Art & Inspiration Old Signs

There is something about old signs that I just find so interesting.

When I think of the old sign painters who would paint their signs on the sides of old barns before the day's of billboards.

To me many of these old sign painters were really true artists at their craft and it is just so inspiring to see what you can do with some One Shot paint and some brushes.

Old signs seem to have more appeal then the stuff you see today and yet the fonts they used were simply very straight forward.

 

scootermcrad -

Your sign is very, very cool! ... but I'll admit that I might be just a tad bit biased ... in addition to my HEMI-powered '32, I'm also the owner of a '62 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider Normale:



Your dealership sign is at least 40 years old as Alfa dropped the word "MILANO" (i.e., the City Of Milan) from its logo / badging in 1972:



Here's a photo of a circa '60s Italian Auto Dealership with a sign similar to yours mounted on the corner of the building:



... and here's a couple pics of a complete (two-sided) dealership sign like yours:

 

You RULE! Thank you!!! There's something a little bit different about the frame, but it's very similar. I recently got wind of one hanging in a shop in Costa Mesa, but I'm scared to go there because the guy has a ton of old Porsches, which I'm also a sucker for.

Thanks for the info!

 

Here's our Irwindale Raceway sign

 

I picked this up on ebay. You turn a little crank and the pistons go up and down and the valves move.

 

Western Ave. Downtown Muskegon , Mi. --- F.O.E #668 , Amazon , Frauenthal Theater

 

So i quess the mayors family does ALL the sign painting.Cant find a job so make one ............lol...........................YG

 

I scored an old Sputnik Satellite sign topper that's been restored and works beautifully. I"m might be the coolest sign I've ever had. Looks amazing with the sequence lighting in the dark. Not I'm trying to negotiate a deal on a Rotosphere here locally. Love these things...

 

Love that one. I do have to say if you score a Rotosphere you'll be the coolest person I've ever heard of. Is it one of the ones currently still out in public or is it in storage? I know of one for sale in LA but the restoration costs are pretty large.

A friend met with Mr. Milks and was able to get copies of his records about every Rotosphere he built and where they went originally. Great bit of sign history.

 

And what is a rotosphere?

 

Not my photo but here's a good example. Each half rotates in opposite directions and the entire sign spins.

Another thing that made them so incredible is that each of the 16 aluminum spikes is each 8 feet long and outlined in neon.

 

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Here's a 1964 ad showing the then-new Rotosphere in Salt Lake City. Look at the size of the cars in relation to the size of the sign.

 

No luck on the Rotosphere yet but I did actually find and buy another Sputnik sign today. Maybe I can trade one for the Rotosphere....

 

I think I saw a big old faded 'Ford' sign painted on the brick wall of a building a few miles out side of Ypres in Belgium. Wanted to grab a pic, because my second thought was this thread, but I was in van #2 of a three van caravan and couldn't get them to stop. Anyone on here over that way or have a pic?

 

deco neon rules

 

Borrego Springs, CA
Motel has been there since the early 50's

 

I just snagged these Shell signs from a customer...free!

 

Score! We get our grease in 30 gallon barrels at work with the shell signs on them, makes for great garage garbage cans. find some of those, and you'll be a regular shell station.

 

Thanks! I'm always looking for stuff like this when I'm out working. I found an early 50's Bennett 966 gas pump in a small village near our town that I'll be dragging home within the next week. Guess what company it will be restored as??

 

Alot of neat stuff here!

 

Several pages back I posted some shots of the Airport Restaurant that's a bit south of Elwood, Indiana. Coming back from the Road Rockets Rumble last weekend in Indy, I stopped and took some shots of this old abandoned motel on the north edge of town.

 

This is a pretty rare sign....

 

Sold a large chunk of my collection earlier this year. There's some good ones in there.

 

This was the big mama of my collection. Ford was usually pretty clear on only "Genuine Ford Parts", so it was unusual to see a Ford sign advertising "Service All Cars". In fact, this is the only one of these I have ever seen, and I've yet to meet another collector that's seen one like it. Could be a one of a kind. ???

 

I've never seen one like that either. I'd love to find me a neon Ford service sign, too.

 

High above the Darigold Milk Plant - Portland, OR.

 

Old Edelbrock decal on the door of a carburetor repair shop in Portland, OR.

 

I think this was for steam valves on an old train, different meaning now...

 

Not a good picture, but this is a full-size porcelain American gas station pole sign. It has a metal band around it that retained plastic Amoco overlays that hid what was behind it. The guy that gave it to me had no clue that that was the case. I believe they used a light fixture for the flame.....