District
of Columbia



76 D.C. expiration tab issued in 1975, and 77 D.C. expiration tab issued in 1976.


Early issues of this license plate came out with a debossed 75 in the lower right sticker well. Later issues came out without any debossing in the sticker well. Both plates are shown here with the back side of the sticker wells shown below.



Low numbered license plate (1 to 1,250) were given out by the Mayor's office, and at the discretion of City Council members. Early ones had the debossed sticker well. Later issued ones did not.
Sample plates

Sample version of D.C. Bicentennial plate used during 1976, and sample version of D.C. 1976 medical doctor license plate.

District of Columbia bicentennial city council sample license plate on the left. On the right is a District of Columbia diplomatic staff sample license plate as noted by the WN prefix.

District of Columbia bus and trailer sample issues on Bicentennial base.


District of Columbia taxi and livery sample issues on Bicentennial base.

District of Columbia rental vehicle sample on Bicentennial base.


D. C. Diplomatic license plates expiring in March of 1976 and 1977.


1976 D.C. Government plate. The ALPCA archives mentions this plate with an embossed Capitol Building. This one, however , has no embossing whatsover. This plate was picked up from Nick Kanaya, ALPCA#7422, Sunnyvale, California. Nick asked the same question about the lack of embossment on this plate. He also has a great website on sample plates.


Purported to be the 1976 District of Columbia Mayor's plate. However, I cannot find verification of that in the ALPCA archive. Earlier issues talk about two letter prefixes representing different departments. In this case, DC could be the Department of Corrections.


1976 D.C. Bus plate as noted by B prefix.


1976 D.C. Commercial plate.


1976 D.C. car dealer plate.



1976 District of Columbia taxi plates used through March 31, 1976 and 1978.


1976 District of Columbia rental car plate.


1976-77 District of Columbia license plate for diplomatic staff, as noted by the WN prefix.


69 D.C. vanity base with 76 expiration sticker.


Plates that were attached to the bottom of regular license plates for Congressional and Senate staff.

This 1976 U.S. Congress staff plate strip belonged to Frances D. Heyward, General Counsel to the Coast Guard Subcommittee of the House of Representatives Merchant Marine & Fisheries Committee.



I am not sure whether this 1976 U.S. Capitol staff strip was used as the items above, or if it was a souvenir item.


This type of District of Columbia police department plate was first issued in 1973 and used well into the early 90's. According to the ALPCA archive, the first two digits on the serial number indicate the precinct where the vehicle was registered.


1976 District of Columbia Annual Special Permit License Plate


On the left is the D.C. motorcycle plate used from 4/1/75 to 3/31/76. On the right is the D.C. motorcycle license plate utilized from 4/1/76 through 3/31/77. This is the plate on D.C. motorcycles for the greater part of 1976.

Temporary District of Columbia license plate expiring on March 1, 1976


  Click on image to read information printed on back of temporary plate


1976 District of Columbia prototype plate


1976 Washington, D.C. souvenir license plate
District of Columbia National Bicentennial Cherry Blossom Festival Parade plate

Plates I am looking for from the District of Columbia: You can contact me at mikesells@aol.com

For more on District of Columbia plates, you can follow these links:


D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles

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