OLDSMOBILE SIGN

[1940TORPEDO]

Just wondering if this was an actual Oldsmobile sign used at dealers across the country or possibly just a sign a dealer had custom built.  There are no tags or markings around the outside, not sure about the back. 
 
So have you seen one like it before?

[Dave Henderson]

At least in the mid '50's, Oldsmobile dealers apparently were allowed to make and display their own signs.  I worked for a sign company at the time and recall our making a large white on blue sign which just said "OLDS", for the Farrish Oldsmobile dealership and erecting it on two very high columns on route 29 in Fairfax, Va.  It remained in place for many years.  Therefore, your sign may be copasetic regardless of its origin.

[1940TORPEDO]

Thanks, pretty much my thoughts.

[rocketraider]

And back then, dealership buildings and signage were much improved over the homogenized "corporate identity" crap we're subjected to now.

 

Maybe I'm unique in thinking this way, but these fancy "corporate" dealerships don't inspire much trust in me. At least with older dealerships with their own unique signage and buildings, you knew you were dealing with a local businessperson who had a vested interest in his/her community. How many "corporate" dealerships do you see supporting their communities?

[Walt G]

I couldn't agree with rocketraider more. Local business people who owned the local dealership would want to / have to go the extra length to keep their customers, who were their neighbors. The same people they sat next to in church or local restaurants, saw at the local grocery store etc. The GMC/Buick dealer about 3 miles from me here on long island had to reface their whole showroom on the exterior according to "corporate" dictate/specs as the corporate heqdquarters felt they should all be the same. There was no choice, do it or loose your franchise. They had been GMC dealers and truck body builders since the 1920s. So those really cool unique signs are all gone, ruled unfit by the powers that be.

[rocketraider]

We lost a Buick dealer who had been in business since 1924 and held Virginia Dealer License 5 because of the "corporate identity" thing and because GM wanted one "GM" dealer in a "sales territory". That move also got another small local Chevrolet dealer who had been in business since 1939. Now we have a "corporate GM" dealer whose business ethics have always left something to be desired. They are a big reason I moved away from GM products for modern daily drivers. I ended up mad every time I went in the place, so why put myself thru that?

 

Owners of both franchises were close to retirement and both said they couldn't justify the quarter million-plus expense of the "corporate" makeover when neither had family who wanted to take over the business.

[Mark Shaw]

I still have a couple of these GM authorized reproduction signs available for sale.

 

Send me a PM if you want one... 

Edited November 19, 2015 by Mark Shaw (see edit history)