The total number of self-propelled crews in pre-revolutionary Russia was very small. So, even in Moscow, by 1914, the number of officially registered gasoline vehicles was only 2,200.
After the October Revolution, cars didn’t increase much, so for registration of vehicles there were enough number plates, moreover, each city could determine their appearance independently. However, at the very end of the 1920s, a real auto boom began in the country, and the numbers on the number were no longer enough.
1931 number format
In 1931, the autonomies of the USSR were brought to a single standard, mandatory for all regions of the country.
Now a white metal plate was fastened on the machine , on which one letter and four numbers were put in black paint over a dash - a hyphen. For example, G-41-73.
However, in this form, registration numbers lasted only three years.
1934 registration mark
In 1934, all motorists of the country were obliged for six months to exchange the old license plate for a new, more informative one. At that time, the country was conditionally divided into forty-five regions - Dortrans with their capitals, whose name, according to the updated standard, was indicated at the bottom of the plate. In addition, the letter index was canceled, it was replaced by a digit. That is, now the autonomy of the USSR looked something like this: 1-23-45 MOSCOW.
The sign could contain four digits if the number of cars in the region was not enough. The color of the tablet remains the same: black indexes on a white background.
But even in this form, the registration “tin” did not last long.
1936 car numbers
Just two years after updating the numbers, car owners were again forced to remove obsolete signs from their cars and mount new ones that meet the latest standards.
This time the plates have changed quite a lot. Now the numbers have become “negative”: the main background has turned black, and the letters with numbers become white. The very form of the inscription has changed. Now the autonomy of the USSR (photo below) had to contain two pairs of digital indices separated by a bar, and instead of the name Dortrans there were only two letters, which should indicate the car's belonging to a particular region.
In addition, the front and rear plates began to differ in appearance and size. The front number had an elongated shape, on which all six indices were inscribed on one line: AB 56-78. The back sign is almost square, the top line was occupied by letters, and the bottom by numbers.
By the way, it was from this standard and up to the present day that it was decided to never use the letters: ,,, , , in the letter designations.
The black and white autonomy of the 1936 standard lasted for 10 years with virtually no updates. The only change affected the back “tin”: if before the war a couple of letters were located exactly in the center of the sign, then they were shifted to the left.
Autonomer of the USSR 1946
After the war with registration numbers, complete confusion began. A huge number of civilian vehicles with the onset of wartime was transferred for the needs of the army, respectively, and they were already registered under army numbers. After the victory, the surviving equipment returned "to the citizen." Only here, the old "pre-war" documents to restore again was very problematic. Also, a lot of captured unaccounted transport appeared in the country.
In a word, the autonomy of the USSR was urgently required to lead to a common standard, which was done in 1946.
The shape of the plates has not changed, but this time they turned yellow, with black indices. In addition, the alphabetic characters in the new version were much smaller than the numbers, so they began to write on the front number in the upper left corner, they remained in the middle in the back.
Cars with yellow signs drove around the Soviet Union until the end of the fifties, until the intensive development of the country's motor transport network led to the fact that in some regions the alphanumeric combinations were completely exhausted. There were not enough numbers for new cars, and something had to be done urgently.
GOST 1959
In 1959, a new standard for the autonomy of the USSR appeared.
The sizes of the plates were left without modifications, but the registration sign changed color. As in the pre-war sample, white letters and numbers were applied on a black background.
On the front number, the letters moved from the upper left to the lower right. Deciphering the region that owns the car has become much easier: its name is indicated by the first two letters. For example, Moscow cars drove with signs that started with “MO” (MOS, MOR, ILO), Leningrad cars with “LE” (LEG, LEN), in Crimea, respectively, with “KR”.
However, for several years, along with new license plates, some of the vehicles received registration plates of an old design, that is, yellow. This continued until 1960. A motorcycle was in use right up to 1965.
In 1967, an order was issued to bring the autonomous authorities to a single model, only an order was issued, and no specific deadlines were set, so private car owners did not show much zeal in replacing old signs with new ones, and the traffic police did not insist on this either.
However, on the occasion of the centenary of V.I. Lenin, it was decided to end such confusion. To speed up the process, the traffic police received instructions that forced the inspection to work more actively with motorists, forcing them to exchange registration marks. Nevertheless, yellow numbers, although rare, were still found on the country's roads until 1980.
1981 numbers
On the eve of the Moscow Olympics, the format of the autonomy of the USSR again underwent a change. The color scheme was again turned upside down: black characters were written on a white background. In addition, for the first time in history, registration marks were divided into two types: for private traders and for public transport.
Non-individuals were presented in this form - a small letter, two numbers, a dash, two numbers and two capital letters. The last two letters indicated belonging to the region of registration. The first letter was a variable and could be any of the alphabetical list (except for exceptions).
Public transport was supplied with numbers in the format - two digits, a dash, two digits and three capital letters.
On trucks, buses, and motorbikes, the rear number plate was square. In this case, the numbers occupied the bottom of the plate, and the three large letters on the top.
Autonomer of the USSR: dimensions
There is no exact information about the dimensions of the numbers that were installed on the cars until 1936. But the parameters of later registration marks are stated in GOST 3207-36. Everything is spelled out in it: and the sizes of numbers, letters, and even fringes. After all, it is from this standard that the back and front plates have become multidimensional.
So, the front license plate was 58.5 cm long and 12.5 cm wide. The rear, respectively, was 36x34.5 cm.
The sizes of the yellow autonomies of the USSR are presented in GOST 3207-46. These signs became slightly smaller than the pre-war ones: the front - 38.5x11 cm, the rear - 28.5x18.5 cm.
The parameters of the so-called black numbers (1959) were discussed in GOST 3207-58.
After the publication of this standard, the dimensions of the front signs of accounting for steel - 46.5x11.2 cm, of the rear - 29x17 cm.
From the very beginning of 1980, namely on January 1, GOST 3207-77 came into force in the USSR. This standard established the following parameters for the plates: front - 52x11.2 cm, rear - 28.8x22.6 cm. By the way, it is in this GOST that the decoding of indices indicating the region was also given.
So, for example, the series “UCHI” on autonomies of the USSR was supposed to mean that the car was registered in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and “VGR” - the Georgian SSR.
Interesting fact
Sochi, as you know, is located in the Krasnodar Territory and, accordingly, has regional subordination. However, despite this, the famous resort was the only regional city that had its own rooms. If all the cars of the region traveled with the KK series, the car registered in Sochi had the CO series.