Many years ago at the tail end of a business trip to Minneapolis I was invited by a couple business associates down there to attend an important event over in Wisconsin.
To save on airfare flying home on Sunday evening was much cheaper than on a Friday afternoon. Even with the cost of a hotel room and meals. So the invite to the dirt track on Saturday was more than welcome. Bruce, whose company sold our packaging in the US mid-west, would give me a ride and return me to the hotel in the evening.
While at his residence before we drove to the Wisconsin track I looked over his cars, parts and memorabilia. Bruce would soon be selling off all that he had as a divorce was on the horizon. One item he gave me was a Centennial sticker for Minnesota’s Centennial in 1958. This unique gift has been in safe storage among my automotive brochures and other car stuff but lately I’ve felt guilty about keeping an historic relic that rightfully belongs in the possession of a Minnesota car buff.
They say “nothing in life is free” but there is; this Centennial sticker to the first car buff from Minnesota who sends me an email. I’ll pay for the postage and ensure it’s safely packaged for the mail system. You can reach me at melnykfamily@shaw.ca.
I have a near-religious objection to bumper stickers, but *if* I lived in Minnesota (which I do not) and *if* I had a 1958 car, this might well find a home on it.
It occurs to me that the lucky winner might be able to cut one of those modern thin magnetic car stickers to shape and affix this emblem to it so that it can be added and removed from the bumper/body as desired.
Better yet, do a high res scan and make a reproduction for the car. Save this for the archives.
I don’t think the high res scan would pick up this sticker’s ‘safety reflector’ qualities described in the sticker’s text.
Gotta agree with JP on his “near-religious objection to bumper stickers”…
At my wife’s urging, I got one of those magnetic bones that says “I ❤ my Cairn Terrier” and put it on my wife’s Lancer. She said, “Why don’t you put that on your Mustang? She’s YOUR dog, and that’s HER car!” I replied, “I don’t do bumper stickers.” ;o)
Needs to be on a 1958 Impala (don’t know why but that was the first thing that popped into my head and it just seemed “right”).
I have to agree, Dan… The ’58 Impala just SCREAMS “1958!!!”, doesn’t it?…
I dunno Dan, I was thinking something more like this. 🙂 Maybe it’s just me, but a bumper sticker only belongs on a car that is not very attractive in the first place.
You think a Studebaker driver would allow something so flashy and reflective on their car? 😉
Is it just me, or does this remind anyone else of Soviet-style advertising/propaganda?
If it was SovProp, it would have a prominent flag unfurling in the wind and words like ‘progress!’ or ‘brotherhood’. This one about the space program looks a little like the sticker:
I remember these reflective bumper stickers as a kid growing up in the 60’s and early 70’s. You got them from AAA and other places. They were (as this one posits on its text) advertised as a ‘safety feature’ in case of a taillight failure.
I think my Dad had one (and American Flag Sticker IIRC) on his ’66 Impala.
You never see them anymore. Did they get legislated out of existence, or merely fall out of fashion?
I’d guess it’s probably the whims of fashion, just as fuzzy dice, suction-cup Garfields, and tiger tails all had their day.
Taillight failure, huh? Murphy’s law says you’ll have the sticker on the wrong side!
I generally agree with J P Cavanaugh on the bumper stickers. However, what do you do when you have a very original car from the ’50s which has old, “typical of the period” stickers on it? I have decided to leave mine on, because they are interesting and part of the history of the car.
1958 Ford Custom 300, back window:
1958 Cadillac, rear bumper:
1958 Cadillac, trunk lid, original dealer sticker:
I almost think the installation instructions printed on the back side could be more interesting than the sticker itself. I mean, how hard could it be? Though as I recall, in 1958 stickers weren’t so common that every kid was using them from age 2 on.
“Warning! Do not attach sticker to face or breathing difficulties could result!”
Nothing I dislike more than a sticker on a car (especially a dealer sticker) than is put on crooked.
To me, the crooked dealer sticker is a reflection of the overall attitude and service you’re likely to get at said dealer.
I remove these from all my vehicles ASAP because I hate “free” advertising on my vehicles.
What fun!
I see Minnesota had it both ways, celebrating a territorial centennial in 1949, and then statehood in 1958. Ebay has several of the more durable commemoratives, includig coins, embroidered patches, even this beautiful Red Wing trivet below–but none of today’s gem, which truly is “ephemeral.”
FWIW, the art style also reminds me of what the WPA artists were using on their posters in the late 1930s.
As a native Minnesotan, this is fascinating. I have never seen this seal before until now. According to record, the left side represents female, the right male. Dare I say that seems strange within our modern context? I’d also wager this sticker is 3M (Minnesota corporation) promotional media, because it notes the “Scotchlite” material, a now famous 3M product.
My Grandfather actually worked for 3M at their corporate offices in St. Paul. He was able to “test” a new type of tar shingle on my father’s childhood home they were considering for production. Dad says they weighed at least twice as much as a regular one. That roof lasted 30 years, no joke (the shingles were deemed too expensive to market, however). 3M also used to test reflective road paint on a mile-ish long strip on Highway 19 right by my childhood home while I was growing up. I wish I had a photo of it now, but it was very strange to see horribly faded paint markings next to seemingly perfect ones, yellow and white in 10 foot strips over and over again while driving down the road.
ah yes, bumper stickers. i remember my dad being PO’d at finding a large garish South of the Border decal barnacle-ized to the rear bumper of the Country Sedan after a short visit there.
also the embarrassment of this young male while borrowing moms Sentra with the I ♥ Burt Reynolds sticker.
It’s not difficult to have this copied even with the reflective materiel .
I have a few badges/stickers on my old vehicles, mostly window stickers .
I have used the magnetic sheeting on a few, you just have to remember to take them off every time you wash the car or you’ll soon loose the paint underneath it .
There’s a healthy aftermarket in new re pop vintage stickers of all manner @ Auto Jumbles here in California .
-Nate
While I hate the stickers, I love the old pickup bumpers where the dealer, city, state was imprinted into the steel. That’s America!