Historical North Carolina license plates

The state of North Carolina has been issuing license plates to its citizens to display on their vehicles as proof of registration since 1914.

[edit] Dealer license plates

A 1935 North Carolina License Plate

A 1941 North Carolina License Plate.

1941
- This was the third year in a row (and the last) that the state used this particular script for the lettering. This year the state also introduced the yellow-on-black paint scheme that would alternate with the black-on-yellow scheme for the next several years.

A 1942 North Carolina License Plate.

1942
1943
- This year only, due to wartime shortages, North Carolina elected not to produce new license plates, but to instead place a miniature tag with the number "43" embossed on it over the "42" of the previous year's plate to reregister vehicles.

A 1944 North Carolina License Plate.

1944
- The state returned to issuing completely new license plates annually. Notice that the state name and year was now embossed at the top of the plate.
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
- This year North Carolina's plates, with a red-on-white design, featured the motto "First In Freedom" at the top of the plate, in honor of the 200th anniversary of North Carolina having the first county to declare independence from Great Britain, in 1775.
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982-present
- This year North Carolina introduced the "First In Flight" motto screened in red lettering at the top of its license plate, with the state name at the bottom. The background features an image of the Wright Brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903, which has been screened in blue onto a white background. Likewise, the embossed registration has also been done in blue. Stickers to renew the registration of the vehicle were placed at the top corners of the license plates. The registration was changed to the ABC-1234 format later in the 1980s, but the design has remained unchanged overall ever since.
- In April 2007, North Carolina will start replacing the old design with an updated version of the 1982 plate. Red lettering and numbering will replace the current blue lettering and numbering.^[1]