Style #4, Gold on Blue Riveted, with Slots, no Slogan: 1958-1962

The early days of this plate style were a major transition period for Delaware's Motor Vehicle Department, which, in addition to switching to federally mandated standard size plates, was also adopting a new gold/blue color scheme, plus adapting to a computerized registration system. The result for collectors was a mix of the old and the new, a jumble of plate varieties, some incredibly arcane, that can result in howls of confusion. Some of the varieties that do occur from this 1958-59 period seemingly should not exist.

To understand what was going on at this time, it helps to know how the system works.

Remember, Delaware's plates at this time were permanent, privately manufactured, "kit" (assembled) plates. Thus they were subject not only to the vagaries of the bureaucratic issuing process, but also to the subtleties of the manufacturing process and the materials marketplace.

State information provides a date of December 1958 for the first appearance of style 4, the riveted gold on blue reflectorized plates that simply had 'DELAWARE' at the top, no slogan. The first of these plates were all stainless steel in construction, both numbers and base. It was not long before a switch to aluminum was made, probably for reasons of economics. In an equally inspired economic move, someone at the DMV decided it would be a good idea to use up all the old non-standard-size black bases, rather than scrap them. So these remaining bases, all 3 sizes, had the embossed "DELAWARE" pounded flat, a reflective blue scotchlite coating applied, then "DELAWARE" silk-screened in yellow at the top, over the previous embossing. As if that were not enough, all the leftover white numbers were recoated in reflectorized gold scotchlite to conform to the new color scheme. Then, these loose numbers were all held in bins at the DMV and plucked as needed to assemble a plate. And, it appears that not all of the white numbers in supply were gold coated. (The coating is applied before the numbers are punched out of the sheet stock). So, what existed for a short while was a hodgepodge of bases and numbers available to be mixed in almost any combination, resulting in a spew of 'hybrids' that can grate on a purist collector's sensibilities like fingernails on a blackboard: stop, please; enough!! It doesn't take higher math to figure that five bases (steel, aluminum, and three steel sizes restamped) multiplied by three number variations (steel, aluminum and recoated) equals 15 possible combinations. When one considers the possibility that a mixture of 2 or 3 of the number varieties could (and did) occur on the same base plate, the eyes begin to glaze, the computer spits sparks and a move to New Hampshire seems like an attractive option. For collector purposes, it is easiest to consider that there are five primary varieties of this first, non-slogan gold/blue base, and multiple hybrid sub-varieties. The hybrids are not often seen; most that have survived are well worn from use. It's worth noting here that Roy Carson's data suggests an earlier Oct. 1958 date for first issue of the gold/blue bases, and the dates Feb. through Oct. 1958 as the period of issue of the 6" x 12" white/black bases. All of the sloganless gold/blue bases, both steel and aluminum, have tab slots at the bottom.

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