Ciudad Juarez
STATUS: Former Independent Entity, located in Chihuahua state.
PRONOUNCED: CHEE oo dad - WAR ez
CAPITAL: None
WORLD LOCATION: North America
ONLY LICENSE PLATES IN USE: 1963 and 1964.
MOTOR VEHICLES REGISTERED: Probably less than 100.
PLATES WERE: Locally issued. Sometime during 1962-1963, the Rio Grande river in Mexico changed course, leaving the town of Ciudad Juarez on the "other side" of the river, i.e., in Texas. The national government of Mexico basically cut off support to C.J., and the US government also wanted little to do with the problem. As the residents of C.J. were not being helped out by either side, they decided to take matters into their own hands, and declared themselved an independent state. It's theorized that this was basically a plan to get Mexico to take some sort of action, as they went as far as to claim a "tax free" status, as they technically were no longer part of Mexico or the U.S. The plates were first issued in 1963, and were similar to national issues of that period. The 1963 issue was white on dark blue, with CIUDAD JUAREZ - 1963 across the top, and a four to five digit serial number. The stacked prefix at the left of the number, NPI, stood for No Paga Impuestos, or "Tax Free". In 1964, a white on butterscotch colored issue was used, this time with the NPI stacked abbreviation after the number. Legend has it that the plates were distributed through a "mobile DMV" at the time, which consisted of a converted ice cream vendor cart. Needless to say, these plates are rather rare, and most known issues are from the blue 1963 series, but a few butterscotch colored 1964 plates are known to exist.
SINGLE PLATES OR PAIRS: Pairs.
OVAL: MEX ISO: MX
CARS DRIVE ON: Right
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