01/22/12

New Mexico

PASSENGER

1990 yellow with green graphics "AAA 000" base:  The following design began in 1990 ("91" expiration sticker) and continues the red/yellow design.  The new design includes a green border graphic in the top corners.  A sort-of stickerwell is located at the top of the plate in which a sticker with the county name is placed.  At first, this design continued the "AAA 000" plate number format because the state evidently ran out of the previous plain yellow bases.

1991 yellow with green graphics "000 AAA" base:  Same as above, this design also began in 1991 ("92" expiration sticker).  All previous bases, including the 1990 short-run of this same design, were invalidated and everyone received these new "000 AAA" plates.  A sort-of stickerwell continues to be located at the top of the plate for the county name sticker, but sometime around 1996 the state discontinued the county name sticker.  Therefore, this base is frequently found without the county name sticker on the plate.

1998 yellow with green graphics Waldale base:  Same as above, the design was modified when Waldale Manufacturing of Nova Scotia was contracted to produce the plates.  The two major differences were distinctly shorter plate numbers and the county name quasi "stickerwell" indentation removed.

2009 (red/reflective yellow) vg $3.00 "064 PDB" (11808)

2012 (red/reflective yellow) natural vg $3.00 "151 PPR" (11444)

1999 Balloon passenger:  This design is offered as a no-cost option along side the red/yellow plate and originally began using a six-character plate number format that included the letters "NM" (for New Mexico) in all positions within the six characters.  The rest of the characters were numeric.  When all "NM" combinations were exhausted, the state went to a "AA 000" plate number format, but discontinued the format at the end of the "BZ" block.  The state then went to a "AAA000" format starting with the "CAA" block.

2008 (red/reflective multicolored) vg $5.00 "GYL207" (13297)

2009 (red/reflective multicolored) vg $5.00 "JAW834" (13300)

2009 (red/reflective multicolored) vg $5.00 "JAW847" (13306)