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Ontario license plates made from 1905 to 1910 were the second issue after the leather plates. The rubber plates were made by Gutta Percha & Rubber Ltd. (est in 1883). The factory and headquarters were located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Gutta-percha is a name for a type of tree that has a sap that latex rubber can be produced from. In addition to manufacturing and selling tires, the operation produced and distributed a full line of rubber goods across Canada – including license plates.
Brass grommets were used for all the mounting holes and are more or less consistent on all plates. Some plates have beveled 45 degree corners and others have traditional square corners. Some plates have also been found with the Gutta Percha Rubber Ltd corporate seal embossed on the reverse. This is likely due to the plates being cut from a larger sheet of rubber with one seal on the larger piece, which randomly presents itself on a few plates within a given batch.
There were two distinctive series of rubber plates made. The first type were issued from 1905-1909 and these did not contain a provincial marker. The second type were issued in 1910 and feature a distinctive “white bar” inlay at the top of the plate with “ONTARIO” spelled out in capital letters. The first chart below shows the 1905-09 survivors. The second chart shows the 1910 survivors.
1905-09 Passenger Plates Known: 84
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Below is the second type of rubber plates issued in 1910. They feature a distinctive “white bar” inlay at the top of the plate with “ONTARIO” spelled out in capital letters. The issue with these is that the word ONTARIO could not be read from any sort of distance since the white letters were on a white background. This was likely one of the reasons Ontario switched manufacturers altogether in 1911.
1910 Passenger Plates Known: 18
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To date, no surviving rubber dealer plates have been found. Only the registry books together with the three photographs below are concrete evidence that they did in fact exist. It is also unknown whether or not any “white bar” dealer plates were made in 1910.
Dealer Plates Known: 0
Motorcycle plates were first issued on April 30, 1907 according to Ministry records. To date, three surviving rubber motorcycle plates have been found. In terms of construction, they had a leather backing, rubber front with a white inlay for the numbers – similar to the passenger plates. Both parts were sandwiched together and crimped with a metal frame around the border.
Motorcycle Plates Known: 3
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Listed below are all the known replica rubber plates – both motorcycle and passenger. Most seem to be made from fiberboard.
Replica Plates Known: 13
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