HISTORICAL NOTES
Plates issued: 1917-29: rear only, 1930-42: pairs, 1943-45: rear only, 1946-74: pairs, 1975 onwards: rear only.
(z) 1912-17 plates made by owners or issued by counties mostly in black on white with the county name above a serial number prefixed by S.C. By 1916 Richland County (Columbia) was issuing local plates and examples are known from Darlington, Greenville and Orangeburg.
1917-27 annual issues in varying colours, see Table 5, state identified by SC. The palmetto palm appeared in 1927. From 1922 (until 1971) an alphabetic prefix denoted the car’s weight or vehicle type, see Table 4.
1928-29 SOUTH CAROLINA in full.
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(y) 1930-33 SOUTH CAROLINA 1930 with IODINE vertically at the right. S.C. THE IODINE STATE 31 at the bottom or top in 1932. THE IODINE PRODUCTS STATE at the bottom with SC above 33 at the right.
1934-37 SC and the expiry date in full.
1938-66 SOUTH CAROLINA and the last two digits of the year.
1943 previously issued plates were flattened out, re-embossed with the state name and year and repainted.
1956 amateur radio plates introduced.
1967-75 SOUTH CAROLINA at the top, the year in full at the bottom (except for 19 AUTO 68 and 1670 300 YEARS 1970).
1968 reflective plates adopted.
1972 three letter, three numeral series introduced.
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(x) 1976-80 graphic plates introduced: palmetto tree and cannon in the centre, SOUTH CAROLINA at the bottom, 1776 Bicentennial 1976 at the top. The registration was serial: three letters and three numerals.
1981-84 passenger plate as paragraph (c) above (no slogan), phased out by the end of 1985.
1985 palmetto palm in light blue in the middle of a dark blue on reflective white plate with the state name in red at the top.
1990 black on reflective white with SOUTH CAROLINA at the bottom; at the top was a graphic design of a Carolina Wren and flowers in brown, green and yellow. The registration continued with three letters and three numerals.
1999 see current series.
14 Feb 03 IN GOD WE TRUST no-cost plates first issued, rapidly becoming the preferred option.
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