A New Ownership Certificate

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS OCTOBER, 1934. A New Ownership Certificate

Revised Form Gives Greater Protection to Buyers and Sellers of Automobiles in Arizona

State of Arizona MOTOR VEHICLE DIVISION A Arizona State Highway Department Registration of Title Certificate of Registration of Title

The new design for motor vehicle certificates of ownership which has been developed and adopted by the Arizona State Highway Department.

DISTINCTIVE NEW TYPE of automobile certificate of title, developed in the Arizona State Highway Department and designed to correct abuses which were possible with the old form of certificate, has been adopted by the Motor Vehicle Division of the department.

The new form is lithoghaphed in a copper colored ink with the printed matter in black on both sides of a high grade bond paper of long wearing quality. The design, created by George Avey, a member of the drafting room staff of the highway department, is characteristically Arizona's. Fringed with a heavy border of Thunder Birds and other Indian insignia, the body of the lithograph is made up of closely spaced saguaros, or giant cacti, the desert growth which bears the state flower of Arizona, between each of which appears in tiny lettering the word "Arizona". Across this lithographed background is printed in black type the wording of the ownership certificate.

Creation of the new design was prompted by the fact that the old style printed certificate was susceptible of too many abuses. Alterations and forgeries were not uncommon, and these, according to E. M. Whitworth, head of the division, will be practically impossible with use of the new form, in which numerous refinements have been incorporated. The copper colored litho-graphed background is printed in a nonacid proof ink, which is readily susceptible to erasures, thus making any attempt to alter names and numbers which have been written in, immediately discernable.

In a letter to county assessors, announcing adoption of the new certificate form, Mr. Whitworth says: "Following a custom that is used by banks and agencies that issue travelers' checks, letters of credit, etc., we have endeavored to offer additional protection to the owner or buyer by providing on the reverse side of the title, in the upper left hand margin, a space for signature of the owner. This space should be filled in by the owner immedi-(Continued on Page 15)