Austin signage 2

[James stringer]

Just in case you wondered what the Castrol XL sign looked like I have posted a picture of one.
Price? At the moment I do not have a costing from the manufacturer but looking at around £90 ish.
Jim.

[JonE]

looks lovely! Is that lower centre typeface like the original though - it struck me as too modern in the midst of the rest?

[Martin Prior]

looks lovely! Is that lower centre typeface like the original though - it struck me as too modern in the midst of the rest?

Exactly my thoughts.

It looks like Helvetica Rounded Bold, designed around 1960, I think.

Sorry! I'm a born pedant!

[James stringer]

This sign has been copied exactly to an original dating back to the late 1920's/early 1930's.

[Derek Sheldon]

Well that told you ,you doubting Thomas’s .

Jim, some indication of the size please.

[JonE]

but is that a repro image above - have you got an original image?

[James stringer]

Hi Derek 
I don't have the dimensions of this sign to hand, but based on others which are similar it could be 14" X 19" or 18" X 24". The original from which this was copied was in fact silk screen printed tin plate, so these. Will last much longer. Oh, and check out the wings & wheels badge certainly not 1960!
I last had these re-manufactured ten years ago!
Jim

[Erich]

Jim, please put me down for one of these. Regarding typefaces, Helvetica was not created out of the fog, uniquely, but was a development and influenced by other type faces, notably Akzidenz Grotesk. By the 1920's with influence of the Bauhaus, other similar typefaces emerged. So, even though it looks too modern, it fits into things that were happening in design at the time. Without knowing, one would not think that Mies' Barcelona Chairs were designed in the 20's.

Erich

[Michael]

Indeed, but in my simplistic way I thought Helvetica Rounded to be a post war variation of the font, perhaps not with the same typographic 'ethos'. T'internet says introduced 1978 but I feel I may have used it before then...but my memory...who knows? It does look like the font.

Happy to be proved wrong though.

At least it is not 'VAG' which would be very unAustin...

[James stringer]

I have now been reliably informed ( thank you Ian) that the actual size measures 19.3/4" X 14.3/16" - or, to put it another way: 500 X 360 - whatever that means!