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License Plate Gallery

The Wisconsin Pages:

Passenger, 1986-present

Wisconsin's first graphic passenger license plates, based on a design by David Hornung, were introduced in August 1986. From this point on, alpha prefixes keyed to expiration months were abandoned in favor of a single numbering series and month stickers. Due to complaints from law enforcement of the initial colors being too similar to those of neighboring states, the color scheme was changed in March 1987 to red on white. (General-series blue plates were eventually replaced in 1993-94.) Narrower dies came into use in late 1994, but the baseplate design itself remained unchanged until 2000.

A modified base design with a reversed serial format began to be issued in June 2000. The introduction of the new design also coincided with the start of a gradual replacement of earlier red-on-white issues: Most plates issued from 1987 to 1995 were routinely replaced between 2000 and 2003, while slightly later issues (~P to T series) were replaced in 2009.

Reserved-series and carryover formats

Low numbers in pre-1986 configurations have been issued on the current base; most often for motorists who have held these numbers for many years. Several of the examples below are particularly interesting because they continue to reflect the pre-1986 month code conventions.

It is also possible for 1986-2000 ABC-123 series numbers to be remade as vanities on the current base: