I was wondering if this was a 60's east Coast thing. I remember a lot of guys would paint a name on their front fenders. There was a guy with a 62 Impala with " Captain Crunch " painted on the front fenders even with the Cartoon Character. Many others also. Then later in the 70's the fad seem to disappear....
It was popular in this part of the east coast on mild customs in the early to mid 60s. Miss-behavin', Miss-this, Miss-that etc. etc. My favorite was Problems... Problems... Problems... Just about said it all. I think it was a 60 Poncho mild custom.
During the 60's I have never seen any writing painted on a street car anywhere here in Ohio. Of course when you went to the dragstrips here...every one had names and sponsorships written.
Popular in Portland, Oregon in the late 50s, but the names were usually on the rear fenders. I remember a few. Poor lil Fool Sputnik * Mister . I always liked that one!..............OLDBEET
Midwest had names on street cars during the late '50's/early 60's...popular spot was the area between the door and front wheel well, or the rear quarter panel above and behind the wheel well. Song titles were used, girlfriends names were used, sometimes even old slogans were used...imagination was the key...and most people remembered you by your car name... R-
It's still popular here in the midwest with the older guys (no offense if you're one of them, but it seems to be an over-60-only thing). Lots of names on cars around here, usually mild customs done late '50s style. ("My Blue Heaven" on a '54 Chevy, "High School Dropout" on a Merc sled, and a couple others I can't remember off the top of my head).
I did quite a few on cars in Massachusetts in the late 50's and early 60's.After I got out of the Navy in 67 it seemed to have died out.Most popular spot was the area between the front door and front wheel well with the occasional one on the rear quarters.Don't ever remember doing one on the trunk(which is so popular now or was a few years ago)but I did some on dashboards.
My primered and raked '49 Chevy 2-door had "The Tramp" lettered on the lower front fenders....late 50's. I painted several for friends....all with cartoons as well as the names. "Running Bear" ('56 Buick convert), "The Green Weenie" ('50 Dodge), "Mustang" ('46 Ford coupe), and others.
one of my uncles and one of my moms cousins each had their girlfriends names on the fender skirts of their cars.My uncles was a mild custom 59 Chevy convertable and My moms cousins was a full custom 54 Merc Convertable with the Engine /Trans From his very new and Wrecked 57 T bird Convertable !wreck the Tbird 1 month after buying it cash! Street racing,sand ,and a concrete bridge abbutment =not pretty!Every bit and piece he could save from the Bird ended up in the Merc
In 1959 when I was a senior in high school in Vineland NJ we were *into* naming our cars and painting the name on the rear quarter at the top.......I had a dark metallic blue '50 Ford Shoebox coupe named *My Blue Heaven*........another friend had a light blue '53 Ford tudor called *Mr Blue*........and there were others....I did a lot of the lettering for friends in those days.... Just remembered another friend with a wicked '58 Pontiac that I lettered for him....*Flying Trouble*......said it pretty good..... We tended to go with titles from rock and roll songs of the era! Brucie
There's one that haunts me from my oldest memories of 1960's Ohio that was painted on the lower front fenders "Secret Storm" or maybe "The Secret Storm" which oddly enough may have been the name of a soap opera from that era...
In 1962 I had a purple 50 Merc with "Purple People Eater" on the front fenders. A buddies Blue 51 Olds was named "Bluesette". How do I ever remember this shit.
<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" width="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">Back in the day ( fiftys and sixties ) I used to paint cartoon charecters on dashes, helmets, fenders, and trunks for friends. Rags </TD></TR><TR UNSELECTABLE="on" hb_tag="1"><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNSELECTABLE="on"> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Quite a few cars in my little hometown in eastern South Dakota had names painted on the lower front fender, behind the wheel. "Rockin' Robin" on a robins-egg blue Galaxie 500 is the one I remember best.
I remember seeing names on street cars in the early 60's in central Ohio. The name would be written in script (pinstripe) and placed low on a rear fender just behind the wheelwell. Two that I remember were "Mr. Clean" (a 50 Merc Custom) and "Asphalt Angel" (an early 30s 2-door hot rod). Snake
My first car was a $15.00 beater '56 Chevy with a 235 in it. I named it "SIX PAK" and painted it on the rear fenders. Hey, not real original, but being a 16-year old kid in 1961, I thought it was damn cool......
My cousin had a 55 Buick Special "Mr. Lonely". Hand lettered in script on each quarter panel behind the doors. Stu
In Tulsa in the late 60s/early 70s, there was a guy who had a beautiful '56 Safari with "Never So Few" nicely lettered on the rear quarters. He traded it for a nice '49 Merc, but told me he regretted letting the Safari go.
In the late 60s when I was in the service, a guy was showing me pictures of cars from his hometown of Lubbock TX. I was amazed to see a mid 50s Buick 2door in red primer with "Bone-eater" written down the side in about 24" tall lettering, all caps. He said he didn't know the guy but that Buick was one of the fastest cars in town. All I could say was "WOW!".
Around 1970 there was a kid here that had a jacked up POS '56 Chevy 210 wagon. It had curtains in the rear windows and the tailgate window was painted black, on the tailgate he had someone paint the Lil' Devil cartoon character winking and underneath him they lettered "Don't laugh, your daughter is in here." Otherwise I don't remember anyone here painting names on their cars.
Still goes on today. Guys in my car club still routinely put names on the rear of their customs. One has "Devil or Angel" on the rear of his 53 Buick along with a little devil and a little angel. Another has "Teen Angel on his 57 Olds convertible's continental spare. My mother in law has "Grannie's 39" on the rear of her 39 Ford and my father in law has " Grumpy" on the rear of his 29 LoBoy along with a picture of Disney's Grumpy. Needless to say all of these people are over 60.
My dad had a 54 chevy post with 'Troubles' or 'Problems' on the rear quarter. Car was always getting stolen, I think that's were the name came from. Aint that the shit's, he's gone now and I can't ask him. And my uncle had a '55 post with 'Chantilly Lace' in the same location. This was '58 through '60 in Bellflower and Paramount, Ca.
As shifty noted, it's a big thing for donk guys to do now. I've seen it on old sports & SCCA cars too (Old Yeller & Le Monstre come to mind).
In the late '50's, a friend of mine had a '50 Ford with a picture of a horse head and the name "The Stray" on the front fender. A few years later, he had a red '52 Ford with "Firewagon" painted on the front fender. I remember that he didn't like it, because I showed up at his house one day and he was busy removing it with rubbing compound. This was in the twin cities area of Minnesota.
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