The 1914 Plates

 


The 1914's were the first state-issued plates in Arizona.
Measuring just 4 1/2 inches in height, they are the
shortest of all the Arizona passenger plates.

The earliest plates were manufactured with just four
mounting holes. Later, slots were added at the top.
It's unknown exactly when this change took place.
So far, plates numbered thru #3931 are unslotted
and plates from #4166
and higher have slots.
(At this time, plate #4130 is unknown.)

The 3 digit plates had that unusual hyphen filling in the
empty space. What about the 1 or 2 digit? Who knows?

With only slightly over 5000 vehicles registered in the entire
state that year, one can only wonder as to how many still exist.
These are the most sought-after of all the Arizona plates.


1914 plate with vehicle

1914 #1106

This 1914 plate is the actual plate
once mounted on the vehicle shown above.
Photo was taken in 1914 somewhere between
Tucson and Nogales, Az.

(Special thanks goes out to Conrad Hughson for both photos!)

 


 

AHS-CAD Photo----------


Here's another!
This 1914 photo of the overheated Ford, found at the
Arizona Historical Society, Central Az Div. , matches up yet another 1914 plate!
Note the scratches along the lower portion of the numbers
from being wedged below the windshield.

(Plate #4606 from a private collection)


 
Known Numbers of Existing 1914s
  277- 279- 447- 493-
531- 736- 874- 880- 997-
1080 1091 1105 1106 1184
1440 1441 1461 1549 1678
1738 1804 1883 1884 1906
2103 2214 2369 2505 2526
2758 3169 3179 3301 3341
3390 3605 3606 3613 3702
3773 3845 3855 3926 3931
4130 4166 4168 4336 4391
4404 4491 4606 4883 4996

Underlined #s represent pairs, most of which are split up.

TOTAL of ...
63 ... (including pairs)

( Last update 6/7/10, #3606 from private collection.)
( Last update 6/17/10, #2505 from private collection.)

Plate #1710 is not included since the 1-7 was randomly added to a remnant
of a plate in which only the 1-0 were known.
Click here for image. BUYER-BEWARE


Dealers were issued regular passenger plates
in 1914 and Arizona did not mark their plates
with DEALER until the following year.


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