SALEM – The end is near – at least when it comes to the traditional letter-then-number format of Oregon’s license plates.

Based on current projections, the state is on pace to issue the last of the lot, which will be ”ZZZ 999,” sometime in November 2003.

And then?

The standard issue ”tree” plates will simply see the pattern of numbers and letters do a flip-flop, with the numbers first, said David House, spokesman for the state’s Driver and Motor Vehicle Services division.

So, the next set of plates after the final ”ZZZ” series will begin with ”001 BAA.”

”That’s another 20 or 30 years worth of plates,” he said.

The ”Oregon Trail” plates, which are no longer being issued, used up the combinations that end in ”AAA” to ”AZZ.”

The DMV lists about 3 million vehicles and trailers with Oregon plates, he said.

There’s no telling exactly where the final ”ZZZ” plate will show up and who will end up with it, he said. The agency doesn’t take requests for the standard versions.

”Some lucky person may get it in the mail. It could show up at the DMV and come off a pile, but it’s impossible to predict what office it will show up in,” House said.

The Crater Lake National Park specialty plates have been lucky for the state.

Oregon drivers have steered almost $400,000 to Crater Lake National Park via purchases of a new plate, which is setting sales records since first being minted.

The Driver and Motor Vehicles Services division issued 19,921 sets of plates as of Dec. 13, an average of more than 1,000 a week since becoming available in late August, said House.

That outpaces the initial sales rate of the state’s salmon plates, which are now five years old, he said. ”The most successful specialty plate has been the salmon plates and these are selling faster in the same amount of time.”

The Crater Lake plates, authorized by the 2001 Legislature, cost an additional $20 per set and the money is steered to the Washington DC-based National Park Foundation. The proceeds are dedicated to helping create and sustain a planned classroom and science center at Oregon’s only national park, said Michael Justin, spokesman for Crater Lake.

Officials are elated at the brisk sales, he said.

”Folks in Oregon have always had a great historical love of the park as a heritage, and this is a great reflection of that,” Justin said. Crater Lake park is celebrating its centennial this year.

James Sinks can be reached at 503-566-2839 or at jamess@cyberis.net.