Combination 1957 – – An Illustrated History of Connecticut License Plates

These plates are issued to to pickup trucks as well as all types of vehicles used for both business and private purposes with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating up to 12,500 lbs. Up until October 1, 2005, the weight limit was 10,000 lbs.

In 2004, P.A. 04-199 changed the requirements for issuance of combination plates to pickup trucks. Starting June 3, 2004, non-commercial pickup trucks with a GVWR under 8500 lbs could now display regular passenger plates. Before this, ALL pickup trucks had to be registered with Combination plates.

In 1957, standard-size 6×12 plates were introduced for Combination plates. Until 1966, white on blue plates were issued for Combination, and these were distinguished from regular passenger plates by the serial having the first letter as ‘C’. In 1967, the colors were reversed to blue on white. New registrations continued on in the CA-1234 format.

Around 1969 the new smaller die set came into use, around the middle of the CB- series. In the mid-1970s, several changes were made. About halfway through the CO- series, at about the CO-4400 series, the state name became centered between the lower bolt holes (no longer left justified). A smaller die set was used for the state name as well. This didn’t last too long, and with the CP- series, the ‘Combination’ legend was added between the upper bolt holes. This makes the slogan-less CO- series tough to find.

Around 1980, CZ-9999 was finally reached. For a brief time following this it appears that older, unused numbers from the series were recycled. For example, a CN- series plate number could have been re-issued. Finally, a brand new series was started and the numbering ran from C-10000 to C-99999.

This format only lasted about 2 years. Next came all numeric 5-digit plates – 10000 to 99999. This lasted about 3 years until 99999 was reached in 1985.

The 100-‘C’AA series came next. In 1987 the map base was introduced. For a brief time just before the map plates were issued, numbers were issued in the old format of CA-1234 and CB-1234. These plates can be identified by the fact that they have reflectorized (glass-beaded) numbers, unlike the previous re-issue of this format around 1980. Numbering continued on with little fanfare until 1996 when 999-CZZ was reached. The 1’C’-0000 format was started. Breaking with tradition, lead zeroes were used after the dot separator, beginning at -0001 instead of -1000.

Eventually, 9C-9999 was reached. The ‘C’ was then bumped over one position, and the 10’C’-001 format was begun. These ran until the new reflective base came out in 2000. I’m not sure they actually reached the end of the series at 99C-999. Plates up to 93C- have been verified, but not much higher.

In late December of 1999, the reflective light blue base was introduced. The initial numbering format was 12345-C. The ‘Combination’ legend was dropped from the plates, replaced by a stacked ‘COMB’ to the right of the serial.

99999-C was reached before long, and 1CA-123 through 9CZ-999, reached in 2004. The letters were then bumped to the right, and 12’C’-A34 became the new format. In August, 2009 that format was exhausted, and the new series began at 1234-‘C’A.

In mid-2014 9999-CZ was reached. It appears the DMV finally gave up on trying to fit the letter “C” in some form in the serial, because a new series was started at 1000-DA. These appear to have been issued until the -DF series.

This didn’t last long, however- in August, 2015 the numbering went to 7 digits, and the letter “C” made a return in a C-123456 format; presumably beginning at number C-000000. (no, that’s not a sample plate). These have the stacked “C/O/-/M/B” between the letter and numbers.

Various sub-classifications of plates are issued in Combination – Amateur Radio, Handicapped, Preserve the Sound and New York Press to name a few.

Click the photo above to see this type in use.