Nostalgia is often a trap, but it can genuinely have its bright spots. Sure, many of the cheap-and-cheerful cars of the ’90s aren’t especially good when compared to their modern equivalents, but you know what they had? Colors and stickers. Some of the graphics you got on cars in the ’90s were brilliant, but these decals were rather poorly documented in the switch from printed marketing materials to digital. Well, no time like the present to fix some of that.
Let’s take things back to 1992, a year when New Jack Swing was still at its peak, “Basic Instinct” was causing moral panic, and “Street Fighter II: The World Warrior” was what you were blowing your quarters on. Specifically, we’re going back to Anytown, Canada because I’ve got my hands on a 1992 Canadian Tire Automotive Specialty Catalogue.
In case you aren’t familiar with Canadian Tire, picture a mashup of an Autozone and a Walmart with its own sub-fiat currency so culturally ingrained, you could buy poutine with it. I know, this isn’t helping the allegations of Canada being a bit strange, but then again, what country isn’t? Anyway, since it was 1992, it shouldn’t take a lot of guessing to figure out what was featured first in the Automotive Speciality Catalogue. That’s right, it’s aftermarket graphics, and some of them are magnificent.
It all starts on page two. That’s how big of a deal graphics were back then, popular inexpensive ways of jazzing up your ride. The demo car? Absolutely chock-full of them, all in Memphis Lite colours of magenta and teal and yellow. There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s start with the rabbit wearing a bandana and aviators next to a fizzy drink with two straws. In hindsight, “Party Animal” is what law enforcement would refer to as “reasonable suspicion,” but outside of that context, it’s a vibe. It’s also one of four screen-printed Tropical Transfers available at the time, including a variety of somewhat period sayings like “Too Cool” and “Chill Out.” I guess some things never change, although most modern decals are simply die-cut instead of screen-printed.
At the same time, check out the “FEX” pinstripe! Sure, vinyl pinstripes aren’t exactly uncommon with dealerships still laying them on new cars, but a squiggle and some spots takes the concept from dowdy to actually fun. Of course, a magenta stripe on a blue car is a great color combination, as we also see with that strobing stripe above the door molding.
Oh, but it keeps going. Alpena, not to be confused with BMW tuner Alpina, is still around making LED lighting and whatnot, but it sold holographic pinstripes back in the day. Makes sense, doesn’t it? On this page we also see some more premium graphic kits, many of which running about double the price of the FEX kit seen in the last scan. The most expensive Wave kit works out to about $75.38 Canadian or $53.97 in U.S. currency adjusted for inflation. That’s not cheap, but it is pretty fabulous.
I do actually remember seeing some of these visual squiggles and scratches back-in-the-day, and while it’s possible some owners applied these kits themselves, I wouldn’t be surprised if certain dealerships applied similar or even identical graphics to juice their bottom lines.
Oh, and if that was a bit too pricey for you, you could drop two loonies and two caribou on some fairly basic striping tape. In fact, it’s the same sort of tape you can still buy today, from the blackout tape to the pinstripes, with one oddity: when would you need a three-quarter-inch-wide fluorescent orange stripe? Answers on a postcard, please.
Alright, let’s wrap this up with something more interesting, the windshield banners of the day. Granted, windshield banners are still somewhat popular with all sorts of tuning companies and social media influencer logos adorning sun strips. However, things were a bit cheesier 33 years ago, with taglines like “Fast and Dirty,” “Rock’n Roll,” and “Road Warrior.” More importantly, look at the sheer color on display here, rainbow fades and lime green and all that. It feels like we’ve all just become a bit boring as a society, with more outlets than ever to express ourselves yet little to express.
Were ’90s car graphics great? Some of them yes, some of them no. However, there’s no time like the present to just do what you love, and if you love graphics, bring some of that Memphis Lite-look back. Sure, it wouldn’t work on every new car, but on a Wrangler or a brightly-colored pony car, or something cheap and cheerful? Yeah, why not?
Top graphic images: Canadian Tire
I saw a new Wrangler today with “Willys” graphics on either side of the hood. They were like eight corporations ago. Waiting for the Dodge with “The Fabulous Hudson Hornet” graphics on the sides.
No Ford F-150 Nite?
my 93 Wrangler has a fantastic White + Teal stripe and Teal “WRANGLER” writing down the side. Love It!
If I didn’t need a t-square to draw a straight line, I’d be putting some of these on my car.
I vividly remember “No Fear” stickers everywhere, especially in coastal communities.
In the UK the equivalent was a ‘Fat Willy’s Surf Shack’ sticker. I’m somewhat amazed to find that they’re still in business.
Oh man, I recently saw a Geo Tracker with a No Fear sticker on the back and it brought me right back to the coast in the 90s.
20 years from now, we’re going to look back at all these cheesy “Salt Life” stickers and say the same.
Lets not forget the stick figure families on the back windows.
I chuckled when I recently saw a Miata with a stick figure tyrannosaurus eating a stick figure family.
Wow does this bring back memories. Back in the 80’s while in college for design I would design, have produced, and install graphics on cars to help pay for school.
You might be just the person i’m looking for! Until recently we had a semi-matte hot pink full wrap on our Mk7 Golf R, but it began to peel and break down after about 7 years of being locally famous/fabulous. Unfortunately, in the intervening years, the cost of a high quality wrap job has more than doubled and it is just more money than we want to spend. But the prospect of driving a plain black car is positively depressing, so i’ve been hunting around for someone to design a 90’s throwback stripe kit in some crazy colors with “TURBO” thrown in somewhere, but i’ve had no luck finding the right person. There’s people online who do custom stripe kits and stuff but it’s impossible to tell about the quality and i want a real car dork who can reference the 90’s stripe kits of yore. Perhaps you are this person? Alternately, does anyone here in the comments section know a guy/gal? I come to you in my hour of need, Autopia. I fear that if i continue to drive a black on black German car i will wake up one morning in a navy suit and rubber-soled black leather shoes, briefcase in hand, on my way to my job as a data analyst at a financial services company. Nightmare. Please help.
Hopefully you can find someone to help with this Delima. I, unfortunately, am about 30 years out of practice! The boxy shapes and simple styling of vehicles back then lent themselves well to receive graphic packages. Golf’s are one of the few cars that have always had clean, classy styling.
I used to have a regular cab 1995 S-10 in Bahama Blue Metallic with a graphics package.
I loved that truck.
Knew a guy at the local olds dealership who still painted pinstripes. Could even do one of those flourishes around the locks/door handles and make a nice termination at the front and end of the stripe. Skills lost to time.
Pinstriping is still very much alive. Chicano truck culture is rife with it
Back in the 90’s, there was a guy in town who did pinstripes, like real painted pinstripes, completely freehand. He did some work for the local BMW dealership, so you could get custom pinstripes on your BMW straight from the dealership. My dad’s 5 Series was black and he had dark gray pinstripes put on, and it looked really cool. When you got up close, you could see that he “signed” his name in the pinstripe where it terminated at the front of the car, so each car he did had this little tiny “Bruce” in the pinstripe. Neat little detail. It was fascinating watching that guy work.
The guy I knew was named “Jake”, and yes…he signed them as well.
Despite being an aftermarket decal, a J-Body with PARTY ANIMAL graphics must have smelled like cigarettes inside from the moment it rolled off the assembly line.