March 1981

From 1959 forward, motorcycle plates were black on straw, in one size. Formats were 000AA and AA000.

March 1985

This format, A000A, was not used as long as the other formats on the straw base.

July 1987, long size, steel

Although it's impossible to tell from the scan, this plate is made of steel. Some other plates were not...

March 1990, long size, aluminum

...this one is made of very lightweight aluminum. They seem like they'd be damaged easily.

July 1992, short size, aluminum

Around 1990, NJ finally adopted standard size motorcycle plates. Hooray!

July 1999, first-generation 3M sheeting

Like passenger plates, the sheeting formats different for motorcycle plates as the years went past.

July 2003, Avery sheeting

Starting with the Avery plates, sticker boxes were made black, with directions in each space.

c. 2005, second-generation 3M sheeting

Around 2005, when the sheeting switched again, the bottom legend was screened instead of embossed.

April 2006, second-generation 3M sheeting

In 2006, the format changed over to where the old format left off - P000A.