "I" so that December was "M."

1956-type undated

Issued: 1956 or whenever the allocations of "56" dated plates ran out (whichever came last) to circa 1959.

Pretty much the same story as before, minus the date. During this time, many months started to run out of available serials in their original code allocations. As a result, a new set of codes from "N" to "Z" (skipping "O") for January to December was initiated whenever the need arised.

"Pacific Wonderland" with tab slots

Issued: Circa late 1959 to 1960/61.

The "Pacific Wonderland" issue marked the only time a slogan appeared on a standard-issue Oregon plate. New, shorter dies were used to accomodate the slogan. The earliest issues of the plate carried tab slots in the upper right corner (and sure enough, some examples of the plates carry 1960 tabs, suggesting that the plates were first issued in 1959). The state name was offset slightly to the left nevertheless, in anticipation of opening up space for stickers.

"Pacific Wonderland" with no slots

Issued: Circa 1961 to 1963.

Made redundant by stickers, the tab slots were removed about a year after the fact. This version of the "Pacific Wonderland" base is much more common.

Gold/blue with sticker box; narrow serial spacing

Issued: January 1964.

The "Pacific Wonderland" base (which allegedly wasn't too popular east of the Cascades) fell by the wayside in favor of this functional new issue carrying several developments: A sticker box (designed to accomodate the horizontally-opposed stickers issued from the 1965 expiration year on), and a new, three letter/three number serial format (which would last much longer than the one letter/five number formats used before). The 1955-59 serial dies were restored. The first letter of the serial remained a month code, and the original 1955 code letters from "A" to "M" were reinstated.

The earliest plates (issued the first year in January only, making up the "AAx" series more or less) featured narrow spacing between the letters and numbers.

Gold/blue with sticker box; wide serial spacing

Issued: 1964 to 1973.

The vast majority of these plates, issued for nearly a decade, feature a wider space between the letters and numbers.

As an additional, rare variation early in the series, the first hundred plates for each month in 1964 (i.e., xAA 0xx) were treated with glass-bead reflectorization.

Blue/gold with sticker box; Irwin-Hodson dies with oval "O" and "G"

Issued: 1973 to circa 1986, concurrently with the below 3 or so styles.

In 1973, reflective sheeting was adopted and the color scheme was reversed. Several different die variations exist with these plates, but this seems to be the most common style. Roughly around the same time this base was introduced, Oregon switched from one-year to two-year validations. 1975 stickers are scarce, since most registrants skipped from 1974 to 1976 as a consequence.

Blue/gold with sticker box; Irwin-Hodson dies with straight "O" and "G"

Issued: Circa 1973 to circa 1985.

Here's a state-name die variation that appears scattered around. The vast majority of naturally-expiring plates seem to appear with 1978-80 stickers, though.

Blue/gold with sticker box; Polyvend dies

Issued: Circa 1981 to 1986.

Another variation: A good deal of Oregon plates in the early-to-mid '80s were made not by Irwin-Hodson, but rather by the Polyvend Corporation of Arkansas. These plates use different, straighter-lined serial dies (also used on some Hawaii and Massachusetts plates) and tend to be sloppier and less durable in quality.

Although common, this is another scattered variation: I've seen "GPV" and "GRF" plates made by Polyvend, but "GPD," "GQK," and "GSQ" plates with Irwin-Hodson dies. For more details on the breakoff points between vendors in the 1980s, be sure to see Part 2: Vendor Switches and Further Questions.

Blue/gold with no coding or sticker box; Polyvend dies

Issued: Circa 1985 to 1986.

In the mid '80s, ABC 123-format serial combinations in the "A" through "M" month codes were finally starting to run out. Rather than switching the codes over to the second half of the alphabet again, the state instead chose to issue new, non-coded plates to new registrants used in conjunction with an (extra-long) month sticker. Early examples of these plates were made again by Polyvend, using their less-rounded, lesser-quality dies.

Blue/gold with no coding or sticker box; Irwin-Hodson dies

Issued: Circa 1986 to 1988.

By the time later examples of these plates were made, the state was back to Irwin-Hodson again, making the plates with "traditional" Oregon dies and crisper stamping.

"Dead tree" graphic

Issued: 1988 to 1989.

Oregon's first graphic issue came about in 1988, featuring an image of a tall, spindly fir backed by mountains and an orange sky. It wasn't a very popular design, if the nickname commonly attributed to it is any indication.

"Live tree" graphic

Issued: Late 1989 to date.

A year or so later to address criticisms of the design, the colors of the plate were changed and darkened up. I personally like both versions of the base, although the dark tree on this one adversely affects serial legibility at a distance. Nevertheless, the design has remained unchanged ever since.

This period has not been free of variation, however: In 2004, numbers in the ABC 123 series were finally exhausted after four decades, and the numbering system thus flipped over to a 123 ABC format starting at BAA. In addition, from 2003 to 2005 (coinciding with "ZPN" to roughly "BNZ" in the suffix format) a run of these plates was produced by Waldale Manufacturing of Nova Scotia. Waldale imitated Irwin-Hodson's dies and level of quality almost perfectly, so the plates are very hard to pick out.