Wake Island

STATUS: U.S. Island Possession

WORLD LOCATION: Central Pacific

FIRST LICENSE PLATES IN USE: 1964

MOTOR VEHICLES CURRENTLY REGISTERED:  Approx. 50

FORMER SLOGANS: "Where America's Day REALLY Begins"

PLATES WERE: Officially issued. Some sources indicate that plates fell out of use around 1983, and the registration number started to appear painted directly onto the body of the vehicle. This may be partially true, but I do know of at least five plates that were obtained post 1983, that were obviously actual "plates". One in particular, a yellow on white issue, with WAKE and ISLAND on the top, bottom, left and right of the plate, had a black on orange 1987 date sticker, complete with Air Force form number right on the sticker.

SINGLE PLATES OR PAIRS: Pairs

OVAL: USA

CARS DRIVE ON: Right

From the PL8S archive.

	1964 Wake Island, dark green on white embossed steel. This is the first of the US supplied Wake passenger car plates used on the island. From the PL8S archive.
	1967 Wake Island, dark blue on white embossed steel or aluminum. Second issue of US supplied Wake passenger car plates. From the LesOkunowski collection (Illinois).
	1969 Wake Island motorcycle, red-orange on black, embossed aluminum. From the Mike Mochizuki collection (Hawaii).
	1969 Wake Island passenger car plate, red-orange on black, embossed aluminum, from the Mike Mochizuki collection (Hawaii).
	Late 1970's / early 1980's Wake Island motorcycle, white on reflective gold. From the Les Okunowski collection (Illinois).
	Late 1970's / early 1980's Wake Island passenger car plate, white on reflective gold. From the Les Okunowski collection (Illinois).
	Early 1980's Wake Island, black on white stencilled flat steel. From the Jim Fox collection.
	1987 Wake Island, reflective yellow die-cut adhesive numbers on a cream white background. The words WAKE and ISLAND are stencilled on. The black on orange date sticker has an Air Force form code across the bottom. The plate is made of galvanized steel, and the background paint seems to be some sort of thick wall enamel, which flakes very easily off the untreated steel. (PL8S Archive)
	1988 Wake Island, received directly from the island in 1989. I know of three of these in existence, all in the 200 series. Good to know the personnel on Wake have a sense of humor. All flat stencilled black on white, on a very heavy flat steel plate. From the PL8S archive.

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