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Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:52 am

Anyone know what vintage this sign might be? I was thinking late 60's early 70's. I can't seem to find much info about it.

Mon Dec 27, 2010 8:55 am

wanna sell it? :D

PM me your price.

Mon Dec 27, 2010 10:29 am

What dealership is it from? That will help date it if you can identify the dealer. Is it 2 sided?

Mon Dec 27, 2010 12:53 pm

You may as well pm the price to me too! Bitchen sign!

Mon Dec 27, 2010 1:20 pm

Do you have a better picture?

To me that looks like a custom made sign rather than an official VW sign like this.

I've got a VW dealer used car merchandising guide book(s) that includes a catalog for signs and there's nothing like that one in there.

It wasn't uncommon for dealers to have their own signs made up with their name on it at a sign shop.

Mon Dec 27, 2010 7:20 pm

It is a gift from my wife....can't part with it. This is from a dealer in Ontario Canada. I'm trying to find out the actual dealer that it came from. Around the outside of the sign are the words "VERIFIED WARRANTED SERVICE". It is a double sided sign but it is only good on one side now. It is in storage at the moment.....I will have better pictures in the spring.

Is it just the lens that is valuable? My plan was to clean it up and hang it on the wall in the garage.

Tue Dec 28, 2010 12:18 am

It would take up less space that way. The dealer I used to work for kept all the sign faces and sent the old insides to the scrapyard or where ever when they renovated the building and put the new style VW signs up. I got one of the globes from them (6/7 ft diameter) and am working on one of the used cars signs.

There was one fellow on here that had the insides of his redone and then built into the wall of his garage. Mine I haven't hung yet, but since it still has the aluminum frame and hinges on it, I'm going to hang it from the rafters of the garage against the wall.

Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:10 pm

Have any better pics?

Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:54 am

The sign is in storage and I will be sure to post a better picture when I have it installed in the spring.

I contacted the widow of the the gentleman my wife bought the sign from. She told me the town that the sign had been bought from but was not at all sure if that was the town that the dealer was located. So, I went on Google Maps to take a look around and look what I found using Street View in the town she indicated.

I'm not sure if it is just the paint color and the fact that there is a Type 1 sitting there but it does look like an old VW Dealer....do you agree?

I have the phone number of this location and am going to call them to see what they know. I will keep you posted. It would be nice to know the history of these things.

Wed Jan 12, 2011 12:26 pm

That just looks like an old gas station to me. By the 60s VW had their dealer network going pretty strong so it's pretty unlikely you'd see a New VW dealer in a building like that.

Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:36 pm

Herbie3Rivers wrote: That just looks like an old gas station to me. By the 60s VW had their dealer network going pretty strong so it's pretty unlikely you'd see a New VW dealer in a building like that.

It is true that in the larger towns and cities that VW had more impressive showrooms but in small towns they sold VW's at gas stations and service garages.

The garage in the picture is listed as a Registered Dealer from 57 to 67 on The Samba Dealer listings.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/canada_dealers_on2.php

In the town I live there was a dealer at one of the local garages and it is listed as well. In the 50's VW was trying to bust the myth that "oddball" foreign cars could not be serviced everywhere... and they did it in the rural areas by recruiting small existing businesses as dealers and service centers. Some of these dealers hung on through the 60's. The little town I live in even sold Isettas and Messerschmidts... out of a gas station.

Sat Mar 13, 2021 3:59 pm

After 10+ years in storage, it is finally on the wall...

Sun Mar 14, 2021 1:47 pm

Congratulations! Your unusual sign looks great on the wall!

Don't be embarrassed by the time it took to get it up there. To make you feel better, check out these two signs that I've had stored outside below my second story deck for over 25 years!!! A month or two ago I finally got them installed inside my garage (the 8' 4" round lollipop log horizontally facing downward on my garage ceiling, and the 7' tall logo USED CARS face vertically on a garage wall) . We're currently going about lighting them up too.

Way to go on hanging your cool sign. But I've got you "way beat" on the procrastinating thing!

Bill Bowman

Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:27 pm

Hey Bullibill,

Nice signs you have there...really like the rectangular one. Luckily for me, the previous owner of my sign procrastinated long enough that their wife sold it to my wife who gave it to me as a gift.

A relative of mine was kind enough to store this for me for the past ten years but they recently sold the property. It was the incentive I needed to get it out of there or loose it.

How are you going to light yours? I think I am going to use 4 led bulbs spaced around the perimeter with a reflector of some sort in front of the bulb so it does not create a bright spot where the bulb is. I will post some photos of my back light setup ten years from now...lol.

Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:53 am

Hi Hugh,

Ha! Finally deciding to have a concrete patio poured under and around my deck (so that I can park a Vanagon Westy under there!) forced me to get motivated to finally get both of my VW dealership signs into the garage and installed in their final display positions. It helped that a great VW friend and electrician offered to professionally wire new circuit wiring runs to the new sign locations as well as lots of new power outlets along a wall in the 7 car garage. Thanks so much Rick!

I was lucky, my two different florescent double-faced signs were both given to me by a VWoA employee who appreciated all the work I did organizing and hosting a yearly VW show at my local VW dealership in 1991-93. A few years later I sold one of the round faces with the center band to a well-known VW collector in Ohio, and I traded one of the rectangular "VW USED CARS" sign faces to close friend BBT Bob in Belgium for his incredible collection of dealership signs. In return I got a beautiful original "VW DIENST" porcelain dealership wall sign for my collection.

I'm going to experiment with a 60' long string of remote-controlled dimable LED rope lighting mounted to plywood inside each sign face. I don't want it to be super bright in an already well-lit garage, just enough to pleasantly "glow". We'll see?

Bill

Sun Mar 21, 2021 6:17 am

Here it is with 4 standard led bulbs. I also painted the area behind the sign white to reflect the light. Not the most even glow but I can live with it for now...

BulliBill wrote: Hi Hugh,

Ha! Finally deciding to have a concrete patio poured under and around my deck (so that I can park a Vanagon Westy under there!) forced me to get motivated to finally get both of my VW dealership signs into the garage and installed in their final display positions. It helped that a great VW friend and electrician offered to professionally wire new circuit wiring runs to the new sign locations as well as lots of new power outlets along a wall in the 7 car garage. Thanks so much Rick!

I was lucky, my two different florescent double-faced signs were both given to me by a VWoA employee who appreciated all the work I did organizing and hosting a yearly VW show at my local VW dealership in 1991-93. A few years later I sold one of the round faces with the center band to a well-known VW collector in Ohio, and I traded one of the rectangular "VW USED CARS" sign faces to close friend BBT Bob in Belgium for his incredible collection of dealership signs. In return I got a beautiful original "VW DIENST" porcelain dealership wall sign for my collection.

I'm going to experiment with a 60' long string of remote-controlled dimable LED rope lighting mounted to plywood inside each sign face. I don't want it to be super bright in an already well-lit garage, just enough to pleasantly "glow". We'll see?

Bill