Acton 2026

Some years, my trip to Acton is epic. I’ve found long-sought-after gems for my collection, or I’ve finalized a big trade, or the journey to the meet brought me somewhere unforgettable. While Acton is never disappointing, the 2026 edition was pretty low-key for me, all things considered.

From Terry Ellsworth: Two, three, four, five, and six-digit 1921 plates. Anyone have a single-digit?

Eric Vettoretti and I left Ottawa after five o’clock because of inflexible workday commitments, which meant that we didn’t arrive at our hotel in Milton until well after 10 pm. We had no pre-arranged stops to make along the way, and it was too late in the evening to consider stopping at any shop that might sell plates. Even the Armenian guy who runs the red barn in Norwood was shut for the night. I just kept driving, and we were dead tired anyway, so it wouldn’t have mattered even if he was open.

After a restless sleep, we drove through some rain. We arrived in Acton not long after 7 am. There were more round tables than usual, but that didn’t bug me. I had two boxes of traders, all priced to sell at either $2 or $5. Sometimes, I lose patience with my traders, and while I know many of my plates are worth $15, I’m just tired looking at them. So I cut the price by two-thirds and resolved not to take them home. That caught Pete Salway’s attention, and sure enough, he took them all. Mission accomplished! I definitely sold some plates at a loss, and I had a nice Highway 27 King's Highway sign that I liquidated for half its value, but sometimes I get tired of carrying trade stock. When you live in as small a house as mine, every cubic foot of storage space matters.

Mike Franks and Darrell Hamel seal a deal.

There was one trader that I brought that I couldn’t mark down, though– It was a licencing office identifier. I bought it from Terry Ellsworth six months earlier in Grimsby so I could become its temporary custodian. Terry wasn’t sure he wanted to sell it, but finally threw a dollar number out there. Sam Mazmanian wanted the plate, but didn’t have the cash on-hand. I had the cash, so I bought it from Terry and promised to re-sell it to Sam in Acton with no mark-up. That worked out well: I enjoyed the office marker in my wall over the winter and made sure to bring it to Acton for Sam. I actually got a bigger kick from helping Sam out than from owning the plate myself. Sam was very pleased to finally have it for himself.

Speaking of Terry, I had some E-class PCV plates that were on his list. He asked for some specifically last fall in Grimsby, so I picked three such plates from my collection and brought them specifically for Terry, priced to sell. Terry was interested, so we agreed on a price. He told me I could take cash, or look around on his table for something in trade. I found a couple of early Ontario pesticide plates, but frustratingly, Terry decided to put them off-limits. There was nothing else I could find on his table on this day, so I was ready to ask him for the cash– but reminded him that the pest plates were what I really wanted. He finally agreed to a value on them, and I took the difference in cash.

Andrew Pang made his first trip to Acton from his home in Massachusetts. It was great to see him there. He had acquired a batch of Ontario plates which were all formerly in the collection of my old mentor, Ernie Wilson, who lived in Sault Ste. Marie, where I grew up. I have been collecting passenger plates from that city. I remember many of the serial ranges from childhood and through my visits with Ernie. I’m slowly piecing together the older serial ranges either from archival images taken within the city, or by using the city distribution data found in the old Ontario Motor League manuals, all of which I have since published in the Resources section of this site. Andrew had sent me pictures of these plates of Ernie’s, and after cross-checking my info, I agreed to buy almost 20 of them. As luck would have it, he was able to make Acton, thus causing my “haul” to triple in size.

John Hayes, a familiar Eastern Ontario collector who I see a couple of times each year, finally made the trip to Acton for the first time. He had decided to clean out his extra plates, and he had quite a few that I’d never pawed through before. I don’t collect Prince Edward Island comprehensively, but I’ve always liked the way PEI used vinyl stickers on its replacement plates. John had a ‘75 dealer made with replacement stickers, as well as a mysterious O-prefix plate from 1979. The ALPCA Archives don’t identify the type, and it’s entirely possible that they were just “made up” from truck blanks and extra replacement numbers; my O-plate has no signs of use, and the leading O is actually a zero that is affixed atop an embossed letter C. The price was right, though, and I liked the way it looked.

Eric came over with a brown envelope in hand. A guy he’d been emailing had a 1930 PCV plate, and had brought it to Acton for Eric to see. 1930 is an interesting year for those, since they were painted in the reverse colours of most every other 1930 plate in Ontario. Eric was straight with the guy and made an honest offer that wouldn’t waste anyone’s time– and Eric now has a super-rare 1930 PCV for his collection. That makes two survivors that I know of. Early PCV plates (1930 prior) don’t have load classes. I’d love to land one for my collection someday.

Given that my traders were sold early, I didn’t have a table to babysit. I was free to shop, but I got caught up in talking to people, and I’m pretty sure I missed a few tables. I was hoping to find more items on my want list, but I’m not heartbroken when I don’t.

Eric and I had time to linger after the meet, so we went to Dave Steckley’s house to catch up. The nice thing about managing Acton is that the arena staff are on-hand, and it’s their job to put away the tables, which means Dave can go home at one o’clock. The story in the fall in Grimsby is quite different… The hall is expected to be returned to “as-found” condition, so many people have to pitch in to put the tables away.

I enjoy gawking at the walls of Dave’s private plate museum. If I lived closer, I would have stayed later, but “take a picture, it’ll last longer” is the way to go for me. Of course, it’s six hours in the car to get home, and the older I get, the more tiring the drive, especially after a short sleep the night before.

It took quite a few coffees before I found my second wind behind the wheel. We were almost wiped out by an idiot passing on a double line at Beatty’s Curve just west of Kaladar. Unfortunately, my dash cam couldn’t resolve the licence number. Nothing like close calls to keep you awake.