Car decals didn’t just appear overnight they had to come from somewhere. The idea for a car decal began with the simple bumper sticker. Bumper stickers started life pretty around 1940 and are credited to a printer named Forrest P. Gill. Mr. Gill was based in Kansas City, Mo. He took a couple of recent inventions: adhesive-backed paper and fluorescent paint and then created the first bumper sticker.
Those first bumper stickers were used to advertise vacation destinations and then expanded to include to show what political party you supported. The first political campaign that showed a large use of bumper stickers was the Eisenhower v. Stevenson election in 1952.
It is interesting to note those early bumper stickers were not terribly long-lived especially compared to the products we use today. Because those early stickers used paper after they had been rained on for a while they would just turn into a soggy mess.
We won’t spend too much time on bumper stickers except to say that they were a necessary precursor to the car decal and a good introduction to get us into discussion about car decals.
Car decals are a natural progression from bumper stickers because they allow the owner of the car to expand on the use of their car to show their individuality. You can go on beyond the bumper and put your decal pretty much anywhere on your car. You can advertise products, modify the look of their car and even turn the car into a canvas where you can create art.
A key part of this development to move beyond bumper stickers was the material used to make decals. As vinyl material continued to be developed and used on car decals, decals emerged with images printed on thin vinyl sheets. These sheets allowed for more complex designs and this in turn allowed for the decals to be applied to all sorts of different surfaces on the car. You weren’t just restricted to using the bumper anymore.
Once this happened it wasn’t long until car decals caught on with different groups of car enthusiasts. In the 1960s, drag racers began to use decals to enhance their cars with flames and other images to show the power and speed of their cars.
It makes you think of tattoos and body art on native warriors. The more amazing the decal, the cooler your car and the cooler your car was then wouldn’t that mean you were too? Decals of all sorts appeared on all sorts of places on cars. They were inside, outside and on the rear window. However, one drawback of these early decals was that they didn’t last. The early decals weren’t as durable as what we have today.
Today, car decals are primarily made from vinyl. Vinyl gives the decal a longer life and a better look. Even though the decals are mostly made from vinyl, it is important to know the type and quality of vinyl. Of course, these factors are key to the lifespan of a car decal or vehicle graphic. In general, and as a basic rule of thumb, solid vinyl graphics can last from five to seven years, and sometimes even longer. Factors like weather, chemicals used in your area during the wintertime, the color of the decal and how often you wash your car will impact the life of your graphics.