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The New Mexico Transportation History Project and its NMplates.com website have in their archives all of the known surviving New Mexico motor vehicle registration records from 1912 through 1938. Of these, there are no known surviving records from 1917, 1919, 1921, 1925, 1929, or 1930. For some of the other years, portions of the records are also missing. There are no known surviving records after 1938, save for the 1954 Dealer registrations. Nonetheless, there are in excess of 836,300 individual registration records in our archives for the 1912-1938 period. All of the plates seen on this web page are in the hands of ALPCA members.

1912 Passenger #592: Issued Oct. 24, 1912 to Mrs. Fanny Leupold of Deming for a 20 H.P. Model T, s/n 122974. The serial number tells us that this car was manufactured in May 1912. Mrs. Leupold was a relative of ALPCA member Art Leupold.

1913 Passenger #1179: Registered to A.S. McNaghten of Emery Gap on June 17, 1913 for a 20 H.P. gasoline powered 5-passenger Ford, s/n 200267, which was built on January 31, 1913. The Folsom Museum Facebook page reports that Allcutt McNaghten took the northbound train out of Folsom to Trinidad, Colorado in the early summer of 1913 for the express purpose of buying a car. There he purchased the aforementioned car and drove it back to Folsom. Emery Gap, where McNaghten lived, was a small settlement just south of the Colorado state line and just off of what is now New Mexico State Road 551. It had a Post Office 1906-08, 1909, and 1925, but the little burg diminished to nothing and ultimately vanished from the face of the earth.

1914 Passenger #378: Registered to A.G. Simms of Silver City on January 2, 1914 for a 24.5 H.P. gasoline powered Reo touring car, s/n 50501.

1915 Dealer #14: Registered on Jan. 1, 1915 to Willis D. Newton of Las Cruces, who was the Ford dealer in that town at the time. He is known to have had two nearly identical #14 Dealer plates in 1915.

1915 Motorcycle #12: Registered to Owen L. Wood of Santa Fe for a 9 H.P. DeLuxe Twin, s/n 2406. The same Owen L. Wood also appears in 1928 with plate #118 for a truck, and later in 1935 and 1936 as having National Guard Officer license plates registered to him for an automobile (see below).

Born in Indiana in 1883, Owen L. Wood moved to Santa Fe in 1899 with his parents and sister, where his father became a school superintendent. After graduation from high school in 1901 Wood attended Rose College in Indiana, returning to Santa Fe after completing his studies at Rose. From then until 1949 Wood worked as a draftsman for the state of New Mexico. His sister also worked for the state, as a stenographer and office worker. Wood attained the rank of Colonel in the National Guard but he preferred the title of “Captain.” He died in 1971 and is buried in Santa Fe’s Fairview Cemetery. His headstone uses his preferred title of Captain, abbreviated as “Capt.” in quotes as a nod to it not being his actual higher rank. Biographical information courtesy of Rick Holben.

1915 Passenger #11: Registered Jan. 1, 1915 to A.C. Loveless of Clayton for a 20 H.P. gasoline-powered Ford touring car, s/n 24704. If this serial number is recorded correctly in the records, the car was built on May 12, 1910

1916 Dealer #62: Issued Jan. 21, 1916 to the Roy Garage & Livery in Roy, a relatively small town in Harding County. Harding County was created in 1921 from portions of Mora and Union Counties. At the time this plate was in use in 1916, Roy was within Mora County.

1916 Passenger #2870: Registered Jan. 11, 1916 to E.G. Minton of Roswell for a 27.6 H.P. gasoline-powered Overland touring car, s/n 22351. E.G. Minton’s grandson, David L. Minton, is the Lea County Historian who provided many of the car photos appearing on this website.

1917 Passenger #2: Though there are no surviving registration records for 1917, we know from other registration records, as well as additional sources, that William J. McInnes (a banker in Lake Arthur at this time, and later in Roswell) held license plate #2 from 1916 through 1923. The registered vehicle during 1916-1918 was a 20 H.P. gasoline-powered Studebaker touring car, s/n 427558, but by 1920 he was in Roswell with a Dodge touring car (see below).

1918 Passenger #14129: L.B. Bentley, Organ, Hupmobile, s/n 70408. Mr. Bentley was a prominent figure in the small mining town of Organ, owning, among other things, a store across the street from his home. Both buildings are made of local stone and both are still standing today, the store now operating as a Thai food restaurant.

1919 Passenger #2: As in the case for 1917, there are no records for 1919, but also as in that case, we know that this license plate was issued to William J. McInnes. By 1920 he had moved to Roswell and had a Dodge touring car, but we have no way of knowing whether the Dodge was acquired in 1919 or 1920.

1920 Dealer #110: P.H. Sammons, Clovis. Not much information is given here, but with a population of just 4,904 in 1920, it probably wouldn’t have been difficult to find P.H. Sammons back in the day.

1920 Highway Department #135: State Highway Commission, Santa Fe, Moreland truck, s/n 8893E. Technically, this is a “civilian” license plate, but all 1920 porcelain license plates from #3 to #149 (excepting #13) were issued to the State Highway Commission for use on Highway Department vehicles, almost all of which were trucks. Beginning in mid-1923, the Department began receiving its own unique purpose-made license plate. (See below.)

1920 Motorcycle #84: L.O. Rister, P.O. Box 30, Maxwell, Indian, s/n 70K490. Maxwell is a small settlement in the northeastern part of the state, established in the 1880s on what is now I-25, 13 miles north of Springer.

1920 Passenger #2: W.J. McInnes, 106 N. Kentucky Ave., Roswell, Dodge touring, s/n 166218. McInnes continued to hold plate #2 through 1923, at which time he was bumped out of it as a result of the Governor being given plate #1 for the first time.

1921 Dealer #124: Wilson Tire Co., Silver City. Though this plate has led an obviously hard life in its 100+ years, most of it apparently outdoors, perhaps even buried in the dirt, there is still much we can tell about it. Despite the fact that there are no known surviving 1921 registration records, the 1920 records show that this plate was initially issued in 1920 to the aforementioned Wilson Tire Co. On the plate is a prominent rust stain from a 1921 renewal seal (“tab”). The rust stain tells us that the 1921 seal remained on the plate for many years, perhaps many decades, before it completely rusted away. There is no evidence that any later tab was used on it, and even the 1923 records show that the plate was not in use that year. In other words, we can confidently say that 1921 was the last year the plate was registered, and therefore even if not a natural 1921, it was in fact a valid 1921 renewal plate.  Photograph courtesy Phil Hill.

 1922 Passenger #33945: Eduardo Martinez, Tokay, 1922 Ford touring car, s/n 6020382. This was a natural 1922 which, when issued in the latter half of that year, would have had a 1922 octagonal seal (“tab”) on it, bearing the same serial number as that on the plate itself. That seal was apparently lost sometime during its more than 100 year lifetime. Legend has it that after residents and the Post Office Department for a long time could not agree on a name for the little town they finally settled on Tokay, after a brand of table grapes sold in a local store. Tokay and Carthage were small coal mining settlements, 8 miles and 10 miles, respectively, east of San Antonio, which itself is about 11 miles south of Socorro. Carthage was established in the late 1800s and Tokay about 1917. Carthage, its mines and its coking ovens were abandoned about 1950, preceded by Tokay in the late 1940s.  Photograph courtesy Phil Hill.

1923 Highway Department #202: Shortly after mid-year in 1923, purpose-made porcelain plates were issued to the Highway Department for its vehicles. The 1923 registration book was published on July 1, 1923, just before the specially designed Highway Department plates came out, so they do not appear in the book. But since the new plates are inscribed “HWY DEPT” there is no mistaking what they are.

1923 Passenger #39517: James C. Rhoton, Texico, 1922 Ford touring car, s/n 6589927. This was a natural 1923 plate, not a renewal from a prior year. As such, the plate and the star-shaped validation seal (“tab”) both bear the same serial number.

1924 Commercial Car #55: L.L. Chaplain, Koehler, 1919 Hudson touring car, s/n 70502, most likely in service as a taxi. Koehler (pronounced KAYlor) was a coal mining town founded in 1906 whose primary customers were the railroads. With the conversion from steam to diesel locomotives the demand for coal diminished precipitously and by 1957 both the Post Office and the residents were gone.

1924 Commercial Truck #102: Chester A. Wood, Clayton, 1923 Ford truck, s/n 6781609.

1924 Motorcycle #M29: Walter A. McCown, Sherman, 1913 Flying Merkel, s/n 2X9397. Sherman was the name of a settlement on the Mimbres River and what is now State Road 61, just south of San Lorenzo, and 21 miles east of Silver City. Sherman went by that name from 1894 to 1967, at which time the name was changed to San Juan.

1924 Passenger #449: Registered to A.F. Sisneros of Española for a Buick touring car, s/n 151419. This is the same car whose 1926 license plate is illustrated below.


    

1926 Commercial Truck #417: Jose E, Suaso, Parkview, 1925 Ford Truck, s/n 11387346, 2000 lbs. Located in far northern New Mexico, Parkview was two miles north of Tierra Amarilla and went by that name from 1877 until renamed in 1972 as Los Ojos (The Springs).

1926 Passenger #27682: A. F. Sisneros, Española, 1924 Buick touring car, s/n 151419, 2800 lbs. This is the same car whose 1924 license plate is illustrated above.


    

1927 Commercial Truck #1-135: Gene Rowland, Artesia, 1926 Ford Truck, 13738972, 2000 lbs.

1927 Passenger #1: Arthur T. Hannett, 1925 Cadillac, s/n 63M2150, 4400 lbs. Arthur Hannett was New Mexico’s seventh Governor, but technically, this is the same “civilian” #1 license plate that Louis C. Ilfeld of Las Vegas held continuously from 1912 through 1923, a period during which wealth trumped the Governor when it came to assignment of low license plate numbers. This changed in 1924 when the #1 plate was taken from Ilfeld and it was assigned to Governor James F. Hinkle. In 1928, after Hannett was out of office, a purpose-made #1 GOVERNOR plate was introduced, the first one being assigned to Governor Richard D. Dillon (see below). As far as it known, Ilfeld never held a low-numbered license plate again.

1927 Trailer #T-27: B.D. Wilson, Artesia, Trailer. This sparse registration record tells us no more than the owner’s name and town, with no details on the trailer itself.

1928 Commercial Truck #1-813: P.M. Wofford, Albuquerque, 1928 Graham truck, s/n GB13483, 3810 lbs.

1928 Dealer #D-90: City Garage, Carrizozo, Buick, Chevrolet. This garage and dealership were owned by Vincent Reil who was born in Spain in 1879 and came to Carrizozo about 1911. Reil died in 1975 and is buried in White Oaks. ALPCA member Wayland Hill worked at Reil’s business in the late 1950s and early 1960s. See also the Miscellany page for some of Reil’s business documents.

1928 Governor #1: Governor Richard C. Dillon, Santa Fe, 1928 Packard Sedan, s/n U155068B. 4000 lbs. As the first New Mexico Governor to be issued a purpose-made GOVERNOR license plate, Dillon also received this special plate in 1929 and 1930 (see below). Dillon’s home town was the small village of Encino on what is now U.S. 60, about 16 miles west of Vaughn.

1928 Passenger #118: Owen L. Wood, Santa Fe, 1917 Ford Truck, s/n 2002112, minimum weight classification. This is the same Owen Wood who had 1915 motorcycle plate #12 (see above), and 1935 and 1936 National Guard Officer plates later (see below). Note that even though it was registered to a truck, this plate is called a “Passenger” plate because cars and trucks received the same type of license plate until 1930 when distinct plates began to be issued to trucks.

1929 Governor #1: Governor Richard C. Dillon. Though there are no surviving 1929 registration records, we know that Dillon was still in office at this time and had this plate, but it is uncertain what car he had. In 1931 he was out of office and his 1928 Packard does not appear in the 1931 records. But in 1931 he had two 1929 Packard sedans, serial numbers 179772 and 267137, so he could have still had the same car from 1928 or either one of the 1929 Packards while in office in 1929. Or it could be none of them, as Dillion was a serious Packard enthusiast who was said to have bought a new one almost every year.

1930 Governor #1: Governor Richard C. Dillon. Again, there are no surviving registration records for 1930 but we know that Richard Dillon was still Governor in that year, so this plate was assigned to him. See the discussion above for 1929 about the car(s) he may have had in 1930.

1930 Passenger #3: William J. McInnes, Roswell, Chaves County. As already noted, there are no surviving registration records for 1930, but McInnes is known to have had plate #3 from 1926 into the 1950s, and this was one of them. (Beginning 1947, of course, the plates had a county number prefix, in this case county 3 in 1947 and county 4 in 1948 and thereafter, so his plates from these years were numbered 3-3 (1947) and 4-3 (1948 and later).


    

1931 Commercial Bus #175: Union Auto Transportation Co, El Paso, Texas, 1929 Pickwick Bus, s/n 67338, 25 passengers, 10,000 lbs.

New Mexico’s 1923 motor vehicle law required that “the non-resident ... owner[s] of every passenger automobile, motor truck, or trailer carrying passengers, freight, express or articles for hire, or operated as a commercial truck or commercial car within this State or between points without and points within this State, shall be required to apply for registration and pay the registration fees, and to secure and constantly display the plates specified in this Act for vehicles and trailers of like class and capacity.” Hence, this Texas-based bus operating in New Mexico was required to have a New Mexico plate in addition to one from its home state.

1931 Commercial Taxi #12: Southwest Tours, Santa Fe, 1928 Cadillac sedan, s/n 327005, 7 passengers, 4965 lbs.

1931 Driverless #185: U Drive It Co., Albuquerque, 1930 Ford Phaeton, s/n A3924463, 2285 lbs. “Driverless” was the name used at the time for rental cars, and a number of Driverless cars are erroneously listed in the 1931 records as “Taxis,” this being one of them. 

1931 Trailer #T-602: Maurice Dunn, Roswell, Home Made, 1931 2-wheel trailer, 500 lbs.

1932 Passenger #42: Eugenio Perez, Vaughn, 1926 Chrysler sedan, s/n E6632, 4005 lbs.

At this time Vaughn was a major division point for the El Paso & Rock Island and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads, making Vaughn an important and bustling town. Its importance was lost to a great extent with the advent of diesel locomotives, and Vaughn today is considerably smaller in population than it was back in the day.



    

1933 Commercial Bus #C-91: Leandro Lopez, Albuquerque, 1926 Chrysler Bus, s/n 321734, 4235 lbs., 6 passengers. New Mexico’s definition of a “Bus” at this time was a vehicle having a normal seating capacity in excess of seven persons. By that definition, this vehicle should have been classified as a Taxi.

1933 Commercial Taxi #C-116: This plate shows in the records as having been canceled, and has no information as to what vehicle it was initially in use on.

1933 Motorcycle #M-127: Varner West, Bernalillo, 1933 Harley Davidson, s/n 33VE2527.

Varner West was Stephen Varner West, born in Ravenswood, West Virginia in 1912. By 1920 he was living in Albuquerque with his parents and a sister on W. Lead Ave. in Albuquerque. In 1940 he was employed as a truck driver for a feed store and living on Atrisco with his wife, then in 1950 was still on Atrisco with his wife, now with a 6 year old son, and employed as a railroad shop foreman. Varner West died in 1988 and is buried in Portales.

1933 Passenger #22: Charles R. Keyes, Wagon Mound, 1929 Ford sedan, s/n A2-181-554, Minimum weight classification.

Wagon Mound is a very old but quite small community at the intersection of what are now State Road 120 and I-25. Its name is derived from a nearby hill which has a resemblance to a covered wagon. Initially called Pinkerton, 1881-1882, it has been called Wagon Mound from 1882 to present.
 

1933 Trailer #199: State Highway Department, Santa Fe. No information is given in the records as to what kind of trailer this was.

1933 Truck #527: Frank Gormley, Santa Fe, 1925 Ford, truck, s/n 12358934, 1560 lbs.

1934 Dealer #D-80: Guy Chevrolet Co., Artesia

1934 Governor #1: Governor Andrew W. Hockenhull (D), Santa Fe, 1934 Studebaker sedan, s/n 026124, 3435 lbs. Andrew Hockenhull was elected Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico in 1930 and was re-elected in 1932. He became governor upon the death of Governor Arthur Seligman in September, 1933.

1934 Motorcycle #M-155: F.W. Holmes, Socorro, 1930 Exelsior, H6002.

1934 National Guard Officer #46: Lt. W.M. Harvey, Las Cruces, 1924 Maxwell sedan, s/n C513576, 2650 lbs.

1934 Official #166: Grant County Road Department, Silver City, 1925 International truck, s/n 4533, 5700 lbs.

1934 Passenger #17-082: M. Goggins, Hagerman, 1917 Ford roadster, 2214575, Minimum weight classification.

Located 17 miles southeast of Roswell, and at first called Feliz, 1894-1895, the town was renamed Hagerman for James John Hagerman, a developer who was instrumental in the building of the Pecos Valley & Northeastern Railroad to this location and development of irrigation systems in the region.

1934 Trailer #10: U.S. Reclamation Service, Las Cruces. No information given for the trailer itself.

1934 Trailer #146: Highway Department, Santa Fe. No information given for the trailer itself.

1935 Dealer #D-68: Bassett Brothers, Silver City, Ford

1935 Motorcycle #M-241: Varner West, Albuquerque, 1928 Harley Davidson, s/n 28JDL1986. This is the same Varner West who appears in 1933, but with a different motorcycle.

1935 National Guard Officer #17: Capt. Owen L. Wood, Santa Fe, 1934 Chevrolet sedan, s/n 4463099, 3020 lbs. This is the same Owen L. Wood who had motorcycle plate #12 registered in 1915, passenger plate #118 registered in 1928, and national Guard Officer plate #18 registered in 1936. (See above and below.)

1935 Passenger #61-074: Celso E. Romero, Mora, 1935 Ford coupe, 1397178, 2647 lbs.

Mora is a small town with a population of a little more than 500 souls, but is the county seat of Mora County in the northeastern quadrant of the state. Settlement here dates from the early 1800s.

1935 Trailer #10: S. Warren Hall III, Silver City, 1934 Homemade, semi-trailer, 360 lbs.

1936 National Guard Officer #18: Capt. Owen L, Wood, Santa Fe, 1934 Chevrolet sedan, s/n 4463099, 3020 lbs. This is the same Owen L. Wood who had motorcycle plate #12 registered in 1915, passenger plate #118 registered in 1928, and national Guard Officer plate #18 registered in 1936. (See above and below.)

1936 Official #251: N. M. School of Mines, Socorro, 1934 Ford sedan, s/n 551562.

1936 US Official #US-211: United Pueblo Agency, Albuquerque, 1936 Ford pickup, s/n 2878170, 1962 lbs.


    

1937 Commercial Taxi #C-342: J.T. Walker, Tucson, 1933 Ford sedan, s/n 279486, 2550 lbs. This is another example of an out-of-state vehicle having to additionally register in New Mexico by virtue of it operating in both states, as required by New Mexico’s motor vehicle laws at that time.

1937 Dealer #D-108: Hubbard & Hull, Raton, Nash & LaFayette, International. Lafayette was a luxury motor car brand introduced in 1920. Nash gained full control of the Lafayette brand in 1924 and the Lafayette brand was retired soon thereafter. In 1934 Nash revived the LaFayette name for a smaller car, then combined the names into a single model called the Nash-Lafayette 400 in 1937. The LaFayette name was dropped in 1941.

1937 Motorcycle #M-250: Varner West, Albuquerque, 1928 Harley Davidson, s/n 28JDL1986. This same motorcycle was registered to Varner West in 1935, and a different motorcycle in 1933. (See above for both.)

1937 Official #2: Motor Vehicle Department, Santa Fe, 1937 Chevrolet coupe, s/n 345417, 2770 lbs.

1937 Staff Officer #X-27: Walter A. Biddle, Albuquerque, 1936 Ford coupe, s/n 3073290, 2730 lbs. This is the same Walter Biddle who had 1938 Staff Officer plate X-27 in 1938. (See below.) “Staff Officers” had no official position or duties in the government, and had nothing to do with the military. They were simply people who the Governor had named as “Honorary Colonels.” In 1947 a law was passed prohibiting the issuance of such plates.


     

 1938 Commercial Bus #C-280: George Harkness, Carrizozo, 1938 Ford sedan, s/n 4255703, 2843lbs.

1938 Dealer #D-37: Hunter Motor Co., Española, Ford.

1938 Governor #1: Governor Clyde Tingley, Albuquerque, 1938 Buick sedan, s/n M93458300, 3380 lbs.

Clyde Tingley was born in Ohio in 1881 and after marriage to his wife, Carrie, she contracted tuberculosis. Her doctors recommended that they move to a warmer and dryer climate in the Southwest to mitigate the effects of the disease. Taking that advice they moved to Albuquerque in 1910. As Carrie began her recovery Clyde began participating in New Mexico politics, holding offices as City Councilman, City Commissioner, and even district maintenance superintendent of the New Mexico State Highway Department for the Albuquerque district. In 1928, 1932, and 1936 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In 1934 he was elected Governor of New Mexico and reelected in 1936, completing his second term in 1938. Tingley died in Albuquerque at the age of 79, and is buried at Fairview Memorial Park in that city.

1938 Motorcycle #M-39: Ross Bacon, Hanover, 1929 Indian, s/n DGP7234.

Hanover was originally a mining camp in the Silver City area, adjacent to the Hanover Mines and a few miles northeast of Central, on what is now State Road 152. An immigrant who worked the mines is said to have given the camp and the mines the name of his home town in Germany. The mines were essentially worked out by the end of the 1800s and today the town has fewer than 300 residents.

1938 Passenger #833: Ray W. Bennett, Santa Fe, 1935 Ford sedan, s/n 1525876, 2737 lbs. Ray Bennett, an employee of the New Mexico State Highway Department, was the original editor of the New Mexico Highway Journal magazine, which began publication in July 1923, and in July 1931 was renamed New Mexico Magazine. Bennett was largely responsible for the creation of this magazine, which is still published monthly today, more than a hundred years later.

1938 Staff Officer #X-27: Walter A. Biddle, A1buquerque, 1936 Ford coupe s/n 3073290, 2730 lbs. This is the same Walter Biddle who had 1937 Staff Officer plate X-27 in 1937. (See above.) “Staff Officers” had no official position or duties in the government, and had nothing to do with the military. They were simply people who the Governor had named as “Honorary Colonels.” In 1947 a law was passed prohibiting the issuance of such plates.

1938 Truck #21183: John Zukee, Raton, 1929 Chevrolet Truck, s/n T41596, 1815 lbs.

1954 Dealer 1D-150: Barney Holmes Motor Co., 1418 Fourth N.W., Albuquerque.

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