BRITISH COLUMBIA COMMERCIAL PLATES
Truck issued 1924 only. #T1 - T8500 assigned; T7143 seen.
Commercial began 1936. Numbering began at C-1 1936-71.
1936-48 FORMATS No G,I,L,M,Q,R*,V,W used.
C-1 - C9-999 (By 1940, limited to Vancouver)
CA-1 - CZ-999 No CP 1937, CF 1942-48, CY 1947.
*R used 1936-37, 1948.
(1942-48) C-1A - C-999Z No C,F used 1942-45 (assuming no J).
No C,F,J,O used 1946.
No C,F,O,Y used 1947.
No F,O,Z used 1948.
(1947-48) C1-A1 - C4-Y99 After C1-Y99, C2-A1 etc.
No F,O,Z used.
Long dash used on 1-4-figures 1936-45 only.
Reported: Cx-Cxx omitted 1947.
ASSIGNED OBSERVED
1936 C8-800, CP-800 (20,589*) C8-824, CR-574 (21,386*)
1937 C9-999, CS-255 (22,242) C7-609, CS-921 (20,518)
1938 C6-209, CZ-358 (23,550*)
1939 C4-597, CX-355 (19,937)
1940 C7-000, CY-878 (23,862) C6-779, CZ-146 (23,908)
1941 C6-500, CX-999 (22,484) C7-103, CZ-520 (24,606)
1942 C7-000, C-900A (24,883) C7-850, C-183B (26,015)
1943 C7-500, C-999A (25,482) C5-949, C- 15E (25,944)
1944 C7-500, C-515B (25,997) C7-088, C-628A (24,699)
1945 C8-000, C-685E (28,665) C4-184, C-118K (26,350)
1946 C8-500, C-999N (32,476) C6-453, C-283X (34,708)
1947 C9-999, C-185Z (39,155) C9-528, C3-H12 (42,975)
1948 C9-999, C1-Y99 (44,451) C8-337, C4-T55 (48,298)
1949-71 FORMATS C-1 - C99-999
(1953-64) CA-1 - CJ9-999 (CA dropped after 1960)
(1965-71) J-1 - J99-999 (K added 1971)
ASSIGNED OBSERVED
1949 C55-250 C60-088 (1949-51: 2 sizes same as pass.)
1950 C59-400 C67-470
1951 C65-000 C73-616 (Dated plate)
1952-53 BASE Initial assignment in bold.
1952 Type 1: Dated C-1 - C90-000* (90,000 P)
(53) Type 2: Undated, totem C90-130 - C98-498 (8,369 P)
(53) Type 2a CA1-430 - CA1-940 (511 P)
(53) Type 3: Undated, no totem CA2-729 - CA2-753 (25 P)
(TOTAL 102,753 P)
Totem pole only, no maple leaf, longer province name than pass.
1953 tab has totem only, and a notch cut out for "A".
1953 TAB ASSIGNED OBSERVED
400001 - 485000 483609
1953-64: Variations of spacing/hyphens on 2-letter series.
1954: Dated plate.
1955-56: Old size and dies, no tab slots.
ASSIGNED OBSERVED (CK expected 1964)
1954 C90-000 C92-432*
1955 C95-000 C96-492, CA1-964
1956 ? C99-644, CA5-026, CE -432
1957 ? C98-678, CA7-208, CE5-002
1958 ? C99-324, CA4-314, CE9-232, CH4-447
1959 ? C99-813, CA8-399, CE8-783, CH6-032, CJ2-342*
1960 ? C99-882, CA9-919, CE7-944, CH8-368, CJ1-114*
1961 ? C98-897, CE9-788, CH9-067, CJ458*
1962 ? C97-740, CE6-183, CH6-317
1963 ? C97-755, CE4-429, CH5-248
1964 C99-775, CJ6-775* C99-204, CE5-737, CH4-598, CJ6-365
1965 C90-000, J43-900 J34-689
1966 C96-000, J48-000 J42-217
1967 C99-999, J49-500 J51-772
1968 C99-999, J62-000 J66-601
1969 C99-999, J81-800 J79-467
1970 C96-000, J99-500 J89-084 (K expected)
1971 C99-999, J86-000,
K37-000 K37-570
1972 730-001 - 979-000 975-090
1965: C 673, C59-676 normal;
C3-137 - C13-191 (10,055) have sticker box bottom center.
1967: J42-744 normal, J51-772 has "19" added in UL corner.
1970-73: Dated plates, design identical to 1969.
1973-75 BASE
1973 Type 1: Hyphen 500-001 - 894-666 (394,666 P)
1975 Type 2: No hyphen 906 711 - 999 706 (92,996 P)
1975 Type 1a 31-902 - 39-361 (7,460 P)
(TOTAL 507,166 P)
1976-78 BASE No I,O,Q,U,Z used.
1976 Type 1 00-00-AA - 28-89-AH (72,890 P)
1976 Type 2 71-03-AH - 20-80-DS (614,978 P)
(TOTAL 692,081 P)
Omitted suffixes: BB,BC,CL,CN,CP.
Suffixes not seen: BL,BS,DP,DR.
Legends: "( ) BEAUTIFUL ( )" top, "BRITISH COLUMBIA 76" bottom.
Description of Types: Type 1 - Partial sticker boxes
Type 2 - Full sticker boxes
1979-86 BASE Pass. design. No I,O,Q,U,Z used.
1979 Type 1 00-00-FA - 53-80-FA (5,381 P)
1979 Type 2 92-68-FA -
1979 Type 1a 15-17-FB -
1979 Type 2a 39-71-FB - 80-31-KG (734,061 P)
Mar.82 "FEB 83" Type 3 40-00-KH - 06-51-LY (336,652 P)
(TOTAL 1,090,652 P)
Suffixes not seen: FG,FM,GA,GR,GS,GY,HB,HG,HM-HR,HT,HV,JC,JS.
Description of Types: Type 1 - Alberta dies, reflective
Type 2 - Quebec dies, non-reflective
Type 3 - Alberta dies, non-reflective
Undated bases used 1/1/1979 - 3/31/1979, same as passenger.
Monthly Staggered Registration began 4/1/79, expire "MAR 80",
for new registrations, same as passenger.
Replaced August 1985 to July 1986, same as passenger.
1985-2025 FLAG BASE No I,O,Q,U,Z used.
Aug.85 "JUL 86" Type 1 0000 MB - 9999 YY (2,020,000 P)
"NOV 96" Type 1a 0000 AA - 9999 GF (1,240,000 P)
"MAR 04" Type 2 0000 GG - 9988 LR (919,989 P)
2-20-08 Type 3 AL 0000 - AL 8433 (8,434 P)
"APR 09" Type 2a AL 9437 - EW 9057 (879,621 P)
Type 3a FJ 3739 - SA 8168 (2,014,430 P)
2022 (UND.) Type 4 VG 1631 - WR 9651 (298,021 P)
(TOTAL 6,931,729 P)
Description of Types:
Type 1 - B.C. dies
Type 2 - Waldale thin dies, 1 sticker box
Type 3 - Waldale thin dies, 2 sticker boxes
Type 4 - Waldale thin dies, no sticker boxes
Omitted Suffixes: MA,MD,MP,SA,TF,TH,TR,VD,
BB,BC,BS,CL,CN,CP,DP,DR,GR.
(SA = Special Agreement)
Omitted Prefixes: AA-AK,AT,BJ,BS,DM,TA-TZ.
Veteran Truck began 11/23/2004, 0000 LV, 0000 LT (LW-LX also reserved).
2007-11 OLYMPIC BASE
4-16-07 "AUG 07" AA-0000 - AF-1933 (51,934 P)
Last issued May 2010.
COLORS (When different from passenger)
1951 Blue/White 1973-75 BASE Black/White
1954 Yellow/Black 1974 STICKER Red/White (Black Serial)
1970 Blue/White 1976-78 BASE Orange/White
1971 White/Blue 1979-86 BASE Green/White
1972 Red/White
STICKERS: 1974 "COMMERCIAL", 1975-2023 same as passenger.
