Has anyone seen this writing on a passenger door before?

I'd say Navy because of the gray. I think the Navy used yellow paint for stenciling. As for using a coupe. Maybe they used what ever they could get their hands on during the war. Could have been an officers car.

 

it could be a rural route mail carrier. i will ask my wifes grandfather he ran a mail route in the country for almost 30 years. thats the side the mailbox is on. so it would make sense to keep the door shut. seems there would be more markings if it was military.

 

Maybe the guy just had a stupid wife.......

 

If it were a postal vehicle, wouldn't the lettering be on the inside? Just a thought. What sort of industries had people hopping in and out of p***enger seats? When a guy jumps out of the right door and runs off to do something, it would be inconvenient for the driver to stop, put the car in nuetral, apply the parking break if on a hill, reach over... you get the idea.
Wish I could think of a funny answer.

 

Since it is a Business Coupe it could have been used for just about anything and Gray was a very common color back then. It could have belonged to a state or county agency, a salesman, it may have been a company car, delivery service, etc. the possibities are endless. It may have been used in an industry where it was in close proximity to moving equipment like a rail yard, mine or quarry, oil refinery or logging where vehicles or other equipment would be p***ing close to it and an open door would get torn off.

 

Down here in the Pacific theatre most new cars were taken by the government for use as military vehicles,anything running was grabbed. A mate a 1939 master deluxe with vacuum shift. The army removed the vacuum shift lever ( stuck out of the DASH ) and installed a floor shift.
They would paint them in standard military paint . After the war the cars ( if still in one peice) would be returned to the owners.. as is.
I would say that chev was either a fire vehicle (red ) or an Airport service vehicle. That may explain the use sign on the door. You jump from a vehicle leaving the door open while you run over with an extinguisher or something.


or some ****head once backed his car out of the garage with the door open and needed reminding on his new Chev.

 

Chev sold right hand drive cars for use as postal vehicles. Logical when you think about it,the driver just throws your letters into the box from the drivers seat.

 

It's funny you should say that, the drivers door has actually been forced round on it's hinges to the point where it hit the hinge panel slightly... and come to think of it the p***enger door has a strange handle type thing wedged in the bottom hinge(i'll get a pic) maybe the bottom hinge is damaged and that's why it was stated to keep it closed...

 

Can't get things straight in my head, if you dont want to fall out of a speeding car, it is imperative that you should keep that door closed, but to have it stencilled on the outside... you can't read it untill it's to f*%#ing late
Huhh ?

 

because its the government? lol

 

Nice reference! I wonder how many young'uns get it?

 

Occurs to me the sign should have been on the inside unless there was something normally carried in the car that they didn't want to get out. I know! They had a cat in there!

 

Let the bear in!

 

I'm pretty young and yogi was a on tv when i was a kid

 

After everything that people had said on here about the army, airforce, colours, dates etc i figured the car most probably wasn't involved in the military but then i asked the previous owners son who i bought the car from and he said 'The 40 was an old army car, in Idaho that is cool that you found that!'

The plot thinkens...

 

That's weird. We may never know.

 

i have contacted these guys... http://museum.mil.idaho.gov/index.htm

they probably wont have any info but worth a go i thought

 

We have the National Guard here now. I have no idea what was here then.


On a side note, will a 39 seat work?

 

Yea Gray is Navy.

It could have been a company car and that was in place of NO Riders.

 

i have no idea without seeing the mounts or someone in the know telling us... was it a 2 door do you know?

 

No, but I've seen it on the wall before. Gary

 

It aint exactly Area 51, but there has been a Government-owned atomic energy research site in Southern Idaho since about 1950, and there was a WWII era Naval gunnery range at the same location prior to that. That's maybe another twist to the plot, if your '40 Chevy came from Idaho.

My 1948 F1 pickup has "Atomic Energy Commission" peeking thru a layer of paint on the doors. I bought it in Southern idaho.

 

Can we see a picture?

 

After porkn******'s coment about grey being Navy i was going to say why the **** would they have a base in Idaho as it's inland but now you say that i'll keep my mouth shut

yes please post pics of your doors, unfortunately my lower doors have been sanded back... maybe to get rid of logo's?

 

Tim G,
It could be that the car was used for either state or local prison purposes.

 

the goverment heard there was a number of stupid folks in Idaho that would just jump in your car and ride with you, and this was a way of keeping stupid people out, as they would stop to read the sign and causse they were slow at reading you could get the jump on them and drive off before they got in

 

The US Air Force was created on September 17, 1947. Prior to that, it was the Army Air Forces, and prior to that, the Army Air Corps.

The military used all kinds of cars - Chevys, Fords, Studes, you name it. Traditionally, Navy cars were gray; sometimes medium blue. Army and the AAC used OD green, for the most part. The trim, grilles, and bumpers on all cars produced from January 1942 to the end of the war (October 1945) came with painted parts that were normally chrome. Some even had wood bumpers! Stainless steel, chromium, nickel, and copper were used for wartime production, and not on vehicle trim. Civilian auto and truck production did not resume until early 1946, when the government allowed it again.

The only places where the government confi****ed civilian vehicles was in Hawai'l, Alaska, and along the coasts; and they did not confi****e ALL vehicles, just what was needed for specific uses involving the war effort. Planes and boats were involved, too, but only what was absolutely needed by the government. If they confi****ed all vehicles, wouldn't it stand to reason you'd see government nomenclature on all pre-war vehicles??? You don't, and they didn't.

 

Part of the INEL in south east Idaho was used as a Naval base... for submarine training...

Have you checked the car with a gieger counter?

Pete

 

No i haven't

I'm guessing there are some mighty big lakes in sout Idaho? excuse my geography knowledge of the US, it's obviously not up to scratch

 

The INEL (Idaho National Engineering Laboratory) is in the south east Idaho desert... not a lake around for miles. They must have a huge tank... I don't know if they still do sub training there or not. Or maybe the training was for nuclear subs, since the INEL is a nuclear reactor research facility. Arco, Idaho which is nearby was the first nuclear powered city in the country.

I did a tour of a couple of the facilities there when I was in high school. I remember they had a concrete trench inside a building that was about 15 feet wide, 40 feet deep, and probably 100 feet long. In the bottom of the trench were spent fuel rods from one of the reactors. The lights were off in the space, and the glow coming from the radioactive rods in the bottom of the tank was enough to light the room... They had a big roll of waxy paper nearby, and tore off a piece to put on the edge of the trench so you could lean on it and see down into the bottom. I guess the paper was enough to keep the radioactive waste from getting on us... They checked all of us for contamination before we left the building and got back on the bus. Pretty eye opening to say the least...

Pete