1971 saw the greatest variety of plates - steel with an unpainted border, aluminum with a painted border, and steel with a painted border. Furthermore, Virginia experimented with reflectorization that year, as can be seen on plate #549-047. Very late in the series, the state issued the first of its AAA-123 style plates - while all passenger plates from 1972-present used this numbering format, only a very few 1971s were manufactured in this series. The "B" prefix plate was only used in 1971 - the "B" signified 2 million.
1973 saw the introduction of the semi-permanent plates, which were to be renewed with stickers. Most 1973 plates were actually undated, as seen below. However, plates expiring during October, November, and December had month and year stickers. It is quite difficult to find stickered 1973 issues as most were covered up with later year stickers.
In 1976, Virginia, like many states, issued special commemorative plates for the American Bicentennial. Upon payment of an extra fee, you could register these plates - I have included pictures of Bicentennial plates for several years below.
