Art & Inspiration The **OFFICIAL** door lettering thread

A few I've seen lately:



BR-549!

 

Love the indian....well, the whole truck for that matter!!

 

no kidding. how cool is that!??

what month/issue??

 

my old welding shop truck.i miss that thing....

 

How about some vintage door art ..being done, by one of the greats

 

who is that swinging the brush?

 

Posted over at Bangshift

Here is the story about Herm.....

Herman and LaVerne Griller met during the Great Depression. Herm
was a native of Sioux Falls. He grew up in the “Northend” and attended
Cathedral High School. Upon graduation, he secured a position with the
“Milwaukee Road”, selling tickets at the depot at Fourth and Phillips.
LaVerne was born in Eagle and graduated from Kimball High School.
She moved to Sioux Falls in 1933, and got a job at Henry Field Store to
earn money to go to beauty school. The store was a few blocks south of
the depot, a place where Herm sometimes stopped to get lunch. After he
met LaVerne, he stopped more often!
The young couple courted and made plans for the future. Herm, skilled
in lettering and penmanship, left his job and joined a local signmaker. The work suited him. In
1937, wanting to improve his technique, he decided to head for California and asked LaVerne to join
him. Their first stop was at Murdo, where they married.
Herm’s talent and LaVerne’s faith in him paid off. He became “Herm the Sign Man” with a shop at
Eighth and Franklin. His services were in demand statewide. LaVerne eventually left her position
with Fantle’s Department store to run Herm’s office from their home.
Partners in all that they did, the Grillers had been married 67 years when Herm passed away in
2004. LaVerne lived another seven years and made provisions in her will to create this scholarship
through the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation ​

 

What great story, wish I had a chance to meet them, I studied lettering in hs, did a few vans and delivery stuff, went into the AF and the rest is history.... so far!

 

that is a great story, sounds like Herm is just like the guy that put a brush in my hand in 1966 and started my lifes work as a sign guy. i only do hand lettering now and leave the vinyl and printing to others in the shop, i never get tired of lettering. i think that Herm was a top notch signwriter, imo, the clean, well spaced and laid out lettering shown in the photo, separate the men from the boys, as the funky, psychedelic & cartoon type layouts are a lot more forgiving on accuracy.

 

Tribute to late 40's early 50's modified stock car out of Va.

 

Killer pic and cool story...great thread! Hoping to contribute more pretty soon!

 

I'm on the fence when it comes to door art.

However, my tudor was a sheriff's car and had door art on it back when it was new. So...I'm thinking it might be appropriate for this car.

My grandad had a small Chevy dealership in the little town I grew up in and I'm thinking I might paint his sign on my door. It was back in the day when they still used letters for phone prefixes....I've always thought that looked cool.

 

Here's some better pictures of my daily driver.

 

What a great daily driver, love it mate

 

my newest project.

 

1958 Apache

 

this is my 48' chevy pickup. My dads always called me Toad so we went with it.

 

Here is mine. It is made up and Riverbend is a neighbor hood in Des Moines and I wanted to use something local. I have done it to my last two trucks because they are beaters and thats all I can afford and this gives me a reason to take it to a show. I know people out there hate on me for it but whatever it's mine and this is what I choose to do with it. I have alot more to do on it. What you see is all I got done before Goodguys last year.

The green truck was my last one.

 

Forgot to mention that there is a ton of skill in this thread and have enjoyed looking through the entire thing at all of the great work!

 

shop pick up...

 

Just went through whole thread and it was awesome

 

I have reached the age where I find myself drawn to things in the past. In the 60's I courted my wife of 47 years with a red '65 Corvette big block coupe. On the front fenders in script was "soul and inspiration" from the Righteous Brothers album of the time. And for a kid in the submarine navy, who was in love with fast cars and a beautiful 18 year old from Feeding Hills, MA, it was appropriate. So now many years later we find ourselves still able to cruise and what better than to put something on the red ride we have now (bed and tonneau handy for oxygen cylinder and walker the missus needs now). I asked the old master of lettering, Dick Mills, if he would do the tailgate and this is how it came out. I know it isn't "in" but it makes me and Miss Linda smile and thats a big plus in these times!
p.s. have to admit this isn't an original idea, saw it back in early 60s on a black Chevy supersport at Dover Dragstrip in Wingdale, NY and always liked the idea.

 

I am just seeing this thread for the first time. 32 pages of crazy artwork.

 

I have been cutting logos off old trucks in the junkyard. Here are a few I have collected.

 

Original lettering on 58 I just picked up.

 

Thats pretty schlick.





Sorry, had to do it.

 

Nice idea .. two thumbs up !

 

awesome truck .. good job !

 

Here's an original 1936 job. Capital City refers to Jefferson City, Missouri