hand painted signs signs O/T

I have a BIG thing for hand painted signs and the way things are being redeveloped locally these gems are disapperaing quickly, almost as fast as the art of hand painting disappeared when vinyl and software took the lead as design tools. I was lucky and scored this one yesterday, it was being used to block a hole in the chain link fence of a transmission shop in attempts to keep crackheads and metal thieves (skulls) out. I strategically arrived at 4pm on friday with 24 cans of cold beer to ask about "that old sign", they where very keen on the beer...

 

you should find a flywheel grinder to match,earn some money on the side

 

great score and a good example of block lettering as it used to be.

 

Im a sign fabricator. The old stuff is definatly getting harder and harder to come by. i have a huge soft spot for vintage neon and hand painted signs. One of the guysi work with started out as a sign painter 35 years ago and man does he have some crazy stories about how they were done sometimes.

 

Cool find! I like to stop and examine hand painted signs when I see them. You've got to respect all the experience and talent that went into the hand painted signs.

 

I remember seeing that sign,glad to see it go to a good home.

 

That's very cool sign! I have this one that used to be on a fence at a dragstrip . It's 24 feet long so kinda hard to display. If anyone has a picture with this sign in the background I would love to see it.

 

My favorite. Overtime is a bitch.

 

Hey, that quickchange clock is neat! Do you have different spur gears for "daylight savings time"? LOL

Here's an old sign my buddy scored from a building demolition in Washingtonville, NY:

 

And here's a little of my handiwork...in One-Shot enamel...I do all my own race car lettering myself (It's kind of a hobby of mine).

 

Great score! I am a collector of old signs because my father was a sign painter. My favorite is one that was painted in the 40s and came from an Indian reservation. It says "Whiskey Drinking not Allowed"

 

Hey, someone should narrow this thread down to misspelled old signs, I've seen some great ones....I think misspelled is spelled right.

 

My friend Biggen bought this at a sale. It is a water slide decal salesman supply box. It is all painted on the inside. This thing is cool.

 

Great sign from the Hillcrest Drive-In.There must be lots of signs from the Fraser Canyon "ghost towns".

 

whin i was in high school i used to help a sign painter but he did real big stuff like 2 rows of 5x10 panels 6 across for wall drug all over sd and the surronding states

 

hey not to hi-jack wideglide, but what kind of beer was it?

 

i've worked in sign shops for about seven years now, and worked with and learned from some of the coolest old sign writers. its sad to see some of the old timers reduced to just in stalling signs made by younger guys who have no interest in learning how it used to be done. ive always been into art and creating, i went to college for graphic design and when i started working with the old timers i learned ten times more stuff in half the time i learned in school. hand painting is a lost art, i'm trying to master it under the instruction of a couple of pretty cool guys who are extatic to see a young guy interested in the craft. and they let me keep any of the old signs we take down, so my collection is getting pretty big

 

Old thread but...bttt....any new pics? Anyone?

 

This Mail Pouch sign is on a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood and was painted by the late Harley Warrick in '96. He was the last of the famous Bloch Brother's Tobacco sign painters who painted the Mail Pouch slogan on thousands of barns in the eastern US. The smaller metal sign is a NOS item and is not signed by the painter or sign manufacturer.

Jim

 

I love the old hand painted signs and have been collecting for years. Thanks for posting the pics.

 

Sorry I don't have abetter picture. The HOT RODS sign in the back is done by hand. Not very old but nicely rendered I think.

 

Kev that's way cool! Used to stop by Don's store almost daily, before I went in the Navy (Feb 1960) always searching his used speed parts, still pissed I missed a set of Arden Heads by less than 15 minutes, they were still on the counter. Don never used a cash register, 1's 5's and 10's in his front pockets and 20's 50's and 100's in his back pockets. the Place seemed different in the late 60's had some young dude at the counter named Pete. drove a brown 55 chev 6 cylinder. wonder what ever happened to him.
Oh ya' seems like opened his own shop in Temple City with some Jake guy

 

Here's a hand painted sign from our local speed shop. The shop has been around since the early 60's, same owner, and his younger son still run the place.

 

got a couple from a local machine shop that closed a few years back...i'll have to shoot some shots of the stuff. also ended up with a old sign from a local swimming pool , that i had redone back in the early 90's. love the old signs from back in the day. anyone from the cincy area remember the sign from ky motors in covington above the counter...? and where did it go.......

 

saw this one at the Reno swap meet this year. Wish I would have bought it.

 

My Grandfather painted for NASA. He painted on the things that went up in the air,,lol. I learned to paint and ended up painting and making props and displays for Dillards. I made thousands of signs for them. Heres a couple I painted on my walls. We have a problem with inbred hillbillies here,,lol.
Oh, yeah I sand blast glass as well. Old English!

 

Bad cellphone pic of one of mine:

 

one of my best mates is an old school sign painter. he dose a lot of signs around our small town and is a very good pin striper. heres a couple of examples on cars.

 

^
wild straight axle pontiac