1932 started what was to become a long tradition of using black and white plates, with a few exceptions. The 1936 plate featured the blue and orange colors of the University of Virginia, while the 1944 was black on yellow, and the 47 and 49 were black on natural aluminum.
The metal shortage caused by World War 2 forced many states to use alternative materials - Virginia used an embossed soybean-based plate during 1944. They also manufactured a few plates during 1942 as well, but these are very rare. My 1942 #499-192 and the 1944, pictured below, are both made of this soybean-based material. 1942 plates were revalidated in 1943 with metal tabs, again to conserve metal. In 1946, later plates were manufactured of aluminum - #522-309 is aluminum while the other is steel. In 1947 and 1949, aluminum was used for all license plates in Virginia.
