Blue Back
Andrew Turnbull
From the late 80s to the late 90s or so, Wisconsin produced some plates on leftover blanks from other plate types, creating "flip sheeting" plates. These plates were characterized by having paint on the back, or, in some cases, under the normal sheeting/paint on the front.
From 1987 to 1993 or so, flip sheeting plates had the paint on the back, and for a short time around 1993-1994 plates used paint on the front of the plate underneath the normal sheeting/paint, and after 1995 they appear to have gone back to putting paint on the back of plates.
Down below is a gallery of these flip sheeting plates, and below that is a table of known ranges for these plates. Numbers in parathesis are plates issued out of sequence (suffix plates, remakes, etc.)
| Color | Passenger | Truck | Motor Home |
School Bus |
Hobbyist | Collector | Apportioned | Apportioned Semi Trailer |
ZA Trailer |
Insert Truck |
Motorcycle Dealer |
Motorcycle Collector |
Possible bases |
| Dark Blue | AYU-893 AZW-399 CYJ-150 |
81 base AD42-659 AD43-956 BE81-594 88 base AA74-177 AA82-174 |
12367 | 2149 2654 |
1986-1987 Insert Truck | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | CZE-380 DAP-889 |
AC23-318 AC30-692 Seen, Unknown # CB30-220 CB42-367 |
1987 Apportioned | ||||||||||
| Pink | 14587 24500 |
5347 10105 |
ZA13817 | 1990 Apportioned Prototype |
|||||||||
| Gray | EKZ-551 ELC-970 |
50303 50323 |
1988-1989 Insert Truck | ||||||||||
| White | ELR-764 EMB-486 |
1987-1988 Dealer | |||||||||||
| Yellow | EMF-664 | 1988 Apportioned | |||||||||||
| Orange | FLF-613 FMU-620 |
1987 Semi Trailer? 1985 Dealer? |
|||||||||||
| Robin Egg Blue | GYS-900 GZB-142 |
(58284 A) | 1989-1991 Dealer? | ||||||||||
| Light Blue | GZD-189 GZR-713 |
1986-1990? Collector? | |||||||||||
| Yellow | GZW-509 HAL-675 |
1991 Apportioned | |||||||||||
| White (Reflective) |
89 Base (367B) 91 Base 133A |
C391 (A546) (7408C) |
1989-1992 Motorcycle | ||||||||||
| Yellow | MHS-867 MJW-627 |
1991-1995 Dealer? | |||||||||||
| Light Blue Front | MKG-365 MKH-483 |
1986-1990? Collector | |||||||||||
| Beige Front |
XB8987 XC 163 MC 352 QB6189 TB 395 |
Unknown; Possible Prototype? |
|||||||||||
| Black | 1555 | Unknown; Possible Prototype? |
|||||||||||
| Gray | 2096 | 1993 Apportioned? |
In the state of Wisconsin, heavy trailer plates have almost always been on nonreflective painted bases. However, around 1995, 2002-2003, and 2005, three runs of reflective trailer plates were issued. The 2005 run is the rarest run, while the 2002 run is the most common. It is unknown why the 1995 and 2005 runs were issued, however the 2002 run was likely issued on extra light truck for hire bases in preparation for the base's discontinuance. So far, 9 plates have been found across all three runs, with 7 of them being Avery sheeting and 2 of them being 3M sheeting from the mid-1990s.
It is currently unknown if farm trailers had any other runs of reflective plates other than the 1995 one.
| Type Weight |
Variation | B 6,000 |
C 8,000 |
X 10,000 |
D 12,000 |
E 16,000 |
F 20,000 |
G 26,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trailer | Nonreflective | BR 18 BR9687 |
CR 76 CT 662 |
XR 134 XR1384 |
DR2315 | GR 429 | ||
| 3M Sheeting 1995 Run |
CT 2119 | |||||||
| Nonreflective | BT 794 BT14175 |
CT 3143 CT29706 |
XR 2669 XR 4585 |
DR11206 | ER 5222 ER 5652 |
FR 1536 FR 2027 |
||
| Avery Sheeting 2002 Run |
BT17681 | CT30092 CT31368 |
XR14633 XR14908 |
ER 6030 | ||||
| Nonreflective | BT19781 BT21336 |
CT36009 CT43590 |
XR15843 | DR22267 | ER 7620 |
GR 2655 | ||
| Avery Sheeting 2005 Run |
CT46332 | |||||||
| Nonreflective | BT27064 BT30530 |
CT47197 CT60019 |
XR21539 XR25475 |
DR27545 | ER 7715 | FR 6625 | GR 3760 | |
| Farm Trailer | Nonreflective | BF5482 | CF5017 CF9321 |
DF5691 DF7349 |
EF6782 | |||
| 3M Sheeting 1995 Run |
FF 5885 | |||||||
| Nonreflective | BF 6937 BF 6976 |
CF 3104 CF 4867 CF10128 |
DF 9483 DF13092 |
EF 7039 EF 8159 EF10784 |
FF 6437 FF 6931 FF 8762 |