Vintage Ford V8 Signs

[Ziggster]

Always admired this Ford V8 sign hanging from the local garage. I’m sure he has been offered a pretty penny many times over tbe years. Been there ever since I moved here over twenty years ago. Show us what you got.

[TJ]

Those signs were usually lit up with neon. Looks like the neon tubing is long gone.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Ziggster

Always admired this Ford V8 sign hanging from the local garage. I’m sure he has been offered a pretty penny many times over tbe years. Been there ever since I moved here over twenty years ago. Show us what you got.

[Anteek29]

Somebody needs to repro that one! Could be a hot seller!

[Ziggster]

Haha! I was thinking the same, but it is s huge sign.

[DavidG]

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It appears that the oval perimeter originally was illuminated with neon tubing.

[mercman from oz]

How do you like this one, and it is lit up.
It is the V8 Sign at the Early Ford V8 Foundation Museum, Auburn, Indiana.

[nelsb01]

Former dealership sign from Dennison Iowa. Now resides in my basement (only one side).
Three by five.

[nelsb01]

Here are some from 2018 -- Hershey.
Each one was more than one months house payment.

[mercman from oz]

That is a great old Ford sign. You are a lucky man to have it lit up in your basement, even if it is only one side.

[flatjack9]

Here's mine. It's pre-neon. Has incandescent bulbs inside. Made by Sales Equipment Co. in Detroit. Listed for $49.50. 6' wide and 3' tall.

[nelsb01]

Mercman -- I saved the better side.
A departed friend knew of my Ford obsession and had his brother pull it off the building. The transformers were there, and enough neon tubes for templates. Had the transformers checked out and the neon done by a little shop in Minneapolis.

[Jeff/Illinois]

Originally Posted by nelsb01

Former dealership sign from Dennison Iowa. Now resides in my basement (only one side).
Three by five.

Like the sign!! We have one also, made for Ford in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It has a new transformer, new can, and new tubing.

When I first installed it, the lighting was so bright it was like looking into a welder. Hurt your eyes. I went to a sign shop and bought a rheostat made for neon signs and toned it down.

It is the one in my Avatar. Came from a Ford dealership out of northern Missouri many years ago. Of course it is inside I'd never put something like that outside.

[paul2748]

ebay has a few of those signs listed. Different sizes, different prices

[Flattop]

Neat old signage!

[Ken/Alabama]

Originally Posted by Anteek29

Somebody needs to repro that one! Could be a hot seller!

It was reproduced many years ago . Original size and could get it with or without the holes for the neon. Not very many of them got out cause the guy that was making them got shut down over copyright laws. I have one, they were fairly expensive even back then.

[Jeff/Illinois]

Originally Posted by paul2748

ebay has a few of those signs listed. Different sizes, different prices

Yes but original Ford signs even in half way decent shape are getting real hard to come by.

Many of the 'antique signs' on E-Bay are listed as 'used' means they are not original antique signs.

[rockfla]

I don't have pictures of them all but here is my Neon V8 and a double sided neon Ford Service Arrow. We also have a Neon V8 Ford Trucks and a small and large Porcelain Ford Oval . Both Neon V8 signs and the two Ford Ovals have a "Story" attached to them that is quite interesting!!! Oh and my double sided Lincoln sign too!!!!

[deuce lover]

Nice Lincoln sign Robert !.Here is an Italian and 2 French ones.

[Tim Ayers]

I'll try to post a pict. later. I have the Ford half of a Ford & Mercury dealer's enamel sign. It's beat up, rusty and cut in 1/2, but it was left behind from the previous owner at our last house. I took it as a good omen to purchase the property.

[MSmelcer40]

Flatjack. I love it

[Deuce-Addict]

Some European ones...

[DavidG]

My original '32 neon V8 sign personally removed from a small town dealership's front window in Indiana many years ago following an auction there. The second photo is of mostly Ford signage including two from Quebec. All are originals, including the transformer of the neon sign.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Deuce-Addict

Some European ones...

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by DavidG

My original '32 neon V8 sign personally removed from a small town dealership's front window in Indiana many years ago following an auction there. The second photo is of mostly Ford signage including two from Quebec. All are originals, including the transformer of the neon sign.

[Jeff/Illinois]

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Rockfla NICE signs!!

I've been trying to buy that Ford Service arrow in neon for at least 40 years. They are cool.

At a Ford dealership closing in Maquon, Illinois back around 1980 they sold one at auction that was still hanging outside the service door. Of course the neon was long gone, and the birds were nesting inside the can where they were getting in via a small rusted out hole. Sign was maybe a 5.0 out of 10.0 (10.0 being mint)

It sold THEN as-is for $3500 as I recall

Man that was the coolest old Ford garage ever. Built in 1924, had a canopy out front where visible pumps sat, a removable iron lid there where they would dump coal and it would go into the drive-in repair shop/basement area to a coal fired hot water heater...also had repair and body shop upstairs. Talk about neat!!! All white glazed brick still in real good shape.

[Gary in La.]

Here are a couple pictures of 2 Ford signs I owned in the 1990"s. Wish I still had them but at the time a profit was more in need. Poor photo quality due to taking a picture of a picture.

[Ken/Alabama]

Still have the rectangular sign, it’s dated 1919 on the back. Wish I still had the double sided oval but it really took up a lot of space. Sold it bout 25 years ago. Bought the Parkers Landing sign about 30 years, it’s embossed tin and about 36” long. I’ve seen reproductions of it but much smaller and not embossed.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Gary in La.

Here are a couple pictures of 2 Ford signs I owned in the 1990"s. Wish I still had them but at the time a profit was more in need. Poor photo quality due to taking a picture of a picture.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Ken/Alabama

Still have the rectangular sign, it’s dated 1919 on the back. Wish I still had the double sided oval but it really took up a lot of space. Sold it bout 25 years ago. Bought the Parkers Landing sign about 30 years, it’s embossed tin and about 36” long. I’ve seen reproductions of it but much smaller and not embossed.

[mercman from oz]

Ford - The Universal Car - Double Sided Baked Enamel.

[tubman]

Originally Posted by Gary in La.

Here are a couple pictures of 2 Ford signs I owned in the 1990"s. Wish I still had them but at the time a profit was more in need. Poor photo quality due to taking a picture of a picture.

I seem to remember that in the '50's and '60's "A-1 Used Cars" was Chevrolet dealers slogan for their used car operations. Has this sign been modified or am I completely off-base here?

[mercman from oz]

Genuine Ford Parts sign

[Brad in Germany]

Some of my European Ford signs:



Brad in Maryland

[flatford8]

Originally Posted by tubman

I seem to remember that in the '50's and '60's "A-1 Used Cars" was Chevrolet dealers slogan for their used car operations. Has this sign been modified or am I completely off-base here?

Denny, was it “OK” Used Cars that your thinking of?........I would love to have a sign for my shop but, between TV and eBay, they’ve got me priced right out of the market......Mark

[rockfla]

Originally Posted by Jeff/Illinois

Rockfla NICE signs!!

I've been trying to buy that Ford Service arrow in neon for at least 40 years. They are cool.

At a Ford dealership closing in Maquon, Illinois back around 1980 they sold one at auction that was still hanging outside the service door. Of course the neon was long gone, and the birds were nesting inside the can where they were getting in via a small rusted out hole. Sign was maybe a 5.0 out of 10.0 (10.0 being mint)

It sold THEN as-is for $3500 as I recall

Man that was the coolest old Ford garage ever. Built in 1924, had a canopy out front where visible pumps sat, a removable iron lid there where they would dump coal and it would go into the drive-in repair shop/basement area to a coal fired hot water heater...also had repair and body shop upstairs. Talk about neat!!! All white glazed brick still in real good shape.

Thanks Jeff, we pulled that arrow off the side of the building, it used to be the Ford Dealer in Foley AL. We would see it when we would cut the corner at the main intersection in town, it was on the back of the building above the garage door entrance. We traded an old 56 Willy's panel truck for it!!! Funny part was we didn't have an extension ladder tall enough to reach it SO we had put a piece of plywood on the roof of our LTD station wagon and backed it slap up against the wall then put the ladder on the roof of the car to reach it.......Looking back (and given its weight) that was a very very dangerous move!!! Cira early 1980"s

[Deuce-Addict]

What a brilliant thread this is! I love David's Quebec V8 sign and Brad's Budapest shield! A few more European ones...

[rockfla]

Anyone know a good neon repair shop in the Southeast??? Closer to Florida the better???

[nelsb01]

Google --- neon repair in florida

you have quite a few to choose from

[rockfla]

Originally Posted by nelsb01

Google --- neon repair in florida

you have quite a few to choose from

I should have qualified AS most of those do not do "restorations" only NEW neon!!!!

[Gary in La.]

TUBMAN: Yes that is a genuine FORD A-1 porcelain sign. OK was the Chevrolet sign. Vey large and very heavy. Had to torch it off at the base cause the I-beam main support was encased in concrete. It went to Vernon Walker (Walker radiator) and has since been sold at his auction several years ago.
This very old dealer ship was closed and all the parts were gone already. I did purchase all the manuals (P.U. truck bed full) and all the old shop equipment and tools.

[1942deluxe]

Greg Boss in Marysville ,Kansas had a pristine A-1 used car sign and the Mulholland neon Ford sign. If you google Boss Motors, Maryville Kansas you can see pictures of both. He also has a 1971 Boss 351 he bought when he got back from Vietnam. They closed in the last year or so. Ford requires the "trustmark" remodel or new building if a dealership changes hands now so my guess is most of the small dealerships will be gone in the next 5-10 years. Well over a million dollars to do and very few small towns can generate enough to pay that expense.

[nelsb01]

Rockfla:
New signs are bent and made just the same as old ones. Except now they use colored tubes instead of mixing gas to make the color.
If you have enough tubes left to create a pattern, they should be able to do it.
I don't understand why they wouldnt want the business.

[nelsb01]

More from Hershey

[rockfla]

Two companies here in town "ONLY" want to do "new" make signs!!! SO can't answer that question

[petehoovie]

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Originally Posted by nelsb01

More from Hershey

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by tubman

I seem to remember that in the '50's and '60's "A-1 Used Cars" was Chevrolet dealers slogan for their used car operations. Has this sign been modified or am I completely off-base here?

I had to look, too! The Chevy houses used the "OK Used Cars" signs, whereas the Ford dealers seemed to use the "A-1 Used Cars" signs. Very similar, but definitely different! DD

[tubman]

I stand corrected. It's a bad day when you don't learn something new. (In this case, i think it was more a case of re-learning something I had forgotten.)

[mercman from oz]

Giant original Ford Authorized Dealer Sign. Pity that I could not get a good photo of it. It is in perfect condition. Very nice.

[corvette8n]

Wow, I really like this thread, at this point in time I can’t even afford the reproductions, let alone the real things, but it is fun to look.

[koates]

Originally Posted by mercman from oz

Giant original Ford Authorized Dealer Sign. Pity that I could not get a good photo of it. It is in perfect condition. Very nice.

It wont stay in perfect condition for very long with all of that crap stacked up against it. Are you sure its an original. Looks like a repop to me.

[mercman from oz]

Regarding this Ford Authorized Dealers sign, I believe that it is an Original, as I first saw it over 40 years ago. I took this picture a few years ago, when I met up with the owner again. I don't believe that Reproductions weren't available back then?

[koates]

40 Years ago it was the 1980s and there were certainly Ford reproduction signs offered at that time. There are differences over the years of the style of the FORD script. As a general rule the original green and black ford baked enamel double sided sign with the four corners cut off was only offered by FORD MOTOR COMPANY in 1932. That large green and black sign does certainly have some discrepancies in the Ford script which are different to the normal. Quite a lot of Ford signs in Australia were painted by dealers and garages and were not authorized by the FORD MOTOR COMPANY. Regards, Kevin.

[Brad in Germany]

....a couple signs from France:





Brad in Maryland

[tubman]

For whatever reason, I have never been interested in signs. I have been going to swap meets (and their equivalents) since the sixties, and I am sure I walked by many signs that would have made me rich today had I had the foresight to purchase them. I still don't have a single sign in my shop (and don't fell disadvantaged).

My bad.

I also did the same thing with early hemi speed equipment in those days as well. There were some incredible deals I walked right on by after a cursory glance.

[rockfla]

Originally Posted by tubman

For whatever reason, I have never been interested in signs. I have been going to swap meets (and their equivalents) since the sixties, and I am sure I walked by many signs that would have made me rich today had I had the foresight to purchase them. I still don't have a single sign in my shop (and don't fell disadvantaged).

My bad.

I also did the same thing with early hemi speed equipment in those days as well. There were some incredible deals I walked right on by after a cursory glance.

Tubman
I believe your statement rings true for ALL of us here on FordBarn, things we walked by at SWAP meets and flea markets would surely come back to haunt US.....FOR me its NOT the missed financial gain.....ITS just the fact of not having them to enjoy!!! My Dad did what he could when presented the opportunity......I wish there had been a "Few" more "Opportunities" for my enjoyment of them. Although NOT a Ford sign, my Dad scored "TWO" of these double sided porcelain signs, BRAND NEW and still wrapped in the brown butchers paper when he found them and paid a whopping $100 for the pair but didn't know that when he bought them, he just thought they were cool and for $100, what the heck!!! I'm glad he did! They are a "One year Issue/Design" for Phillips in 1957 SO quite a difficult sign to find....especially NEW.

[Deuce-Addict]

Regents Street, London...

[Bob NH]

I bought a NOS Bell telephone sign for my wife one year at Hershey,(she was an operator starting on cord boards for many years) . A guy followed me all over the place trying to get me to sell it to him . I still have the sign but unfortunately not my wife,Big "C" took her in 98

[rockfla]

A couple of good ones in this Dutch photo!!!! BobNH - NOW someone on FordBarn might "follow" you around to buy it!!! Love the story behind it!!!!!

[Jeff/Illinois]

Originally Posted by 1942deluxe

.............They closed in the last year or so. Ford requires the "trustmark" remodel or new building if a dealership changes hands now so my guess is most of the small dealerships will be gone in the next 5-10 years. Well over a million dollars to do and very few small towns can generate enough to pay that expense.

EXACTLY what happened to FOUR Ford dealerships in the small towns around me, plus the one in my home town in the 60's, they closed it for the same reason. Ford demanded that they rebuild and upgrade and none of them could or would front that expense. They had all been Ford dealerships since Model T days and had new buildings erected in 1946. One was still in the original 1924 building. They all were in perfect shape they had been kept up and never neglected.

Now if you want to buy a Ford you have to travel 25 miles to the BIG dealerships that love to hose you. One of the remaining SMALL family dealerships is 40 miles away and that is where we go now.

It is a darn pity. Lousy business decision by Ford. I guess they don't want people to buy their cars and trucks.

[Don Rogers]

Here's a few more!

[whizzernick]

this is V-8 sigh used in canada . NO NEON (same V-8 sigh in USA Has neon ) I know as I have one .

[Bob NH]

It's in my "station" along with my very nice Goodyear and oval Ford parts signs. Wish I had bought more when they were less expensive !

[Bob NH]

Rockfla, It's in my "station" along with my very nice Goodyear and oval Genuine Ford Parts signs. Wish I had bought more when they were less expensive !

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Don Rogers

Here's a few more!

[bob miller]

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[bob miller]

hand paint ford sign , 20's years ( not 1920 , 2020 !)

[BUBBAS IGNITION]

A couple at "bubbas ignition" in indy ??

[Don Rogers]

A few more.

[marshall k]

Here is our working original 1945 Mulholland Ford Oval sign, that we use as our brand identification for our family owned Ford dealership in Perry, NY. Any body out touring that wants to take a picture under ole blue, feel free. (P.S how am I lookin'!)

[DavidG]

Looking great; neat sign!

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by marshall k

Here is our working original 1945 Mulholland Ford Oval sign, that we use as our brand identification for our family owned Ford dealership in Perry, NY. Any body out touring that wants to take a picture under ole blue, feel free. (P.S how am I lookin'!)

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by marshall k

Here is our working original 1945 Mulholland Ford Oval sign, that we use as our brand identification for our family owned Ford dealership in Perry, NY. Any body out touring that wants to take a picture under ole blue, feel free. (P.S how am I lookin'!)

This is a cool, SMALL-town dealership, kind'a out in the toolies! That neat ol' Ford sign pointing right at you on the corner of building. DD

[Graeme / New Zealand]

virtual Ford sign

GB

[Cecil/WV]

Originally Posted by tubman

I seem to remember that in the '50's and '60's "A-1 Used Cars" was Chevrolet dealers slogan for their used car operations. Has this sign been modified or am I completely off-base here?

I remember GM having OK Used Cars!

[Ziggster]

Wow! Some really great stuff. Didn’t expect this much interest. Hope there is more coming.

[nelsb01]

OK.........here are some more....................from a private collection that is open to the public by appointment in Worthington MN.
As you may see, it is not just FoMoCo signs --- all makes signs are there ---ones still in production and also those that are no longer being manufactured.

[petehoovie]

Love 'Art Deco'....

[Shortbed12]

One vender at Carlisle truck a few week’s ago had a ford arrow sign with lights
I should have grabbed it

[BoxCar Tom]

earlier this year,,, They're still out there

[Woogeroo]

this is a fun thread, thanks for sharing the pics folks.


-Woog

[petehoovie]

[rockfla]

Originally Posted by nelsb01

OK.........here are some more....................from a private collection that is open to the public by appointment in Worthington MN.
As you may see, it is not just FoMoCo signs --- all makes signs are there ---ones still in production and also those that are no longer being manufactured.

I wonder IF one or three of those signs came out of Mike Dingman's collection of signs/Auction back in 2012 (ISH)????

[38bill]

Originally Posted by mercman from oz

Ford - The Universal Car - Double Sided Baked Enamel.

I just finished making a couple of signs and I across this thread. One of my new signs looks very similar to this original. Was this shape/style a USA car dealership sign?

[DavidG]

With respect, like other Ford signs of the period, the finish on the sign in #84 above is not baked enamel, but rather blue and white porcelain, which is much more durable.

[38bill]

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Its actually called porcelain enamel.

[ford33]

I had a sign like the one shown in the 1st post and I can confirm that their was never any neon; I believe this was a Canadian only sign and was mentioned by Lorin Sorenson in one of the Ford Life magazines.
I picked up a couple of Ford banners that I would think may be fairly rare due to their fragile nature. The 40 is dirty and torn but the 34 has only a cople of small holes. '
Are their many banners out there?

[deuce5wndw]

I'm loving this thread! Here are some of mine.

[deuce5wndw]

A few more.

[JimG]

Finally made to Kelly Motor Crop. in Perry NY that is discussed in this thread. It's a genuine old fashioned Ford dealership that is still functioning, and has a great Ford neon sign on the corner of the building, above where the gas pumps must have been.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by JimG

Finally made to Kelly Motor Crop. in Perry NY that is discussed in this thread. It's a genuine old fashioned Ford dealership that is still functioning, and has a great Ford neon sign on the corner of the building, above where the gas pumps must have been.