Journal: If You Love Typography, Go to Car Shows

If You Love Typography, Go to Car Shows

By Michael Banovsky
June 22, 2015

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on June 22, 2015, every week we’ll be diving into our archives to bring you some of the gold you might have missed.

Photos by Michael Banovsky & Laurent Nivalle

I’ve long had an interest in typography, and while I’m no type designer or expert in the matter, local car shows are often a chance for me to capture chrome script or a fetching period decal that features compelling typography.

The best part? Even the smallest of car shows often have a detail or two that begs for attention.

Often, Mopars (Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, DeSoto, and Jeep) models from years gone by provide my favorite type seen on American cars, simply because many of the desirable trim levels had hilarious names, like the Dart “Swinger”. Moreover, the company often presented its performance cars in very bright hues—like this Charger in Sassy Grass Green. With that chrome script font, black vinyl top, and lime green paint, is there a more ‘60s color combination?

Laurent Nivalle captured “Mustang”, presented—as many ’60s cars were—in chrome script font. But when you look at its blocky and bold BF Goodrich tire behind, the idea of high performance is implied simply by the bold white lettering.

You’d never see either of these fonts today on a car, actually, a few years ago, Chevrolet asked its employees to stop referring to the company as “Chevy”. Italian for “fly”, the jaunty, playful Volaré script is balanced perfectly by this it-could-be-your-dad’s-desk-plaquard “Premier” in gold, a very ’70s trim level on this very ’70s car.

Notice how differently companies illustrate trademarks; on the left, the very Mad Men-esque script font seen on the 1960 model eventually gave way to simple sans-serif lettering as the Ford Sunliner marched into the mid-to-late ’60s. On the right, for the owner who opens his hood at a car show, there’s no way to miss what’s under the hood with its unnecessarily red air cleaner and very bold serif font in all-caps…rendered with a shiny chromed sticker.

Designers were never shy about shouting a car’s name, and on my favorite years of Plymouth Barracuda, that meant a rear badge about a foot across! In contrast, European marques, typified by Volvo, were often satisfied with small, understated badges like this one, with embellishments long lost to time—Volvo’s hometown of Gothenburg was so-named for Göta borg, or “Gothia Fortress”, referenced by the trio of styled turrets at the top of the badge.

We may laugh today, but multiple badges with conflicting styles were often present on vehicles. Here, seen on the nose of a truck, the old “Ford” font sits above the gear-and-bolt logo the company added to its trucks. Below that, the “Fordomatic” badge that was found across Ford’s model range of both cars and trucks. Finally, the iconic and wide “V8” badge that hints at the power within. On the side of the truck, however, it all gets unexpectedly mid-century modern, doesn’t it? What a stunning shape.

With this said, what are some of your favorite badges seen on classics—and do you love exploring vintage type at car shows as much as I do?

Join the Conversation
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
20 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Fontedeletras
Fontedeletras
1 year ago

With thousands of diverse fonts and unlimited customization, this website is a great tool to express your personality and creativity through cultural projects, you can get more fonts: https://fontesdeletras.io/nl/

schriftartenio
schriftartenio
1 year ago

You can see more fonts at this site: https://schriftarten.io/

schriftarten 123
schriftarten 123
2 years ago

Thank you for sharing useful content, I found many fonts at: verschiedene schriftarten zum kopieren

Ruud!
Ruud!
4 years ago

What about this one? Stylish, subtle and original…

Ruud!
Ruud!
4 years ago
Reply to  Ruud!

This one I mean…

lemin nord
lemin nord
6 years ago

In some cases, barracuda is superior in all aspects, speed, design and strength.
dodge ram

Johan van der Veer
Johan van der Veer
8 years ago

I also enjoy the different scripts, badges and radiator ornaments that cars have. The stickers that the 70’s Australian sports cars had are a particular favourite.

Tom DesRochers
Tom DesRochers
8 years ago

Plymouth Roadrunner / Superbird
comment image

Carlos Iztueta
Carlos Iztueta
8 years ago

Pray for Paris…

Adrian Chan
Adrian Chan
9 years ago

I think you meant “The 340 FOUR BARREL” is a bold San Serif?

Simon Potter
Simon Potter
9 years ago

couldn’t be cleaner

Peter Tabmow
Peter Tabmow
9 years ago

Nice piece… there’s a terrific website, cartype.com, that covers a vast range of marques and models past and present, as well as the evolution of their graphics.

Andrew Chow
Andrew Chow
9 years ago

And one of my favourites, for what it represents:

[img]http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss249/ACSGP/L1020386.jpg[/img]

Andrew Chow
Andrew Chow
9 years ago

Gotta get them to pop the hood sometimes:

[img]http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss249/ACSGP/L1080409.jpg[/img]

Ian Miles
Ian Miles
9 years ago

Not to mention how the typography of companies logo and name changes over time to relfect the age and trends of that particular time.

Guitar Slinger
Guitar Slinger
9 years ago

Nicely done good sir and a point to be honest I’d never previously considered . Nothing like ignoring the obvious I always say which in this case I’ve obviously been guilty of . Thanks for opening my eyes . And with the wife being a fan of script and typography you’ve just given her another reason to enjoy the cars shows we go to . Mille grazie !

Guitar Slinger
Guitar Slinger
9 years ago
Reply to  Guitar Slinger

PS; An ever so slight correction if I may . Volare is most often used as a verb meaning either ‘ To Fly ‘ or ‘ To Go Quickly ‘ … which then makes both the song ” Volare ” as well as using Volare on a car make a lot more sense 😉

Jono51
Jono51
9 years ago

One of my earliest childhood memories is this fine example of cursive script

Petrolicious Newsletter