Alabama passenger license plates were first issued by the state in 1912 and have continued every year since.  There have been many variations over the years in color and size, and there were also years when windshield stickers were issued.

     In 1943 Alabama, like almost every other state did something out of the ordinary in an effort to conserve metal because of World War II.  Some states used fiberboard license plates but Alabama decided to issue a windshield decal.  This decal was to be placed in the lower right corner of the windshield and extended the use of the motorists' 1942 metal license plate for another year.  In 1944 and 1945, Alabama issued a single metal rear license plate and a matching windshield decal.  For 1946 things returned to normal and the state again issued pairs of plates.

     Beginning in 1977 in an effort to conserve metal, Alabama changed to a 5 year baseplate system which called for a metal plate to be issued the first year and re-validation decals to be applied each of the remaining four years.  The start of the "Stars Fell on Alabama" base in 2003 brought about even more change as the state decided to extend the use for two more years, bringing the total to seven years.  The plates also changed from being made on steel to aluminum sometime during the 2005 year run. 

     For more information regarding the yearly issues, please be sure to check out the "Colors By Year" page.

     Click on the thumbnails below for a larger high-quality image.