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The U.S. state of New Mexico first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1912. New Mexico is the only state that specifies "USA" on its licence plate, so as to avoid confusion with Mexico, the country.
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Passenger baseplates 1912 to 1960
In 1956, the U.S. states and Canadian provinces came to an agreement with the Automobile Manufacturers Association that fixed the size for license plates for vehicles, except those for motorcycles, at six inches in height by twelve inches in width, with standardized mounting holes. The 1955 (dated 1956) issue was the first New Mexico license plate that complied with these standards.
County coding, 1947–74
New Mexico established a numeric county-code system for its passenger and truck plates in 1947. Santa Fe County was assigned code 1, while the remaining counties were assigned codes 2 through 31 in order of the number of registered vehicles in the county. Following shifts in these numbers, codes 2 through 31 were re-allocated in 1948, after which they remained constant. Los Alamos County was created in 1949, and subsequently assigned code 32.
The codes were discontinued on passenger plates in 1972, and on truck plates in 1975. From 1976 until sometime after 1996, the county of issuance was displayed on a sticker at the top of the plate.
Cibola County was created in 1981, after the codes had been discontinued.