76 Ontario

1975 Ontario expiry tabs were good until the March of 1976, when they were replaced with the 1976 expiry tabs.

According to Joe Sallmen of Fairmont, West Virginia, "The first Ontario 73 plates were white on the back. That was true until HZF when the blue backed plates started to appear. In the P series, other colors started to appear. He remembers the following sequences:

AAA-HYZ--white back
HZE-JFx--blue back
JHA---LJO--white back
LIP-PSx--blue back

I thought all Pxx and Rxx had blue backs until I recently saw combinations like PTB with a yellow back. As for the rest:
Up to SOZ--blue back
SPA-SPZ--yellow back
SRx--STF--black back (not sure about the rest of the ST series
SVx-SWx--yellow back
SWX-TBZ--white back
Most of the TCx to TJD--green back, although some in the TCx series had white backs
TJE-TLx--black back
TLx-TZZ--white back
By TMB the Yours to Discover slogan had appeared, and the variety of colors on the back diminished rapidly. There are very few YTD bases that are not white on the back.
VZA-VZM--red back
XTE--black back"

1973 Ontario sample license plate with 76 tab.

Tabs issued in 1976 for trailers.

1973 Ontario plate with 1976 trailer tab.

Quarterly Truck Plates

Ontario began issuing quarterly plates for trucks and trailers in 1962. While the practice ended for trailers in 1972, it continued for trucks until 1980. The June, 1998, ALPCA Newsletter, has an article by Joe Sallmen, #7100 and Jon Upton #7135 with special thanks to Alan Bones, #2278 and David Steckley, #1296, which explains the system. As Stu McAllister of the City of Oshawa, Ontario, Traffic Operations, explains the dates on these plates show the date of expiration. In other words, the March 1976 truck quarterly was issued in late 1975 and expired in March of 1976. In 1976 then, you could see quarterly plates dated for both 1976 and finally for March 1977, which would have been bought in late 76.

Bus Quarterly Plates

Bus quarterly plates operated in the same manner as truck quarterly plates.


	Space for December 76 bus quarterly (black on yellow)

March quarterly bus plates, as indicated by the BU suffix.
September quarterly bus plate, as indicated by the BX prefix.

1976 Ontario diplomatic plate as noted by the CD prefix and 1976 Ontario non diplomatic foreign embassy plate as noted by the XTR prefix.

1976 Ontario dealer plate.

Public Carrier Vehicle Quarterlies

1976 March Quarterly P.C.V. plate (blue on white)
1976 June Quarterly P.C.V. plate (red on white)
1976 September Quarterly P.C.V. plate (white on green)
1976 December Quarterly P.C.V. plate (black on yellow)