The Joe Blow Delivery Bus

I've been contemplating is how to do the logos. The plan all along with the bus was to use it as a promotional vehicle for the business, which means getting it sign written in a sympathetic way with hand painted sign writing in a period style aged to fit in with the general patina and look of the bus. As we already have a company logo and typeface, it makes sense to use these as they are. But other text might look better done in a typical sign writers font of the period.

This of course is really hard to decide as when I make a mockup photoshop image - to me, it just looks modern. But looking at other sign-written busses of the period shows that there are plenty of companies that had equally modern looking logos and typefaces. (Yes I did flick through the 400+ page thread on thesamba). I think that what I really took away from that thread was to keep the sign-writing simple. White logos and writing over the dove blue is pretty iconic and very typical of early busses and might be the key to making it look like the sign-writing is contemporary with the bus's age.

Some might note that there are already existing logos on the bus, these are pretty faded and unrecognisable. Removing the top layer of paint also removes any trace of the logos as they seem to have been painted in non-automotive paint over a previous repaint, so they are pretty much impossible to uncover and retain. This is a bit of a shame, as original logo'd busses are alway nice. but I do plan to retain and touch up a few of the parts that I could make out, like the axle weight markings. So there will be a small homage to the original logos.

I think I really need to get the bus back and uncover as much of the original Dove Blue as I can before making the final decision, but at least I've made a start.