May 29th, 2019 : Federal Plates

[xoxoxoBruce]

It started when I saw this photograph taken in the 1930s at the New Mexico border with AZ?, CO?, OK?, TX?



One woman said that’s a picture of the last time a man stopped to ask directions.
One man said he was asking where he could find a woman to make him a sandwich.

What I noticed immediately is the CCC license plate. I’m well aware of the work the CCC did, we’ve discussed them here in the
Cellar many times. One of my father-in-laws worked for the CCC moving graves when they built Quabbin Reservoir to supply water
for Boston, and couldn’t go home weekends because they were quarantined in case they dug up diseases.

You know I’ve been involved with cars since I got my first one 62 years ago, and never seen or heard of a CCC plate.

A friend in Texas sent me a link to a NM plate site which showed the CCC plates.



CCC tags are 6.75” x 13.5” of thick steel weighing a pound each. Most were undated and used from 1933 through 1942.
The name of Federal agency issuing the plate was along the bottom.
Some may have been issued in pairs but most used a larger 8” x 14” plate on the front with the CCC emblem and “The Driver is
Required to Drive Carefully”. Wouldn’t that be reassuring when a dump truck is hurtling at you?

As this picture bounced around the net, the man on the right has been incorrectly called a NM State Cop.
He’s most likely from the gas station on the left. But that raises the question of who owns the dog on the right?
That’s no gas station dog which are first cousins to junk yard dogs.
One guy suggested to me the dog is a shill working for the Chamber of Commerce.