Starting in 1976, plates returned to white letters/numbers on a blue background. The numbers were now reflectorized, using glass beads on the white paint. The “Constitution State” slogan remained. This series picked up in the TP- series. I have seen the plates of the same number in the TP- series appearing on both Polyvend plates as well as the style which replaced it, issued in the late 1970s. I’m not sure why these plates exist in both styles.
Numbering continued on until ZZ-9999. After the WI- series, the letter ‘I’ was no longer used on general-issue passenger plates. Decals continued in the blue, green, black rotation started in 1973.
Once ZZ-9999 was reached in 1980, the numbering format became 123-AAA. Also at this time plates were no longer issued in pairs. This was done to save money.
Plates worked their way through the A and B series before jumping ahead to the D series. This was because the -‘C’AA series was used for Combination plates. In 1987, the law was changed to again require two plates be issued. Since there was no plan for an immediate replacement of all existing plates, a method had to be developed to distinguish plates which were issued as single plates from those which were issued as pairs – both of which had to be displayed on the vehicle. Two small changes were thus effected – a small graphic of the state outline was added to the upper left corner of the plate, and the “Connecticut” and “Constitution State” legends were reversed, so that “Connecticut” was now between the upper bolt holes. These plates became known as “Map” plates among collectors. This changeover happened at the beginning of the -EVY series.
1980
1981
The ZZ- series finished up
the issuance of pairs
in Connecticut in July, 1980
1982.
The 123-ABC format began
in 1980 with plate 100-AAA
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
The red on white decal is a replacement decal.
The -‘C’AA series were skipped because it was used for Combination plates.
1986
1987
The very first plate in my collection.
Thanks Rich, but look what you got me started on!
1987 no-dot error plate. The EBL and at least EBM series had the dot missing; see the “Error Plates” page for an example of an EBM plate.
A very few plates had neither a dot nor a space; a couple of these appeared in the -JXH series on the map base.
1988
Revalidated to 1995.
999-EVX was the last plate in this style.
The map base started in 1987 with 1989 expirations. 100-EVY was the first map base pair. This was one of the very first map base plates, and it was used all the way to the general reissue.
1989
Wait. Lets go back and take a closer look at that 1988 decal…interesting.