New Studebaker Drivers Club Logo on Decals, Pins

[blackhawk61]

Has there been ANY action taken on producing these decals as of yet ?

[GThawkwind]

So....... ya' think a tattoo would be taking it to far or...........

[rockne10]

to
too
two

A tat would be just too awesome.
Two tats would be twice as awesome.
To get two tats would be too expensive.
Two twinkies ? Too long since I've been able to consume them.

[rockne10]

I have a couple of these:

These are newer. The phone number and web site are current. They do, however, adhere to the exterior of the window. The unused one in the center is the older one, like you have pictured. It is an inverse image; to be adhered to the interior of the window. The address on it is significantly out of date.

If I were to offer a suggestion, future decal production should be of the inverse so they can be adhered to the interior and read to the exterior.

[PlainBrownR2]

Just for coffee table discussion's sake, there's new, old, and then older. I had this one in my Commander since I bought, so it's been in there before '99. The address may not work, but the "wagon wheel" is still very recognizable.

[JimC]

The SDC store at the museum doesn't appear to have any car decals yet. If someone is ambitious enough though, they sell decal material at most hobby stores. Technically, you should probably get SDC permission before you put that up on your car window though. It'd be easier if the club would just do it. Heck, I'd buy one.

Responding to some of the chatter from 2010, I think a QR "barcode" would be more relevant than a snail mail address in the 21st century. Just sayin'

[Welcome]

>>>I think a QR "barcode" would be more relevant than a snail mail address in the 21st century. Just sayin'

Just sayin' ...that's an EXCELLENT suggestion!!!

[JimC]

Didn't realize a second thread were here. Maybe a mod wants to slide the new posts from the other thread over to this one?

It wouldn't be right "in the eyes of the law", but as I mentioned in the other thread, they do sell decal material at hobby stores. Just be sure no current SDC officers see your black market decal!

Just an observation: it is concerning that such a great marketing tool is not already in production. Maybe enough commotion will prompt it to happen? If we want to get more members, we need to market everywhere we can, and what better place than our windshields?

[StudeRich]

Yes I agree with the INSIDE applied 4 Color Stude. Wheel Design but NOT with a phone number that will be obsolete when we change Turning Wheels Printers.

[JimC]

NOT with a phone number that will be obsolete when we change Turning Wheels Printers.

It's a pretty safe bet that the club's domain name will probably outlive any phone number or address associated with the club. Ultimately, as long as someone's paying the bills, the domain name should stay with the club for the rest of its existence. I mentioned it in the neighboring thread, but seeing how we live in the 21st century, maybe the domain name printed out and/or a QR barcode would be the best options under/next to the logo on the decal. This is all you need:


Go ahead, scan it

(Yes, they can shrink down much smaller!)

Honestly, when I see stuff like this at a car show or even just on the streets, I'm about 10 million times more likely to just zap it with my phone and look it up right then than if I have to find something to write an address or phone number on, bring it home, look it up later, etc. A club decal is a great thing, and hopefully an updated one will come out someday soon, but if they're going to actually have a use (aside from showing our allegiance to the coolest car club on Earth), they need to appeal to the modern car enthusiast. At least in my humble opinion.

[StudeRich]

And what in the world would you use to decode that sinister looking blob?

[JimC]

Haha, fair question!

Those sinister blobs can be decoded by the equally sinister "smartphones" that something like 60% of Americans carry on them nowdays. Some phones come pre-installed with QR code readers, but if not, searching your favorite device's app store for "barcode scanner" will turn up a reader.

Sure, there are still a lot of folks without smartphones, so actually writing out a web address is a good idea. Still, this technology isn't going away, and in a lot ways is like the microwave, or DVD player, or even computer. At one point they were conveniences that only appealed to "young people", but today, it's tough finding a home without them.

I'd hate to turn this thread into yet another call for the club to further embrace young adults, but truthfully, if we want the cars of the past generations to survive into the future generations, we need to embrace the culture of the present generation.

[PlainBrownR2]

Oh didn't you know Rich? You use your smartphone that everyone's got to scan that blotched postage stamp, which will reveal all sorts of information about the QR code. I'd tell you more, but I don't know how to do it, since this 30 year old still has one of those old timey LG Chocolates(cellphone) on his belt. That's the fatal flaw with completely going to a QR code vs a physical address for SDC. The physical address, which I believe has been around since the inception of the Post Office under Benjamin Franklin, gives a physical location of the building for SDC, and a place to mail all of them there important documents to. Many in our own chapter also do not have smartphones, and quite a few of them still receive chapter newsletters via that clumsy old system of snail mail, as they do not use computers or Internet access at all, so there's a rather large contingent of the population, that will be swept under the rug by completely going to a QR code. So until the physical building is completely removed from the face of the earth(that QR code would probably disappear soon after), or the building is digitized and becomes just an address on a server someplace, that address serves a pretty vital function. Plus it sells people on the idea that it's a legitimate club with a legitimate location, and not some Internet concoction someplace.

[JimC]

I'm not saying not to include something in English. What I'm saying is let's not go out of our way to be as inaccessible as possible just because many of our members don't use that technology. Smartphones might not be right for you, but for 6 of the 9 other people standing near you in a public place, they're perfect.

To help illustrate my point, here's a picture of St. Mary Magdalene church in downtown Omaha:



Doesn't it seem odd to have that pretty door three stories up, and with that fire escape? Interestingly enough, that third story used to be ground level! (The shorter addition came much later.) In the effort to improve public transit in Omaha around the turn of the century, they excavated the streets around the church for the new trolley cars to go in. EDIT TO ADD; After doing a little digging, I turned up this photo taken prior to the street excavation, where you can clearly see the present day third floor serving as "ground level":



Unfortunately, after doing the excavating for the trolley system there was a problem - while the building was deep enough that it didn't have to be demolished, neither of the two levels of their basement had any doors at the time! While work was done to rebuild the exterior, cut out doorways, and in other ways preserve the church, the congregation had to climb a ladder every mass to get into the church.

So where am I going with this? What if they decided not to refit their building, and instead insisted that the church stay the same even though the world around them literally changed? What if they said that for all time, if you wanted to go to their church, you were climbing that ladder every mass? Sure, the die-hard members would remain faithful, but would they have attracted anyone else? If you asked me to climb a two story ladder to go to church, I'd just stay home, thank you very much.

My point is that in this day and age, we have two options. We either stick to how we've always done it and ask potential members to climb the two story ladder to get in the door, or we blow a hole in the basement wall and make it as easy as we can to get them inside. (They can climb all those steps once they're in there! )

Who are these decals for? Are they just bragging rights for us? In that case, why even have an address or phone number? Let's strip it down to the logo, and if anything, just throw in a slogan like "This makes me cooler than you" or whatnot to really rub it in that we're special. OR maybe the purpose of these decals is to let other people know there's a club for these cars, and prompt them to come join us. If that is the case (and I'd argue that it is) then we need to meet people where they are. Like it or not, the majority of people are using smartphones today. They look up websites on the spot. They scan QR codes. They update facebook while they're still looking at that cool car they just saw parked at the bank. That's life. I'm sensitive to the fact that not everyone does this, and that especially in our demographically older club, many of the members might not have this technology. But again, these things aren't meant to attract people who are already members.

I'll be the first to admit that this is a little, seemingly trivial thing. But it's true that the devil is in the details. We ignore an opportunity to talk about the club here, pass an opportunity there, things pile up, and this club withers up and dies. When I attend my local chapter meeting and realize that I'm the youngest person in the room by more than a decade, I see a problem, a great big one that needs to be addressed in every possible way, even the trivial little ones. My car is parked outside most of the time. People are always stopping, looking in windows, and yes, pulling out their smartphones to take pictures. I can look out my window and see that there is a lot of interest in these cars. So to me, it would make sense to try and feed off that, and give those people who already have their smartphones out something to look up. You never know what might come of that.

Bottom line, if we really want this club to survive, we need to show it and embrace the 21st century, even if we don't want to live in it ourselves. Otherwise, we just start to look a lot like a certain board of directors from the 60's who put the final nail into a certain auto maker's coffin.

[Chris Pile]

Well said, jim!