Whatchama callits... whadaya call 'em?

Yeah, I wonder when the spelling and/or grammatical errors get noticed, and if they're the sign guy's and/or the car guy's.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

It was late the night of the show set up. It was the first show I had entered with my roadster, and had no sign, or any thing for a display. Manuel was a kid, maybe 18, and hanging around to try and pick up a little cash, doing striping. He came around and ask if I wanted him to do a sign for the roadster. He said he'd do it for 20 bucks. I told him what I wanted on the sign, and he wrote it on a little scratch pad. I gave him the money, and left. When I came back Saturday morning the sign was placed by the car. I noticed the mis spellings, but for 20 bucks, including airbrush shading, I wasn't going to hassle him. I was just glad to have the sign. When I had it framed later, the guy ask about the spelling. Think the mis spellings make it more "collectible"?

 

Yup, it wasn't originally about bragging. Just letting the crowd know a little about the car and who might have worked on it. Not everyone who attends a car show is a car freak.

 

im currently working on tattooing all my car specs onto the forearms of one of those cry baby dolls, and hes gonna have cuffed jeans and hold a PBR can with a motion sensor so when you get too close he tells you "fuck off, my car is better than yours," then he'll jump up and punch your brag boarder ass in the throat and drive off with your woman
oh wait.....no im not - but that would almost be as ridiculous as this argument - lame sign, cool sign, or no sign, if the car is right, itll get my attnetion, and if i cant figure out what the guy did, ill ask if thats what needs to happen - the crybabies tho - holy christ - some dude shoulda seen his Ol Lady was bored and stopped bringing her to the shindigs the time before that started!

it is a part of the history, despite the legitmate reasons for having it some of it was cool, most of it was lame - but angel hair clouds and mirrors will never be lame

 

Acknowledgment and information boards were cool until people had to start out doing each other with them. It's that old pendulum thing again. Hell, I've seen boards that looked better then the cars they were describing. But, that's the exception, not the rule.

 

seriously
Dean, sounds like you got some good history in your signs, thats cool regardless

rustybolts had the most valid point imo - the stand better be stable nuff not to smack into my car when i park next to the guy showin props to the shop that built his car

 

i'm not wanting to go off topic but what is the real history behind the cry baby dolls? i can appreciate a good sign with info. i like to know whats done to the car but i hate bugging the owner cause i'm sure he gets asked a ton of the same questions all the time but i hate seeing those damn cry baby dolls.

 

We always made our own stands for the signs. The sign was attached to the stand, and never used outdoors. In the 50's and 60's, if you were lucky enough to win the Winternationals, set a national record, or win best in show at a major show, you were proud enough to display some of the awards with the car. That may seem "stupid", "gay", or "lame" to all the modern day know it alls, but that's how it really was. The sign in this pic was painted by 17 year old Dennis Jones, who later went on to become a well respected artist with many funny car paint jobs to his credit. Notice, also, the little sign by the front tire. That was placed there by one Junior Conway to advertise his House of Color in the days long before he got 100 grand for a paint job. I would love to have that sign in my collection, but Junior came by after the show to collect it. At the time he wasn't yet prosperous enough to give away the signs.

 

I don't know about making it more "collectible"...
That adds personal value since you have a cool story to go along with it and have held on to it all these years.

 

I think show cards can be excellent art and informative or just plain ugly piece of crap. They're a tradition at the indoor car shows and most look very good. I dislike them at outdoor car shows with the hood opened, seems like a rookie thing to me and they look out of place. I think a nice ride should stand on its own merits and doesn't need a show card to make it look good. Going for points at an indoor car show is a different animal with the hood, doors, trunk opened for maximum points. The truth is a nice ride looks far better with things closed up. Keep the show cards for indoor car shows. * Now a nice bikini model has it place at an indoor or outdoor car show, in my back seat.

CRUISER

 

you had to be there to appreciate it! It was chinatown

 

A cry-baby doll that moons you, or looks like he's peeing on your tire, would be funny, at least until you saw one every third car.

 

Dean,
Great signs ! Thanks for sharing with us.
My dad started taking me to the Oakland Roadster Show around 1960 at age 5. The signs were always a cool part of the show. As I got older I remember stopping at each car and reading the sign trying to learn more about cars and the people that built them. Besides technical info it always seemed like a great way to thank those people (family, friends and shops) who helped out on the project.

chuck

 

"Show Boards", "Show Signs", "Show Cards", "Sign", whatever. I've painted hundreds of them and still do them mostly for the indoor shows for hot rodders, street rodders, low riders, late models, businesses, and even a few HAMBERS! Just finished one for a "rat rod" 34 Chevy PU that belongs to 70 year old lady who built the car with her husband and damn proud of what they accomplished. Did the sign on an old rusty piece of sheetmetal to match the rusty body. Her daily driver is very nice traditional 34/5 window with A/C, 350, Torq's. Just try telling her she's stuck up because she wanted to tell others about what she can do.
You don't have to be pretentious to be proud of your ride. I like the signs because they make me money!! Okay, who needs a sign for their car?

Mikey Did it
"I Do Bad Things to Good Cars"
www.MikeysPinstriping.com

 

here, here....

Funny thing is I've been skating longer than a lot of those "young twerps" have been alive. Come to one of the spots I skate and get that attitude and you may have a problem. Same thing is happening in those communities as well.

 

I may be the FNG here, but I'm 45 years old and started working on cars before I could actually READ the numbers on wrenches. I don't know it all by a long stretch, but what I do know is that those brag boards were EVERYWHERE in the 60s and 70s when I was growing up. My old man took me to every car show we could afford and I think about 50-75% of the cars that were show-worthy had them. If you 22 year old know it alls think it's "gay" or "stupid", then why don't you just go ahead and spit on Ed Roth's grave while you're at it. He made a decent living doing those on the side and I'd be damned tickled to have one of his originals on my garage wall. If I ever have a car that gets to that level of completion, I'll paint one myself and wait for one of you little "gansta-billy" bitches to say something. Sorry....just my rant. I'll go back and sit down in newbie corner again. LOL

 

I would hope that got through to the new punks,but cus they don't know
JACK SCHITT ?


For some time many of them have wondered just who
is Jack Schitt? they find ourselves at a loss when someone says, 'You
don't know Jack Schitt!' Well, thanks to genealogy efforts, they can
now respond in an intellectual way.

Jack Schitt is the only son of Awe Schitt. Awe
Schitt, the fertilizer magnate, married O. Schitt, the owner of Needeep
N. Schitt, Inc. They had one son, Jack.

In turn, Jack Schitt married Noe Schitt. The
deeply religious couple produced six children:
Holie Schitt, Giva Schitt, Fulla Schitt, Bull Schitt, and the twins
Deep Schitt and Dip Schitt.

Against her parents' objections, Deep Schitt
married Dumb Schitt, a high school dropout. After being married 15
years, Jack and Noe Schitt divorced. Noe Schitt later married Ted
Sherlock, and because her kids were living with them, she wanted to
keep her previous name. She was then known as Noe Schitt Sherlock.

Meanwhile, Dip Schitt married Loda Schitt, and
they produced a son with a rather nervous disposition named Chicken
Schitt. Two of the other six children, Fulla Schitt and Giva Schitt,
were inseparable throughout childhood and subsequently married the
Happens brothers in a dual ceremony. The wedding announcement in the
newspaper announced the Schitt-Happens nuptials.
The Schitt-Happens children were Dawg, Byrd, and Horse.

Bull Schitt, the prodigal son, left home to
tour the world. He recently returned from Italy
with his new Italian bride, Pisa Schitt.

Now when someone says to tham punks, 'You don't know Jack
Schitt,' they can say somethen near smarts.





Show Boards are very cool. Ya I go over "Board" some times,I'm old
I painted a lot of them at shows back in the 50's and 60's.
.

 

That's the funniest thing I've read in a long time!! Probably describes the history of a lot of the Lytle "Schitts" posting stupid remarks on the HAMB.

 

Showboards are about respect.
Respect for the work done by the folks that helped you put your car together.

RESPECT for the craftsmanship and sweat that helped make your ride what it is.

It's too damn bad there is so LITTLE respect here or in the rest of out world these days. Like Chili Phil said... Back in the day you'd get a shot in the snot locker for being a disrespectful ass.

 

I agree with the positives on telling others about your pride with a sign, or not. Not much different than standing around all day at a show verbally telling others about what you did to it.
My Dad had lot's cool cars starting in the early '50's (Yes, they did that stuff in Texas way back then) until he passed away a few years ago. He did some shows around Houston in the 60's and painted his own signs, did everyhting to his cars including, paint, striping and punching the hood louvers. I don't think there was much in the way of prejudice back then (competition, yes) as for dissing the other guys' style of doing things. On my end it is more of traditional lifestyle, like flames, pinstriping, stance, staring at your car as you pass a big window on a storefront...you know... doing your own thing more no matter what others say. And that is what hot rodding is really about...doing bad things to good cars!

Mikey
"I Do Bad Things to Good Cars"
and sometimes people.

www.MikeysPinstriping.com

 

Oh yea...Another thing, being a "rebel' in the hot rod kingdom is not a new thing. My Dad was real "Rebel" starting in the early 50's. Stood 6'3", 20" guns, long hair, earings, tats, way back then and was quite the attraction when he was in public or dragged raced on the streets of Houstons in his 292 Jimmy, 5 carb, powered 34 Chevy coupe. I even have a few pics of him as a pro-wrestler with the "rebel" dresscode. Not a poseur for sure.

Mikey
I Do Bad Things to Good Cars"
www.MikeysPinstriping.com

 

I always thought the point of these boards was so the owner didn't have to keep answering the same commonly asked questions over and over (who painted it?, etc.)

I like the ones that have a little history of the car (was an old rod from the 50s belonging to so and so, had it all my life, whatever). Makes the car more interesting is you know something about other than the obvious you can see by looking at it.

 

Yes Joe, he still has it. Maybe ill post some "then" and "now" pictures

 

tradition

respect

pride

1964

 

my view on INDOOR carshows is that they are basically temporary, mobile automotive art museums. now that said, how would you like it if the N.H.R.A. museum, or the warbird museum in chino if they didnt have signs in front of their exhibits? it would still be cool to see the stuff, but itsnice to have something that states the facts about whatever it is your looking at.
i like to be able to look at a board and find out what kind of tail lights those are, or what that dash came out of, or where they had that custom glass made. it beats aitng around for the owner to show up so yo can ask him questions hes(or shes) been asked 1000 times before. besides, if they're anything like me they're only around thier own car when they arrive, and when they leave, and you probably will never get to ask.
and as far as the signs blocking possible photo opprotunitys(SP?), how can you get mad at someone because THEIR sign is blocking YOU from taking a better picture of THIER car. besides cars usually have two sides that look pretty much the same. take a picture of the OTHER SIDE

 

The opening statement of a portable "art museum" was really a PICASSO moment, as a better description of an indoor show I have not heard. Very good for thought............. Traditional outdoor shows are ok but the HAMB Drags, the Lonestar Roundup, etc are the future in my humble eyes as the have the human creative element is the center.

As for the internet opinons, I heard it best said, "Arguing on the internet is like winning the special olympics!!"

 

Jesus...now you cant put a sign in front of your car without the rolled up jean guy telling me I'm gay or stupid...unbelievable. Anyway, when I was a kid with my pops going to car shows thats how I knew which car was my favorite...BY READING THE SIGN IN FRONT OF THE CAR...sorry I was not bron with all the knowledge as the so called "cool" guys have.

Im only 33 and a newbie on here but I have personally witnessed some of these guys at shows. I overheard a group of guys at the last show (like 2 weeks ago) making fun of another guy because of his tattoo and type of car. Now not to sterotype but they had the black t shirt, rolled jeans, and all tatt'd up. Now the 3 women with them were UGLY as shit stained underwear and they have the nerve to make fun of people...I have tattoos and I enjoy them but I have regular hair, I wear flip flops and a white t shirt...ITS THE FUCKING SUMMER! but most of all im a veteran...so before you start calling people pussy, fags, stupid, or whatever they may have seen more shit then you will ever see...and they did this all for YOU...so keep your insults to yourself...you might find yourself on your back looking up to them.

Dean awesome work...it takes talent to do those signs and I appreciate the history. Maybe next time I see them I can tell others the history about (to keep the tradition alive) and not just say they are gay.

Damn ive only been on here a few times and Im always reading these assholes cutting others down.

 

fine job of shutting them up.

 

I thought about a board to list the modifications but the wind at the outdoor shows can wreak havok. So I just did a 10 page binder that sits on the seat with a few key pictures of the car in process and the modifications along with the short story of the car and captions.
Many people pick it up and thumb through it, some come back a couple times to show friends or discuss what we did.
Most of the time we're not sitting near the car to answer questions anyways.

 

Well, just to stir it up more... here's the board fresh from the stripers tonight.



See ya at the Pumpkin run!

Terranova's