I found a nice assortment of truck door signs of the 1930s through 1960s at this old-school wrecking yard north of Denver last year, and I just had to shoot a few more at this yard south of Denver last week, while picking up my ’41 Plymouth project. The Colorado sun is hard on paint, but I was able to find some legible old signs.
I wonder what the Men In White did. House painting? Moving? Surgery? The seven-digit alphanumeric telephone number suggests that we’re looking at a truck that was retired no later than the mid-1960s.
It appears that this is the door from a Ritz Cab Company taxi, though it’s tough to read the first word. 1947 Chevrolet? 1946 DeSoto?
I can’t find much trace of the Pacific Fruit and Produce Company, though this truck shot in Seattle looks like the same outfit as the one that owned this truck door.
Seeing a reference to an ICC number reminds me of the old Dave Dudley classic.
7 Comments on “Junkyard Find: Old Truck Door Signs of Colorado...”
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These are great! Reminds me when I used to hand-letter trucks for some of the guys I knew in the air force 40 years ago. The area in and around Sacramento was and perhaps still may be big on horses, and a few of the sergeants owned small ranches and had mobile forges in their trucks and used to do horseshoeing on the side. That was fun.
I seem to recall the the use of alpha-numberic to ANC (all number calling) telephone exchanges started to go out in the early 1970s.
These lettered doors also remind me of another lost art: Fruit and vegetable crate labels. Always brightly-colored and a cool sight at supermarkets and grocery stores from days of not-so-long ago – well, in my lifetime, anyways!
A truck in my own local junkyard had the most inscrutable company name ever on it: “D&S.N.G.R.R. CO.”
(A look at the registration–“NARROW GAUGE”–gave it away, though: “Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Company.” But still, say that three times fast.)
Say it? I’ve ridden it! A great experience for anybody who likes old machines and spectacular mountain scenery.
http://www.durangotrain.com/
Men in White. When I was a baker, for about 10 years, I wore work whites. But it is probably from a painters truck judging by the brushstroke design behind the lettering.
It’s off a fairly good-sized International truck from the late 1940’s. Pickup doors had different, smaller windows.
Those doors scream to be salvaged as decorative art. I would like the men in white sign as a wall hanging feature where I could hide my PC. Just build the components a harness and use a few cables to run it to my desk.
The red & white door is off a 1942-1948 GM product. I believe Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile all used the same door pressings during that period.