Deputies in the Fayette County Clerk’s office had become so interested in getting as many 1940 auto tags as possible sold before the annual mad scramble that they gave a royal welcome to motorists willing to shop early. On February 19, 1940 L.E. Simpson, right, went to the clerk’s office to buy a tag for his farm truck and found Clerk J. Porter Land and 10 of this deputies eager to make the sale. The clerks had sold 11,100 tags for passenger cars but they had thousands more to get rid of before the March 1 deadline. Herald-Leader Archive Photo