Michael Sanders shared on Facebook that his dad never applied his (Maplewood) city stickers (used masking tape, instead), and included a photo of the 1946 auto sticker.
Sanders said his dad had just returned from the South Pacific: “(Navy Seabees) and they’d begun producing automobiles, again… The War was over.”
“This artifact remains under glass, as it’s very brittle. Don’t have the wax-paper sleeve, but it’s still on the original backing. Every year, Maplewood would change colors in order to make it easier to spot expired stickers. In 1946, they choose maple,” he said.
Mayor Frank Martini’s signature makes it official.
Remember those! Some folks didn’t remove, just lined them up on their windows! …until it got too crazy! ‘46 before my time though. Thx for sharing!
You are so right! For some that kept their cars (and residence) for a number of years, they made it like collecting Eagle Stamps. If you lived in Richmond Heights, where the stickers were small rectangles, you could go several years without it becoming too dangerous. But try that with those larger (and more attractive) Maplewood stickers and it was a menace. Since they began at the extreme lower-right hand corner of the windshield (the proper location) and then went up and across, that’s precisely where a child running into the street, might be. State inspection stickers, parking permits and oil-change tags are on the left side and seldom accumulate. Fuzzy dice and feather “roach clips” were in the center, depending on what decade you grew up in. State Inspection caught the cracked windshields and bad wipers. High-rise scoops were another fad, which limited the driver’s field of vision. And this only covers the windshield, no pun intended. Full-size box stereo speakers, cat-eye blinkers and finally the infamous “Baby on Board” signs, followed by cat, dog, alligator and other messages. Today, it’s primarily the “CIA Agents,” with dark-tinted windows. Not sure about others, but I would prefer that a cop be able to see inside my vehicle. I know of one case where a robbery was foiled, simply because a cop was sitting around the corner and saw two men scuffling over a wallet, inside a parked vehicle. Cops have seen it all… Body men, sometimes see the remains.
That brings back memories. Brentwood used to have city stickers about the size of Maplewood’s. The stickers were shaped like the old Brentwood city hall / fire station on Brentwood Blvd.
Dad (Ray E. Sanders) owned and operated “Sanders Auto Body” from our home at 3260 Big Bend, in Maplewood. Dad would continue this line of work, for 37 years. His first job as a Body Man was at Ted’s Motor’s, on the SE corner of Big Bend and Manchester. He retired from Lou Fusz Pontiac, on Lindberg Blvd.
As for why he never applied the stickers, aside from it being almost impossible to scrape them off, he would often fix up a wreck job and decide to keep it for a few months. The Maplewood cops were ok with this, since he was a professional. He also cooperated with them, on any number of matters.