Mail car at Capitan Post Office, 1921. The car is a 1918 Buick touring car, s/n 451137, with 1921 plate #19873 registered to the White Line Stage Co. of Roswell. This was the typical way of moving mail in New Mexico at the time (and even in much later years), by contracting with stage lines (i.e., inter-city bus and taxi companies) to haul the mail along with the passengers. Note the mail sacks tied to the hood of the car. The license plate was likely mounted on the front because of a need to secure baggage to the rear of the car. The motorcycle in the scene is a 1916–1919 Indian Powerplus with a 61 cubic inch motor and an Indian sidecar. If only the motorcycle were turned the other direction so we could see its porcelain license plate! Courtesy David L. Minton.

J.B. DeArman of Nogal, N.M. was the registered owner of this 1911 Ford Model T at the time this photo was taken. The car's serial number, 71417, shows that it was one of the earliest Model Ts made, built in October of 1911, some two years before Henry Ford first implemented the moving assembly line. The boy on the hood is unidentified. Courtesy Dennis Smith.

1921 porcelain plate # 14114 was registered to L.W. Glasebrook of Well Country Camp, Tijeras, NM, for a Ford delivery. The people in the scene were residents of Well Country Camp, which was a tuberculosis recovery facility. On the occasion the photo was taken they were visiting Hammond’s Ranch, owned by H.B. Hammond, and which was to become what is now Sandia Park, NM. The woman in the back row, center, is Reba Gauss; the others are unidentified.  Courtesy Rick Holben.

Edwin H. Leupold, owner of the Ford dealership in Belen, New Mexico, from 1919 to 1953, is seen here returning from a hunting trip in his 1921 Model T. Note the 1921 porcelain plate #15383 with its diamond-shaped seal. Courtesy Art Leupold.

“Our first car.” One has to look carefully in this reproduction of the photo, but porcelain plate #22399 seen here carries the red 1921 diamond-shaped renewal seal, showing that the photograph was taken in that year. Though the 1921 registration records have not survived, the registration for this car was renewed in 1923, and from those records we learn that this was a 1920 Ford Model T sedan, serial #4292667, registered to H.A. Cravens of Roswell. The serial number tells us that this was a 1920 Model T with a factory build date of August 20, 1920. The scenery suggests that the photo was taken in the Sacramento Mountains, some 70 miles to the west of Roswell.  Author's collection.

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