Reid Completes His 1-100 Delaware Run!

My friend Reid Williamson has been doing what I do - for almost forty years! Throughout the years, he sought to photograph every place from 1 to 100 in Delaware. I met Reid in 2008, at which point he was missing two numbers - 75 & 82. I helped him find 82 in the spring of 2009 and I helped him find 75 today.

About a week ago, I was driving around Greenville, doing my usual route, while I noticed #80 pulled over near the curb. An elderly woman was getting out of the passenger seat, heading into a building on the strip. I noticed she was having some mobility trouble so I helped her a bit. Once I got her safely inside, I rushed back to the car to talk to the driver. I confirmed he owned 80 and 75 and got his phone number so I could set an appointment for me (and Reid) to go photograph it and talk with him. Unfortunately, Reid was in Maine at the time, with no service to be had, so I had to wait a few days before I could tell him the news!

Reid and Richard, his friend since grade school, traveled to Delaware today and, after some lunch, we headed right over to 75's house in Alapocas. It turns out that Reid spoke to Mr. 75 about 35 years ago and they remembered each other. What a pleasant surprise! It was a great moment for me and surely a great one for Reid. Good material for the book...

Photo Touch-Ups

Over the next few weeks, you can expect a few touch-ups to the actual photos:

1. Cropping/Straightening
2. New photos to replace older, lesser-quality photos
3. More uniform appearance

Stay tuned!

BIG Addition Coming to TheDelaware3000.org

BREAKING NEWS!

Over the next week, I will be working hard on a page that neatly but fully depicts and explains a photographic history of Delaware license plates. This is going to be a great resource! (And hopefully it will win me a 4-digit tag from the DMV!) :P

Stay tuned!

STILL No Tags.

WHAT IS GOING ON!? I have been back in Delaware since Saturday and I haven't gotten a picture of any low-digit tags yet! I did see PC749 as I was leaving Potstickers last night but, as luck would have it, I couldn't get a picture. Of course!

This weekend should be fruitful for tags - Stay tuned for that!

No Tags?!

My last picture was taken on Sunday, June 21. I left for Mike's place in Asury Park, NJ on Monday afternoon and left from there to go to the ALPCA convention in Erie on Wednesday morning. Long story short - I haven't taken a picture for a week! It's getting depressing!

I am heading down the beach for the 4th of July weekend - will definitely come back with a TON of tags. Stay tuned!

Here's a little tease...

10 Most Expensive License Plates

10. 1913 North Carolina ($10,000) - This tag was the first issued by the state. Like the 1906 Virginia plate, also the first in its state, it is made of delicate porcelain. Very few of these plates have lasted through the years, making them extremely desirable to collectors.



9. 1906 Virginia ($12,000) - The state's undated porcelain plate was first issued in 1906; the same design was used until 1911. The state's rugged early roads were notorious for chipping these fine porcelain plates, making surviving copies rare and all the more valuable.


8. 1913 Idaho ($13,000) - The 1913 plate was the first issued by Idaho. Back then, the state's registration fees were based on a vehicle's horsepower. Collectors note that the 1913 plate's dimensions are 15 1/4" by 6 1/4"--unusually large for an American plate.



7. 1905 Vermont ($15,000) - The 1905 Vermont plate doesn't display its year, but avid collectors know it well. The plate is one of the first made of porcelain; formerly, sign-makers created plates by baking enamel over steel. Connoisseurs admire the Vermont plate's deep cobalt blue background.



6. 1909 Delaware ($20,000) - This first plate from the First State was issued in 1909, made from porcelain and enamel. Delaware's governor recently unveiled a new optional plate to honor the centennial anniversary of the 1909 plate--perhaps the world's first license plate to honor another license plate.



5. 1906 West Virginia ($25,000) - This first-issue West Virginia license plate was made of a particularly thin cut of aluminum, which made it much less durable than most other early 20th century plates. This one still retains its beautiful blue color.



4. 1922 Hawaii ($30,000) - The territory of Hawaii issued its first plates in 1922, though some of the individual islands issued their own plates as early as 1915. Like Alaska, it was extremely difficult to transport cars to Hawaii, which helped to make these plates rare from the start. The 1922 plate gets extra points from collectors for its design, considered creative for its time.



3. 1912 Mississippi ($35,000) - 1912 was the first year Mississippi issued license plates, but there are more surviving copies of this plate than its newer, rarer cousin, the 1913 Mississippi plate. Because Mississippi was the nation's poorest state back then--as it is today--there were few cars on the roads, and thus, few license plates issued.



2. 1913 Mississippi ($50,000) - For many years, collectors did not know the 1913 Mississippi plate existed. But in 1985, Dr. Roy Klotz, Jr. of Pennsylvania discovered the plate after someone responded to a classified ad he'd placed in a Jackson, Miss., newspaper asking for old plates. Only two copies of the 1913 are known to exist.



1. 1921 Alaska ($60,000) - The 1921 Alaska is the most valuable vintage plate in the U.S. There are only four known to exist. The plate is the first issued by the territory of Alaska, decades before it attained statehood. Back then, transporting an automobile to Alaska was extremely difficult; once a car arrived, there were barely any roads to drive it on. The last sale of a 1921 Alaska plate occurred in 2000 in a Wendy's parking lot in Biddeford, Maine.


courtesy of Forbes.com

Tag 7!

Oh wow! Alright so I've been down Rehoboth since yesterday hangin' with the Stellas. Today, as I was coming home form a tag hunt, I turned onto Rt. 24 W. As I crossed over Plantations Rd., I saw that there was bumper-to-bumper traffic. I also noticed a Lincoln Towncar in the driveway on the left with tag 103 on the back.

I immediately pulled over to the shoulder and put my car in reverse. I wanted to get as close to the tag as possible. Because of the traffic, I had to wait a little bit to turn around but it was worth it. In the same driveway was an old Cadillac backed in. As I was walking up to the house (I wanted to give him one of my cards) I remembered that the guy who has 103 also has...


UGH! I cannot tell you how excited I was!!! What an accomplishment!!!

There are a few other good tags from the weekend but you'll have to wait until Monday to see them ;)