Rick Kretschmer's License Plate Archives

Rick's 1977 Canada Passenger Car Plates

(My high school graduation year set)

	On this page I display my collection of Canadian plates from the year 1977. Initially, I'm just focusing on passenger car plates, but intend to expand this to include other plate types in the future. Now up to 6 of 10 provinces, plus 2 of 2 territories. Latest noteworthy updates to this page November 29, 2024 – Added Manitoba plate. July 23, 2024 – Added Quebec plate
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Introduction

Many license plate collectors, myself included, either have or are working on a "birth year set", which is a collection of license plates from every state from the year they were born. Not only do I have a 1959 birth year set of U.S. passenger car plates, but also a 1977 high school graduation year set of U.S. passenger car plates. Later, I also began collecting 1977 U.S. non-passenger plates and 1977 U.S. motorcycle plates. 1977 plates are more significant to me than those in my birth year set, because I actually remember seeing them in use.

After a while, I decided to venture north, so to speak, and collect 1977 Canadian plates, which I also remember seeing in use in the United States. Initially, I'm going to complete the passenger car set first, and then likely venture into other types as well. I think I'll just put them all on this page, since Canada had only twelve plate-issuing jurisdictions in 1977.

These plates are displayed in what I understand is the traditional Canadian province and territorial sequence, going geographically from west to east, first the provinces and then the territories.

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My 1977 Canadian passenger car license plates

(1977 passenger car plate wanted)	British Columbia
	Alberta This base plate was introduced in 1975 and used through 1984. There were several versions with different-shaped sticker boxes, different serial dies, and other variations. Like many other jurisdictions, Alberta plates all expired at the end of March every year back then. However, in 1977, the province decided to switch from indicating the year of issue on the sticker to instead indicating the month and year of expiration. This plate actually has both – the red 76 sticker was valid from April 1976 thru March 1977, and the black MAR 78 sticker was valid from April 1977 thru March 1978. There were no Alberta plates or stickers that had the year 1977 on them.
(1977 passenger car plate wanted)	Saskatchewan
	Manitoba This plate design was issued and used between 1976 and 1982. The first issue year "76" was embossed on all plates regardless of when they were manufactured or issued; subsequent year registrations were validated with stickers. Some plates with this design and numbering format with specific letter prefixes were issued to other vehicles besides passenger cars. I got burned by this when I bought a similar plate in the Fxx series and then discovered it was used on a farm truck, not a passenger car.
	Ontario Ontario introduced this design in 1973 and continued to issue it unchanged into 1978. By one account, this design could be renewed and used through 1996, at which time it was replaced. This was Ontario's first multi-year base with the exception of its 1943 plate, which was used for two years during World War II.
	Quebec French-speaking Quebec issued passenger car plates with this 000x000 numbering format between 1974 and 1983, and those issued since 1979 are still in use. Only a handful of letters were used each year, and the letter apparently had no meaning. In 1977, the letters R, S, T, and V were employed. Non-passenger types used prefix letters. The slogan La Belle Province is French for "The Beautiful Province". I saw many Quebec plates (and odd Canada-only cars such as the Meteor, Monarch, and Beaumont) every summer during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s when my family vacationed in Wildwood, New Jersey. For reasons never clear to me, Wildwood was a very popular vacation destination among the Quebecois, but not English-speaking Canadians.
	New Brunswick Between 1966 and 1978, New Brunswick issued new plates every three years. These plates were validated with stickers in the years between new plate issues. The 1978 plate was used for eight years, through 1985. The 1972, 1975, and 1978 base plates were all visually identical, including the colors, with the exception of the embossed two-digit year in the upper right corner. The biligual (English and French) province name began in 1972. New Brunswick is adjacent to Quebec, and has a sizeable French-speaking population.
(1977 passenger car plate wanted)	Nova Scotia
	Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island introduced this design in 1976 and used it through 1980. The slogan Seat Belts Save seems like it's missing a word, for which there is obviously room. Under the '77 sticker is an embossed sticker box with a debossed "76" in its center. That sticker design featuring a tent was also the logo for the Canadian Scout Jamboree held that year in the province.
(1977 passenger car plate wanted)	Newfoundland and Labrador
	Yukon Territory Yukon has featured the gold mining prospector on their passenger car plates from 1953 to the present day. The prospector graphic was embossed (stamped) from 1953 to 1991, and since then has been incorporated into the reflective sheeting. If you look closely, there's a dab of gold paint in the prospector's pan, which is supposed to be a gold nugget. Rumor has it that the gold nuggets on the embossed prospector plates were hand-painted. New plates were issued annually through 1980. The Home of the Klondike slogan was used from 1970 to 1977 only, and was shortened to just The Klondike starting in 1978. The Klondike is a region of the Yukon Territory where there was a gold rush between 1896 and 1899. The word is also used as shorthand for the gold rush itself.
	Northwest Territories Northwest Territories is a vast, mostly uninhabited region in far northern Canada. Probably polar bears outnumber humans there. Since 1970, they've issued license plates in this unique bear shape. These plates conform to the dimensions and bolt hole placement of standard-sized rectangular plates. That brown background is just the piece of cardboard the plate was resting on when photographed. The 1977 plate was used for two years, and was renewed for use in 1978 by means of a sticker placed between Canada and 1977, or on the bear's leg immediately below.