From the birth of the car and the open road Americans have been in love with their rides - "America's Love Affair With Cars" in an original image of mine from the Road Trip - Signs of Life Series at PopArtDiva.com. Available as archival prints and on canvas in various sizes.If you're a baby boomer and ever took one of those family car trips you will probably remember the famous BURMA SHAVE signs. During the era of The Mother Road, more popularly known as Route 66, road side advertising was in it's heyday along with road side diners and motels.
Probably the most well known and well loved ads (before the Apple superbowl ads of this generation or the Pepsi and Coke ads of the 70s and 80s) were the Burma Shave signs. They were set about 100 feet apart and were red signs with white letters, each single sign featured one line each of a four line limmerick and then one last sign saying "Burma Shave".
As a kid riding in a hot '55 Chevy with my folks, my older sister and my annoying older brother, these signs (and a stop at Stuckey's for a pecan praline!) were the height of what was usually a miserable car trip. With my sister's whines about having to pee every 5 seconds, my brother's annoying habit of passing gas in an already stuffy car, my Mom making me piddle in a Folger's coffee can, my Dad's pipe smoke and my up-chucking from motion sickness, the Burma Shave signs were a bright spot in my memories of family motorized vacations!
Here's a few of those classics that will bring back some memories and a chuckle or two:
DROVE TOO LONG
DRIVER SNOOZING
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
IS NOT AMUSING
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BROTHER SPEEDER
LET'S REHEARSE
ALL TOGETHER
GOOD MORNING NURSE
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CAUTIOUS RIDER
TO HER RECKLESS DEAR
LET'S HAVE LESS BULL
AND MORE STEER
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SPEED WAS HIGH
WEATHER WAS NOT
TIRES WERE THIN
X MARKS THE SPOT
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THE MIDNIGHT RIDE
OF PAUL FOR BEER
LED TO A WARMER
HEMISPHERE
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AROUND THE CURVE
LICKETY-SPLIT
ITS A BEAUTIFUL CAR
WASN'T IT?
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NO MATTER THE PRICE
NO MATTER HOW NEW
THE BEST SAFETY DEVICE
IN THE CAR IS YOU
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A GUY WHO DRIVES
A CAR WIDE OPEN
IS NOT THINKIN'
HE'S JUST HOPIN'
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AT INTERSECTIONS
LOOK EACH WAY
A HARP SOUNDS NICE
BUT ITS HARD TO PLAY
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BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL
EYES ON THE ROAD
THAT'S THE SKILLFUL
DRIVER'S CODE
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THE ONE WHO DRIVES WHEN
HE'S BEEN DRINKING
DEPENDS ON YOU
TO DO HIS THINKING
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CAR IN DITCH
DRIVER IN TREE
THE MOON WAS FULL
AND SO WAS HE.
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PASSING SCHOOL ZONE
TAKE IT SLOW
LET OUR LITTLE
SHAVERS GROW
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AND HERE'S MY FAVORITE OF ALL:
DON'T LOOSE YOUR HEAD
TO GAIN A MINUTE
YOU NEED YOUR HEAD
YOUR BRAINS ARE IN IT
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I would like to propose one of the first new road signs for the Technology Generation:
