1968 Licence Plates (Cow-Pokes only)

[Wayne M.]

Below is a blow-up of a shot taken of my late '65 L78 by the (then) owner in Marshall Texas, in the fall of 1968. The subscript "HemisFair 68" refers to the world's fair held in Austin TX that year.

I notice there's another '68 Texas HemisFair plate on eBay (following link) but it is BLACK.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260095650837

Question for locals in the know: Did the color vary by county ?

The excellent reference website http://www.15q.net data base shows Texas plates back only to 1969.

[Chuck S.]

Re: 1968 Licence Plates (Cow-Pokes only)

Wayne, from as early as I can remember, through the years you reference, up until sometime in the seventies, Texas license plates alternated between white with black characters one year, and then to black with white characters the next. If the plates in 1968 were white, then there were no "black" plates that year...better turn your ebay radar on.

In the early seventies as best I can remember, Texas plates went to reflective "Scotchlite" white with colored characters, red, green, etc. and you will also see these plates sold by vendors and on ebay.

The three letter plus three numerals system began on passenger cars sometime in the mid sixties, and continued until they ran out of unique combinations. Then license plates began with three numerals plus three letters sequence, and when they ran out of those, they used three letters plus the next three characters as letters and numerals mixed, etc., etc. Recently, the state has started through the three numeral plus three letter sequence again...my 2006 has a number that someone probably used in the early seventies. They, of course, have some computer software that keeps license plate numbers from being re-issued if they haven't been retired.

By the way, Podner...The Hemisfair was in San Antonio and they still have the tower to prove it.

[Chuck S.]

OK...I Take That Back...

"...Texas license plates alternated between white with black characters one year, and then to black with white characters the next. If the plates in 1968 were white, then there were no "black" plates that year...better turn your ebay radar on...

I just took another look at your original owner's plates, and realized he had "personalized" plates. Personalized plates began to show up about that time, and that is one way you could have white license plates in a "black" license plate year. That was also about the time that the red, green colored characters showed, so I'm not sure if those weren't a form of personalized plate.

I was out of "God's Country" about that time, so I can't provide exact years or details of the transitions.

[Bryan L.]

Re: 1968 Licence Plates (Cow-Pokes only)

Maybe the personalized plates in 68 like the one shown were all white background w/black characters. That black plate on ebabe looks like the real deal. I know 67 and 69 plates were white w/black numbers and letters. Seems like I remember them alternating the plate background colors each year.

BL

[Jean C.]

Re: 1968 Licence Plates (Cow-Pokes only)

My '68 has authentic '68 Texas plates with the "Hemisfair" tagline and are black with a 3 alpha, 3 numeric ID.
Best regards,
Charlie