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Non-Passenger Variations

Oregon Passenger Variations, Part 2:

Vendor Switches

Joe Farrenkopf writes:

Needless to say, I was very interested in Joe's information...and even more impressed when I actually saw it. Not only did the notes make note of letter combinations themselves, but they also noted the major base variations as well, and narrowed down many of the cutoff points for all twelve month series to within a letter block or two. Perhaps more significantly, it helped to clarify Oregon's seemingly random trade-offs between license plate vendors in the 1980s, reducing the scattered flips between Irwin-Hodson and Polyvend dies to four clear break points:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
	Gold/blue with sticker box
	AHB	BJD	CJP	DHC	EHF	FHV	GGV	HGT	JKJ	KJX	LLJ	MHL
	AHC	BJE	CJQ	DHD	EHG	FHY	GGW	HGU	JKK	KJY	LLK	MHM
	Blue/gold with sticker box; Irwin-Hodson dies (both "O" and "G" variations included)
	AQZ	BRK	CUS	DPR	EPX	FSW	GPD	HPJ	JRP	KSV	LTE	MQS
	ARB	BRL	CUT	DPS	EPY	FSX	GPE	HPK	JRQ	KSW	LTF	MQT
	Blue/gold with sticker box; Polyvend dies
	ATF	BSM	CVU	DQM	EQN	FTR	GQA	HQE	JSJ	KTR	LTW	MRL
	ATG	BSN	CVV	DQN	EQP	FTS	GQB	HQE	JSJ	KTR	LTX	MRM
	Blue/gold with sticker box; Irwin-Hodson dies (both "O" and "G" variations included)
	AUG	BTK	CWS	DRF	ERJ	FUT	GQX	HQZ	JTC	KUK	LUT	MSG
	AUG	BTE*	CWT	DRG	ERK	FUU	GQY	HRA	JTC	KUK	LUU	MSH
	Blue/gold with sticker box; Polyvend dies
	AUW	BUZ	CYP	DSX	ESY	FWG	GSE	HSH	JUR	KVY	LVN	MSY
	AUX	BVA	CYQ	DSY	ESZ	FWH	GSF	HSJ	JUS	KVZ	LVP	MSZ
	Blue/gold with sticker box; Irwin-Hodson dies (both "O" and "G" variations included)
	AVG	BVV	CZL	DTW	EUB	FXP	GTM	HTK	JVN	KWK	LWL	MTS
	(End coded series)
	NAA
	Blue/gold with no coding or sticker box; Polyvend dies
	NKV
	NKW
	Blue/gold with no coding or sticker box; Irwin-Hodson dies
	NSD	(Latest combination spotted as of July 1987)

Further Questions

While a lot of our questions about Oregon passenger license plate variations and break points have been answered, a few mysteries remain:

• *Could the discrepancy in the BTE-BTK series be simply an error manifesting itself when Joe recorded his notes 21 years ago, or did the "new" Polyvend plates and "old" Irwin-Hodson plates overlap their letter blocks in this stretch?
• What variations do plates in the ARA, FHW, or FHX series fall into?
• Is it possible to narrow down the spread of the variation with a straight "O" and "G" in the state name? This variation appears scattered throughout the Irwin-Hodson blue-on-gold run from almost the very beginning to the very end, even though the vast majority of these plates appear to fall into the 1976-78 (exp. 1978-80) timeframe.
• What was the rationale for the state of Oregon to contract with Polyvend to produce plates in the 1980s, and then switch between Polyvend and Irwin-Hodson (their usual vendor) several times over?
• Did the manufacture of month-coded license plates cease as soon as the first non-coded plates in the "NAA" series came out, or did both varieties coexist for a year or two? If the latter scenario is true, why didn't they let all the month series run to "xZZ?"
• Perhaps more significantly, can the cutoffs between variations of the 1955-63 (1A-2345 format) plates be narrowed down? The only deductions I have on these plates are what I've spotted from firsthand observations myself.

If by chance you can help answer any of these questions, feel free to let me know!

The Network License Plates Passenger Variations Non-Passenger Variations

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©2008 Andrew Turnbull.
Last update April 16, 2008.