Question:

I hope you don’t mind a historical question. I bought my 1965 Mustang with Wash 63 plates and never understood why a 1965 car had them. I thought maybe it was because instead of issuing a yearly plate they went to stickers in 1963 and just printed 63 plates for years after.

Answer:

Not every state issues plates and restickers them for use for multiple years. Washington was among the first states to do this. The 1963 base plates like the one in our auction were issued through 1965 and stayed on the road for many years. We have seen with dates well into the 1980s. Colorado did not get into this until the late 1970s.