Good catch indeed and what are the chances it is the original sticker? My high school history teacher had a “Nixon’s the one!” on his Prius, but it was not very durable against UV Rays so he replaced it every few months.
Here is a Gore Leiberman sticker I found earlier this year. The oldest sticker I ever found was a 20 year old sticker on a 1994 Chrysler Minivan which referencrd the Grateful Dead’s 1994 Eugene concert and called it a “Peaceful Serene Eugene Scene.”
According to the license plate, the car is registered in Memphis, Tennessee. Since “metro” Memphis is heavily Democratic, and has been for…..decades? this car belongs to someone who lives in the nearby suburbs. I would bet this car spends most of it’s days sitting in a 2 or 3 car garage.
BTW, the lack of several dealer stickers on the trunklid would seem to indicate this is a 2, or at most 3 owner car. (Most cars of this vintage would have 3 to 5 stickers/remnants of stickers lining that trunk lid.)
These seemed to be everywhere in the area I frequented at that time.
A tangential story….when I went to remodel the hall bath at my house in Hannibal I had to remove some ugly wallpaper. The first piece I removed had graffiti on the drywall underneath that said “Reagan Bush ’84”.
The family that built the house and lived there for years was very political as their oldest daughter married a guy who ran for governor of Missouri in 2008. The rest of the walls carried a lot of other political slogans.
I was at a flea market about 25 years ago and there was a guy who had a whole box of Kennedy Johnson bumper stickers for sale at $2 each. It seems that they never were used new.
What surprised me more then the vintage bumper sticker was the “CHEVY II” emblem on the right side of the trunk lid. Once a Nova looked like this one (68?), wasn’t the Chevy 2 name dropped? Please correct me if I am wrong here.
Oh, and that’s gotta be a newer application of that bumper sticker. Red FADES. Anything with red in it fades. For example, here in Baltimore there are many Orioles and Ravens bumper stickers on cars. After while, the purple on the Ravens logos always turns blue, and the Orioles orange always turns to yellow, then eventually to an off white. The only thing (besides a garage) that may have saved that sticker from the Sun it the downward facing angle of that generation of Nova’s bumper.
Thanks Paul… I figured it was something like that, but I was only 7 when these came out. The boxy ‘Chevy 2’ that I recall before then was something I never felt was a true Nova… but I was just becoming car-aware at that age. By age 9, I could identify every Impala from 1958 to 1970, but that’s only because my Dad taught me how to ID all of the ‘standard size’ Chevys from 53 on up. ;o)
My 1970 VW Beetle wore an “Ernest for President” sticker in the early 80s…Ernest P. Worrell, for all of you young guys, was Jim Varney’s character who was always saying “know what I mean Vern?”
Not being from the USA I wonder, do they still do these bumper stickers? Assuming they do, would anyone actually have put one on promoting Ted Cruz? From what I gather lots of folks really don’t like him. Such stickers are really not that big a thing in Australia anymore – a few too many cases of vandalism I think!
These Bernie stickers are all over the Portland, OR area. People seem more inclined to leave stickers on their vehicle for a while if the person won. Obama for president stickers are still somewhat common. I susoect some people keep their Bush/Cheney stickers on their vehicle because they do not like Obama.
Definitely applied more recently for faux authenticity. Funny, that “Regan-Bush ’84” logo has recently become a vintage symbol among the ‘Republican Hipster’ set on college campuses (yes… that is a real thing in the Midwest…. no comment) I’ve seen more than a few Frat Bros at MSU displaying newer T-shirts with the same red/blue colors of the original campaign logo in the past couple of years. Mind you these guys are born in, like, 1993 at the earliest. Go figure.
I’d wear a Mondale-Ferraro shirt, if I wore T-shirts. We Minnesotans look upon him pretty fondly as the highest any native son made it in politics. Yeah, he lost, but he won his home state, which is more than George McGovern could do.
As I recall, Beckel admitted Reagan won MN in 1984, but the Dems created enough votes to put Mondale something like 3000k votes up.
MN was Reagan’s last stop in 1984 because polls showed he would win there. Beckel was Mondale’s manager and stated they didn’t want Reagan to have a 50 state sweep.
And remember, Mondale later ran for Wellstone’s seat and lost, so even MN didn’t like him that much.
btw, HHH was MN’s highest as elected VP and Prez candidate. Mondale always lived in his shadow.
In 1964 HHH was elected VP in the greatest Dem victory of that century. In 1968 HHH almost won the Presidency. HHH was elected and returned to the Senate.
In 1976 Mondale was elected VP in a very close election and was defeated in the 1980 Reagan sweep. In 1984 Mondale lost by the greatest electoral margin of any Dem in the 20th century. Mondale was defeated when he tried to return to the Senate.
Someone who used to work on campus at the college I attended had a leftover “Kennedy ’80” sticker on her (pre-1980) Volvo – I saw that car around campus up until I graduated in 1991, then again when I returned to the same town in the 2000’s. She had to be near retirement by then, as did the Volvo and the sticker! (Teddy was still in the Senate, I think.)
We may be seeing some “Feel the Bern” stickers around greater Portland well into the 2020’s and even 2030’s, I think, win or lose. True believers want to commemorate having fought the good fight.
it had been awhile since i had read any harry potter so the joke was on me. i just kept staring at it trying to place this politician named ‘voldemort’. i finally got it hours later when it just dawned on me. thought it was clever, had a chuckle.
Some folks love ’em , me not so much on my own vehicles although I put rally and other event stickers on the glass…
.
I always enjoy reading them , no matter which side they’re supporting .
.
Left or right leaning , the true nutballs always go way overboard with too many ! often you cannot see the paint for the dozens of stickers .
.
-Nate
Back in the 1980s, I bought a few leftover “Nixon Now!” campaign buttons at a flea market. I have worn one of them for every election ever since, just for ironic fun.
In general, I don’t like bumper stickers on my cars. I have once seen a bumper sticker that says “I hate bumper stickers” – that’s what I’d put on if I was going to…
A few years ago, I saw a ratty old pickup parked on the street in Albany CA.
It had a sticker on the back window that said “Nixon for Governor”. I had to look it up, but Nixon ran for governor in CA in 1962!
I went back later with my camera, but it was gone. I never saw it again.
Yes, his press conference the day after was the source of the famous “You won’t have Nixon to kick around any more” remark.
At some point in the last 20 years I saw an immaculate Goldwater-Miller (1964 election) on a car.
Good catch indeed and what are the chances it is the original sticker? My high school history teacher had a “Nixon’s the one!” on his Prius, but it was not very durable against UV Rays so he replaced it every few months.
Here is a Gore Leiberman sticker I found earlier this year. The oldest sticker I ever found was a 20 year old sticker on a 1994 Chrysler Minivan which referencrd the Grateful Dead’s 1994 Eugene concert and called it a “Peaceful Serene Eugene Scene.”
“Nuke the Whales” or “I Aim for Whales” were my faves…
“Visualize Whorled Peas”
Psst, it is whirled like a windmill.
“Visualize Using Your Turn Signals”
Most likely a recently placed ‘authenticity reinforcer’. An owner who keeps a car in such perfect condition doesn’t allow bumper stickers.
Interesting choice, going for a campaign from when the car was a decade and a half old rather than something from ’68 when it was new.
It’s Teflon coated.
I once saw a Nixon/Agnew bumper sticker on a Texas truck eBay listing.
That bumper sticker has certainly outlasted the Magic Mirror acrylic lacquer finish.
Who says politics can’t be fun on an auto website? 🙂 🙂 🙂
At the big AACA show in Macungie, a pristine 1976 Pontiac Grand Safari wagon with a “Ford/Dole” sticker is regularly on the show field.
According to the license plate, the car is registered in Memphis, Tennessee. Since “metro” Memphis is heavily Democratic, and has been for…..decades? this car belongs to someone who lives in the nearby suburbs. I would bet this car spends most of it’s days sitting in a 2 or 3 car garage.
BTW, the lack of several dealer stickers on the trunklid would seem to indicate this is a 2, or at most 3 owner car. (Most cars of this vintage would have 3 to 5 stickers/remnants of stickers lining that trunk lid.)
These seemed to be everywhere in the area I frequented at that time.
A tangential story….when I went to remodel the hall bath at my house in Hannibal I had to remove some ugly wallpaper. The first piece I removed had graffiti on the drywall underneath that said “Reagan Bush ’84”.
The family that built the house and lived there for years was very political as their oldest daughter married a guy who ran for governor of Missouri in 2008. The rest of the walls carried a lot of other political slogans.
Graffiti on the walls!?
Yep. Pencil on drywall. Easily removed.
Possibly the reason for the wallpaper?
I was at a flea market about 25 years ago and there was a guy who had a whole box of Kennedy Johnson bumper stickers for sale at $2 each. It seems that they never were used new.
What surprised me more then the vintage bumper sticker was the “CHEVY II” emblem on the right side of the trunk lid. Once a Nova looked like this one (68?), wasn’t the Chevy 2 name dropped? Please correct me if I am wrong here.
Oh, and that’s gotta be a newer application of that bumper sticker. Red FADES. Anything with red in it fades. For example, here in Baltimore there are many Orioles and Ravens bumper stickers on cars. After while, the purple on the Ravens logos always turns blue, and the Orioles orange always turns to yellow, then eventually to an off white. The only thing (besides a garage) that may have saved that sticker from the Sun it the downward facing angle of that generation of Nova’s bumper.
Oh, and despite what that Tennessee license plate says, that’s no “Shelby”. ;o)
In ’68, the whole line was called “Chevy II Nova”. In ’69, it was just “Nova”. ’68 was the transition year, like “Datsun by Nissan”.
Thanks Paul… I figured it was something like that, but I was only 7 when these came out. The boxy ‘Chevy 2’ that I recall before then was something I never felt was a true Nova… but I was just becoming car-aware at that age. By age 9, I could identify every Impala from 1958 to 1970, but that’s only because my Dad taught me how to ID all of the ‘standard size’ Chevys from 53 on up. ;o)
Learned something today. I always thought the Chevy II name died after ’67.
Might be new… they sell reproductions of old bumper stickers. I’ve considered putting period-correct stickers on some of my older cars for fun.
Brings back memories of the first “dirty” joke I heard as a 12 year old (1962/63). Yes this was very risque for those days:
Q: What’s the definition of a loser?
A. A pregnant prostitute, driving an Edsel with a Nixon bumper sticker.
My 1970 VW Beetle wore an “Ernest for President” sticker in the early 80s…Ernest P. Worrell, for all of you young guys, was Jim Varney’s character who was always saying “know what I mean Vern?”
Not being from the USA I wonder, do they still do these bumper stickers? Assuming they do, would anyone actually have put one on promoting Ted Cruz? From what I gather lots of folks really don’t like him. Such stickers are really not that big a thing in Australia anymore – a few too many cases of vandalism I think!
They are still around. I’ve seen stickers for Cruz, Sanders, Carson, and Trump.
These Bernie stickers are all over the Portland, OR area. People seem more inclined to leave stickers on their vehicle for a while if the person won. Obama for president stickers are still somewhat common. I susoect some people keep their Bush/Cheney stickers on their vehicle because they do not like Obama.
Definitely applied more recently for faux authenticity. Funny, that “Regan-Bush ’84” logo has recently become a vintage symbol among the ‘Republican Hipster’ set on college campuses (yes… that is a real thing in the Midwest…. no comment) I’ve seen more than a few Frat Bros at MSU displaying newer T-shirts with the same red/blue colors of the original campaign logo in the past couple of years. Mind you these guys are born in, like, 1993 at the earliest. Go figure.
I’d wear a Mondale-Ferraro shirt, if I wore T-shirts. We Minnesotans look upon him pretty fondly as the highest any native son made it in politics. Yeah, he lost, but he won his home state, which is more than George McGovern could do.
As I recall, Beckel admitted Reagan won MN in 1984, but the Dems created enough votes to put Mondale something like 3000k votes up.
MN was Reagan’s last stop in 1984 because polls showed he would win there. Beckel was Mondale’s manager and stated they didn’t want Reagan to have a 50 state sweep.
And remember, Mondale later ran for Wellstone’s seat and lost, so even MN didn’t like him that much.
btw, HHH was MN’s highest as elected VP and Prez candidate. Mondale always lived in his shadow.
*make that 3k votes
In 1964 HHH was elected VP in the greatest Dem victory of that century. In 1968 HHH almost won the Presidency. HHH was elected and returned to the Senate.
In 1976 Mondale was elected VP in a very close election and was defeated in the 1980 Reagan sweep. In 1984 Mondale lost by the greatest electoral margin of any Dem in the 20th century. Mondale was defeated when he tried to return to the Senate.
Someone who used to work on campus at the college I attended had a leftover “Kennedy ’80” sticker on her (pre-1980) Volvo – I saw that car around campus up until I graduated in 1991, then again when I returned to the same town in the 2000’s. She had to be near retirement by then, as did the Volvo and the sticker! (Teddy was still in the Senate, I think.)
We may be seeing some “Feel the Bern” stickers around greater Portland well into the 2020’s and even 2030’s, I think, win or lose. True believers want to commemorate having fought the good fight.
As a Vermonter I’m still getting used to seeing Bernie stickers on out-of-state cars.
It has a little more wear visible when you get up close, but I couldn’t say.
How about “If this van’s a rockin, don’t bother knockin”… or my favorite; Save the Bales!
Don’t honk, I’m pedaling as fast as I can.
“Shit Happens” had a pretty long run.
Haven’t seen one in a while, though.
Apparently it’s alive and well in Russia! Photograph by me in the city of Biysk in Southern Siberia last summer.
one of my faves ……
Republicans for Voldemort
it had been awhile since i had read any harry potter so the joke was on me. i just kept staring at it trying to place this politician named ‘voldemort’. i finally got it hours later when it just dawned on me. thought it was clever, had a chuckle.
The D.A.R.E. is original. I put the Perot sticker on, though. It’s covering a bumper sticker that bit the dust long ago.
Both the sticker and the car are perfect relics of their time.
I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again–the wheels were a perfect choice.
I put one of these on the Camry to cover up the “Kerry/Edwards” sticker back in 2005:
Are there many bumper stickers (political or otherwise) in Europe, or are they primarily an American thing? Here, we love to advertise.
Some folks love ’em , me not so much on my own vehicles although I put rally and other event stickers on the glass…
.
I always enjoy reading them , no matter which side they’re supporting .
.
Left or right leaning , the true nutballs always go way overboard with too many ! often you cannot see the paint for the dozens of stickers .
.
-Nate
Back in the 1980s, I bought a few leftover “Nixon Now!” campaign buttons at a flea market. I have worn one of them for every election ever since, just for ironic fun.
In general, I don’t like bumper stickers on my cars. I have once seen a bumper sticker that says “I hate bumper stickers” – that’s what I’d put on if I was going to…