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The History of Car Decals
Car decals have a number of purposes including commercial, official, religious, philanthropic, humorous or supportive (of a political or sports team for interest.) They are usually at their wittiest when they are opposing or defending a particular cause or point of view. Expect to see a lot of witty car decals appear on more and more windshield and car bumpers as the next election comes up.
Car decals don’t just come in a sticky version. There is also such a thing as a magnetic car decal, which can be easily affixed to a car’s bumper.
Some car decals are more functional than fun. Sometimes they are used to identify where one is from. This is especially true in Europe where many of the countries issue car decals. These are called country tags and are overseen by the United Nations as being the Distinguishing Signs of Vehicles in International Traffic, being authorized by the UN's Geneva Convention on Road Traffic (1949) and Vienna Convention on Road Traffic (1968).
Car decals are just like bumper stickers only mostly they are smaller. They can be banner shaped or shaped like a circle. They first came into existence after World War I when cars were designed with bumpers, windshields and other abutments that could showcase a political comment or a joke on a sticky piece of paper.
Car decals are very popular in Australia where the trucking industry is famous for plastering them all over the rear windshields of their rigs. The country even has a contest called the UTE competition (UTE is a kind of truck) where the vehicle with the most and greatest variety of truly witty and interesting car decals plastered all over it wins a big prize.
Stickers enjoy a great deal of popularity not only in North America but also in the rest of the world. So far they are not banned in any country even though if you have enough of them they could potentially block your view out your back window.
Car decals are also becoming a popular form of advertising. There is even a website called TailAds that specializes in matching up advertisers with people who don’t mind having certain car decals and bumper stickers affixed to the car. This way the car owners get to tell people about a product and the advertisers get to spread the word via the two and a half million cars that travel the roads of North America. Unfortunately we are still not at the stage where advertisers pay us to display their car decals.
Has someone slapped car decals on your vehicle that you need removed or is it time to remove that Bill Clinton sticker that has been on your windshield for years. The easiest way to remove car decals is with penetrating oil or with a heat gun. Otherwise you can try scraping away at them with a window scraper and some boiling water. You should also check the back of your vehicle periodically to make sure that someone hasn’t tagged it with a decal boasting a message that is not to your taste.
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