My mustang has the original California license plates issued in the late 60’s. The APR(il) sticker on the left side has been badly faded for years, and I finally got around to getting a new one from AAA. It thought it was a bit odd there were several stickers below it – I’ve never seen anything but month on the left and year on the right in all my years. Using an old wood chisel, I went through the layers.
The first peel revealed a red 1973 California sticker.
The next peel revealed a green 1971 sticker. Looks like one more layer to go…
The last sticker was a white or beige 1969 sticker. That was the end of the line.
I learned that the current staggered month + year that we use today, was starting to be implemented in 1974 and required as of 1976. This prevented a huge rush of every car needing registration renewed at the end of the year. Eek! Before that, the sticker would alternate from left to right so the last 2 years of registration sticker were visible. That explains why the skip in the years uncovered. I don’t know what year the car was sold and received the plate and new sticker, but it was built in February of 1968. It’s possible there was a 1968 sticker originally put on the right side, but over the years the right side has been pruned as stickers stacked up and I don’t have those originals anymore.
After all that work, the 1969 sticker was very stuck on there still and I was only going to scrape up the paint trying to get it off. I stuck the APR sticker on top of it, and put it back on the car. Maybe in the future when that sticker fades, the 1969 sticker can be re-discovered.