Click here to skip to the allocation data table below.

 

The Ontario Motor League Road Book for 1932 did not include any plate allocation data. The 1932 information is sourced from Eric Vettoretti, who provided a copy of a March 24, 1932 article from The Cornwall Standard  that bore this information.

 

It is generally known, during this era, that all-numeric plates numbered 1-500 were reserved for Members of Provincial Parliament. 1932 is the first year that these plates are mentioned in the data (as "unlettered"). The data does not specifically mention the courtesy issuance to MPPs; the source text simply reads "Toronto." Furthermore, the 1932 data specifies a range from 1 to 1000 instead of 1 through 500. 1932 is the only year where unlettered plates are prescribed past 500.

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Ontario passenger plates started with either one or two letters from 1930 to 1936, and contained one to four trailing numerals, up to a maximum of five characters. Ontario omitted the letters G, I and Q in 1932. The reserved D-prefix series for doctors is confirmed for 1932 by way of a separate document also sourced by Eric Vettoretti. This document, shown below, specifies the range from D-8000 through D-9999 to be reserved as a courtesy to doctors. However, there is evidence to suggest* that the range from D1 through D7999 was also offered to medical doctors.

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*I once purchased a collection of D-plates known to have been used by a doctor; these bore numbers as low as D-1023, and they ran from the 1960s all the way down to 1933. Further, my collection includes plates with the number D-621 from 1931 through 1933, which suggests courtesy issuance of the D-series, presumably to a medical doctor.

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The data lists the serial numbers in a different order from what I believe to be the actual issuance. It starts with single-letter prefixes, and then goes immediately to the double-letter prefixes of the same letter.
 

A1 to A9999
AA1 to AZ999
B1 to B9999
BA1 to BZ999 ...

However, the city of Toronto was consistently assigned plates with a single letter prefix only. As Toronto was issued several runs of these single-letter prefixes, other major cities like Hamilton and London also received single letter prefixes. Generally, the smaller centres received plates with a two-letter prefix. Given that the two-letter prefixes only progress partway through the alphabet before ending at the OA series, it is likely that the order of issuance is as follows:

A1 to A9999
B1 to B9999
C1 to C9999 ... continuing through
Y1 to Y9999
Z1 to Z9999
AA1 to AZ999
BA1 to BZ999 ... etc.
 

Based on this pattern, the highest number produced would have been OA-800 (see table below), which was issued in Rainy River. By the data, no two-letter prefixes should have been issued beyond this point; however, it is possible that production continued later in the year if needed, which was the case in other years of this era. Interestingly, the data specifically notes that the MM and MW series were omitted from production. I have included values for those ranges so they appear where they might be expected to be if they were issued. My best guess is that both dies together might have been too wide to fit the hydraulic press.

You can view the table in the original data order, or switch to my hypothesized order of single-letter prefixes issued first, followed by double-letter prefixes. Just click the headings "Data Order" and "Issue Order" to rearrange the table. You can also put the cities in alphabetical order, if you like. Any order can be reversed by clicking a heading a second time.

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