Pictures are to scale: 1 cm is approximately 10 pixels.
If you have any corrections, additions or remarks to any of the plates or their descriptions,
please e-mail me.
Normal Series Plates | |
1955-1971 series First digit 0-5 = Tel Aviv and central districts. | |
1971-1979 series First digit 0-5 = Tel Aviv and central districts. The plate pair is interesting because it obviously was on a car requiring a two line plate on the rear. However, there are no two line car plates in Israel, so the number was squeezed into the center of a square plate. | |
1980s series In 1980, a new seven digit plate system was introduced. The last two digits showed the year of registration. When the numbers became exhausted in a given year, 5x was used as overflow series instead of 8x. Upper plates: 1986 normal series pair. Fist digit 7-8 = Haifa, 86 suffix: issued in 1986. Lower plate: 1983 normal series plate. Fist digit 1-5 = Tel Aviv, 53 suffix: overflow series issued in 1983. This plate was remade in the late 1980s and already uses the German style dies of the 1990s series. | |
1990s series In 1990 a new numbering system was introduced not showing the year of first registration as a suffix anymore. Plates were all in German style and for the first time reflectorized, using a brighter yellow. All existing numbers remained valid, but plates had to be remade in the new reflectorized style. Upper plate: Hire car, which had a white and green border around an otherwise normal plate. Middle plate: Pre-1980 number remade in 1990s style. First digit 0-5 = Tel Aviv and central districts. Lower plate: 1982 number remade in 1990s American size style. Such American size plates are also used on cars that would require a two line plate, because there are no two line car plates in Israel. | |
2000 onwards series In 2000 a blue "Euro" band was introduced on the left, showing the country flag above the letters IL above the country name in Hebrew and Arabic. Not all plates have the Arabic. Top plate: Native 2000s plate. Middle plate: Remade 1984 number, showing the variety without Arabic. Bottom plate: Remade 1989 number in the American size variety, which is also used where a two line car plate would be necessary. | |
2017 onwards eight digit plate When the country ran out of seven digit numbers, the system was expanded to eight digits. |
Motorcycle Plates | |
1980s motorcycle plates. These were usually hand painted, but sometimes pressed plates were used. First digit 1-5 = Tel Aviv. 56 and 57 suffixes are overflow series for the years 1986 and 1987. | |
1987 motorcycle plates. Before 1990, motorcycles usually did not have pressed plates, but had the number hand painted either on a plate or onto the vehicle itself. In 1990, all vehicles received reflectorized pressed plates. Here you can see the old and the new style. The old plate also has reflectorized red tape on it. All vehicles (including cars) were required to have those red stripes on the rear. This was abolished with the introduction of reflectorized plates. | |
2000 onwards motorcycle plate. |
Diplomatic and Official Plates | |
1980s diplomatic plate in American format. 15 = United States. | |
1990 onwards diplomatic plate. 39 = Japan. | |
Army plate. צ = army. | |
Military police plate. .מ.צ = military police. | |
Police plate. מ = police. |
Special Type Plates | |
Trailer plate showing the number of the towing vehicle. The Hebrew translates to "towed by". | |
Heavy equipment plate, most likely from the 1970s or 1980s. | |
2000 onwards tractor plate. | |
Trade plate for 2000. These plates are isued anually. | |
2000 onwards collector's vehicle plate. |
See also from the
United Nations page:
UNTSO = United Nations Truce Supervising Organization, based in Israel. | |
Private vehicle plate, aquired from Israel. Most likely, it is for UNTSO employees. |