To Restore or Not to Restore
Yesterday I drove through Oregon on my way back to Montana. I saw some signs in Dalles from the highway and did a quick divert. There were several signs of interest and I quickly noticed that a couple had been repainted. I have to say that the restoration of the Coca Cola sign piqued my curiosity. The background is more orange than red and the lower edges of the sign still have the original faded border. I found a reference that states the slogan in 1951 was “You Taste Its Quality” but not “You Trust Its Quality.” There was a sign that said “Dalles Mural Society” on the wall and I wondered if the restored sign was part of the bigger mural project. I also wondered if Coca Cola approved the repaint, supervised the repaint or even gave permission considering the re-paint seems somewhat flawed.
Going down another street I saw men working on a building that had magnificent signs including the largest Owl Cigar sign I have seen encompassing the entire length of the building. Could they be prepping it for a repaint as well? Of the signs I have photographed in Montana I have seen only a couple of re-paints in each city. Should signs be restored or be allowed to fade with time? I would love to hear your view.
In: Uncategorized · Tagged with: Coca Cola, Fading Ads, Ghost Signs, Sign Restoration
on August 9, 2010 at 9:03 pm
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Congratulations! I hear it is extremely difficult to get permission. Did they have to approve paint colors?
on August 9, 2010 at 4:16 pm
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We are restoring our historic coca cola sign right now in Fort Collins, CO. We had a difficult time getting permission from Coca Cola but finally got a verbal OK after months of hard work.