54 Explained

During my trip to Ohio and ever since I put 54 on my ST1300 I have been answering the question about that number quite a bit. I thought I might take a minute to explain and I actually moved the plate that is the reason for that number over to the ST today.

Well, I sort of had the story in my head about how the plate came about and I decided maybe I should check with my father. It turns out I had the basic jist of story right, but not exactly correct.

The H 54 plate came about because a friend of my Grandfather's, named Ralph Villers. He was the man who provided radios to the town of Wellsville, OH for the police and fire departments. (My Grandfather was the Chief of Police for Wellsville.) Ralph also worked for the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and had the ability to get signature plates issued for people. This was well before personalized plates were available and was one of those you had to know somebody kind of deals. Anyway, Ralph got my Grandfather a signature plate. H was obviously for his last name and 54 ended up being the number, for whatever reason.

My Grandfather got H 54 for his 1947 Pontiac in 1949 and the plate has been around ever since.

In 1965 my Father got H 54 in Pennsylvania when he was living in that state and also got H 54 when he moved to Alabama a few years ago.

I got H 54 in 1999 in Arizona and I have had it ever since. So, when the time came to put a number in the spots on my ST1300, 54 was the obvious choice.