Vehicle registration plates of South Carolina

The U.S. state of South Carolina first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1917.

Passenger baseplates 1917 to present

In 1956, the U.S. states and Canadian provinces came to an agreement with the Automobile Manufacturers Association that fixed the size for license plates for vehicles, except those for motorcycles, at six inches in height by twelve inches in width, with standardized mounting holes. The 1955 (dated 1956) issue was the first South Carolina license plate that complied with these standards.

Dates issued	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Serials issued	Notes
1917	Black on white	none	12345	unknown
1918	White on brown	none	12345	unknown
1919	Dark Blue on brown	none	12-345	unknown
1954	Embossed white numbers on black plate; "SOUTH CAROLINA 54" embossed in white block letters below numbers	none	A-123456	Letter corresponds to weight class
1955	Embossed black numbers on white plate; "SOUTH CAROLINA 55" embossed in black block letters above numbers	none	A-123456	Letter corresponds to weight class
1956	Embossed black numbers on yellow plate; "SOUTH CAROLINA 56" embossed in black block letters below numbers	none	A-123456	Letter corresponds to weight class
1957	Embossed white numbers on blue plate; "SOUTH CAROLINA 57" embossed in white block letters above numbers	none	A-123456	Letter corresponds to weight class
1958	Embossed blue numbers on white plate; "SOUTH CAROLINA 58" embossed in blue block letters below numbers	none	A-123456	Letter corresponds to weight class
1959	As 1957 base, but with "59" in place of "57"	none	A-123456	Letter corresponds to weight class
1960	As 1958 base, but with "60" in place of "58"	none	A-123456	Letter corresponds to weight class
1961	Embossed red numbers on white plate with border line; "SOUTH CAROLINA 61" embossed in red block letters above numbers	none	A-123456	Letter corresponds to weight class
1962	Embossed white numbers on red plate with border line; "SOUTH CAROLINA 62" embossed in white block letters below numbers	none	A-123456	Letter corresponds to weight class
1963	Embossed white numbers on green plate with border line; "SOUTH CAROLINA 63" embossed in white block letters above numbers	none	A-123456	Letter corresponds to weight class
1964	Embossed white numbers on black plate with border line; "SOUTH CAROLINA 64" embossed in white block letters below numbers	none	A-123456 AA-1234	First letter corresponds to weight class	Double-letter serial format introduced for each weight class, though the single-letter format continued to be issued.
1965	Embossed black numbers on white plate with border line; "SOUTH CAROLINA 65" embossed in black block letters above numbers	none	A-123456 AA-1234	First letter corresponds to weight class
1966	Embossed white numbers on blue plate with border line; "SOUTH CAROLINA 66" embossed in white block letters below numbers	none	A 123456 AA 1234	First letter corresponds to weight class
1967	Embossed dark blue numbers on white plate with border line; "SOUTH CAROLINA" and "1967" embossed in dark blue block letters centered above and below numbers respectively	none	A 123456 AA 1234	First letter corresponds to weight class
1968	Embossed white numbers on black plate with border line; "SOUTH CAROLINA" and "AUTO" embossed in white block letters centered above and below numbers respectively; "19" embossed in bottom left corner and "68" in bottom right corner	none	A 123456 AA 1234	First letter corresponds to weight class
1969	Embossed white numbers on blue plate with border line; "SOUTH CAROLINA" and "1969" embossed in white block letters centered above and below numbers respectively	none	A 123456 AA 1234	First letter corresponds to weight class
1970	Embossed white numbers on green plate with border line; "SOUTH CAROLINA" embossed in white block letters centered above numbers	"300 YEARS" embossed in white block letters centered below numbers, with "1670" in bottom left corner and "1970" in bottom right corner	A 123456 AA 1234	First letter corresponds to weight class	Commemorated the 300th anniversary of the settling of South Carolina.
1971	Embossed white numbers on dark red plate with border line; "SOUTH CAROLINA" and "1971" embossed in white block letters centered above and below numbers respectively	none	A 123456 AA 1234	First letter corresponds to weight class
1972	As 1968 base, but with "1972" embossed below numbers	none	ABC 123		For each three-letter serial, only the numbers 101 to 250 were issued. This practice continued until 1976.
1973	As 1969 base, but with "1973" embossed below numbers	none	ABC 123
1974	As 1970 base, but with "1974" embossed below numbers	none	ABC 123
1975	As 1971 base, but in a brighter shade of red and with "1975" embossed below numbers	none	ABC 123
1976	Red on white base	Bicentennal 1776 and 1976 on top of plate	ABC 123
1990 - December 1997	Carolina Wren (state bird). Dated "91" in right sticker box.	none	ABC 123	AAA 101 to ?	Awarded "Plate of the Year" for best new license plate of 1990 by the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association, the first and, to date, only time South Carolina has been so honored.
January 1998 - Spring 2008	Sabal palmetto (state tree). Dated "99" in right sticker box.	Smiling Faces. Beautiful Places.	123 ABC	101 AAA to present	Numbers 101 to 900 issued for each letter series. Serials were initially embossed but were surface-printed beginning at around the X series, and extended to number 999.
Summer 2008 - present	Black flat numbers on multicolored sunset background with state flag motif at center.	TRAVEL2SC.COM	ABC 123	AAA 101 to present	Serials are surface-printed.

Optional types

Image	Dates issued	Design	Slogan	Serial format	Serials issued	Notes
	2003 to 2007	Black on light blue with national and state flags.	In God We Trust	123 4AB	101 1AA to 998 9ZZ (as of 10/28/07)	No cost. Serials were initially embossed but were later surface-printed.
	2008 to present	Black on light blue with national and state flags.	In God We Trust	123 4AB	101 1AA to present	No cost. Series were initially flat but were later surface-printed.

External links

Vehicle registration plates of the United States

States	Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Federal district	Washington, D.C.

Insular areas	American Samoa Guam Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico U.S. Virgin Islands

Vehicle registration plates of North America

Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States

Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands

State of South Carolina

Columbia (capital)

Regions	Atlantic Coastal Plain Blue Ridge Mountains Grand Strand High Hills of Santee Lake Murray Country Lowcountry Metrolina Midlands Ninety-Six District Olde English District Pee Dee Piedmont Sandhills Sea Islands Upstate

Larger cities	Charleston Columbia Greenville Mount Pleasant North Charleston Rock Hill Spartanburg

Smaller cities	Aiken Anderson Beaufort Bennettsville Camden Cayce Easley Florence Forest Acres Gaffney Georgetown Greenwood Greer Goose Creek Hilton Head Island Isle of Palms Laurens Lexington Mauldin Myrtle Beach North Augusta North Myrtle Beach Orangeburg Simpsonville Summerville Sumter Union Walterboro West Columbia York

Towns	Abbeville Barnwell Batesburg-Leesville Bluffton Clemson Darlington Dillon Edgefield Fort Mill Fountain Inn Great Falls Hardeeville Irmo Jefferson Kingstree Liberty Marion McCormick Moncks Corner Newberry Pageland Pendleton Pickens Seneca Sullivan's Island Travelers Rest Walhalla Westminster Williamston

CDPs	Berea Carolina Forest Dentsville Gantt Ladson Parker Red Hill Saint Andrews Seven Oaks Socastee Taylors Wade Hampton

Counties	Abbeville Aiken Allendale Anderson Bamberg Barnwell Beaufort Berkeley Calhoun Charleston Cherokee Chester Chesterfield Clarendon Colleton Darlington Dillon Dorchester Edgefield Fairfield Florence Georgetown Greenville Greenwood Hampton Horry Jasper Kershaw Lancaster Laurens Lee Lexington Marion Marlboro McCormick Newberry Oconee Orangeburg Pickens Richland Saluda Spartanburg Sumter Union Williamsburg York

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