Lindsay 2026

I was on the fence about making the three-hour trip to Lindsay, because an incoming rainstorm threatened to wash everything out. Once I was forced to make the game-time decision, the forecast said the rain wouldn't start until after 10 o'clock. Lindsay isn't a huge area to cover, so if I started before 8, I knew I could do my picking. The weather kept some people away, and several of my friends / competitors in the hobby wouldn't be going because they had other things going on. Eric and Paul were both overseas, and Mike Franks was at home fixing his truck. So I was motivated to make the most of it.

Lindsay: My kind of yard sale.

I have two or three "favourite vendors" in Lindsay, so I skimmed the field looking for them first. As it turned out, my first stop was at a vendor I didn't recognize, who had a big selection of early Ontario plates, including three 1911 porcelains that were in good-better-best condition. I pawed through the boxes on the table and found a great pair of late 1938 plates with the 1939 dies—Definitely an upgrader for me. The seller would likely have no way to recognize them. He sold them to me for less than they were worth, but I balanced that out by taking a few plates that were overpriced. While I was rooting through the tables, Scott Craig appeared, and so did Mike Lewin soon after, and our attention soon focused back on the 1911 porcelains.

The vendor said he had purchased the collection from the estate of an elderly man in his 90s who had passed away, and they had all come from the same estate. As it turned out, all three had not yet been documented in Eric's online registry, so I took pictures. The three-digit was priced at $750, which isn't bad, given that the chippy condition would probably offset the extra value of a lower number. The four-digit was basically filler, and I didn't ask for a price on it. The mint five-digit, one of the unused "post office demolition" plates in eastern Ontario, was priced at a rather exorbitant $2500. Neither Scott, nor Mike, nor I were game, although discovering these previously unknown survivors was pretty awesome.

I eventually located my favourite vendors. One of them had a great 1931 Ontario trailer plate. Alas, I was about ten seconds too late. A man next to me was flipping through the plates, and put his hand on it first. It would have upgraded mine, and if he had not expressed interest, I would have snapped it up in a heartbeat.

What could have been my '31 trailer upgrade peeks out from the tabletop pile.

I was there first, but I didn't put my hands on the plate first.

Lindsay is probably the best event to find older non-passenger plates from Ontario. I'm still looking for trailer plates from the 1920s, and I have some upgrades I'd like to make in my truck run. I did find a great 1929 truck plate, plus a short 1924 that was caked with dried mud. Both were potential upgraders. There were lots of cool things to find, left on the field for the next guy. Here are just a few:

King's Highway signs of various eras and conditions. That porcelain Highay 8 sure was pretty.

Plates in boxes. Plates on the ground. Plates at the swap meet. Plates all around. Signals too. Oh, and don't smoke.

Can you believe it? The Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick made the trip to Lindsay!

I took a few pictures of cars while I was there... Not a lot of wheels out for show today... all because of the weather, I guess. Just as I was getting ready to leave, I found a set of northern 1973s for Mike Franks, who is collecting a 1973 pair from every issuing office The F-plates are always a challenge. FRO was issued in Naughton (just west of Sudbury).

The drying rate of my jacket in the wind could no longer keep up with the steady rain, so it was time to skedaddle. I swung by the Franks' house to drop off the '73 FRO plates. I thought Mike would be working on his truck in the garage, but he had gone to the licencing office in Bobcaygeon to buy a UVIP package for a car that he wants to sell. I left the FRO plates with Alannah instead. I decided to take a more northerly scenic route home, and I got ahead of the weather on the way home; the conditions were totally dry by the time I reached Bancroft.

Here's what I brought home. The '24 truck needs more cleaning before I can tell if it upgrades. The UN diplomat plate was totally unexpected. The '84 Ontario is a natural pair with the matching ownership. The HVE pair is an historic vehicle error-- it has the wrong slogan embossed at the bottom. A great haul from Lindsay. I'm really happy with it. It evens out the nearly-nothing I found in Stirling earlier this month.