A couple of WWII road signs Victory Speed and War Speed

[ScottG]

     What I believe to be a couple of pretty rare signs. The War Speed is made of fiber board and somewhat damaged, the other is steel and likely has been repainted. Happy to have these in the collection of Michigan's Military Heritage Museum, they tie in well with our state's automotive history.    Scott

[Brian Keith]

Super Cool "War Speed", "Victory Speed" looks repo from this one photo. Does the reverse look 75+ years old? Even if the reverse appears to be from an "original" sign, this is a case where I think a restoration "ruined" the artifact.

Quick factoid: a lot of folks think the 35 MPH was to save fuel, not so much, it was to save the rubber tires! Yes, gas and fuel oil was rationed, but the main reason for the speed limit was to save the rubber used in tires. Rubber tires and products were rationed also.

BKW

[Ryan Reese]

Excellent finds! Congrats. 

[ScottG]

11 minutes ago, Brian Keith said:

Super Cool "War Speed", "Victory Speed" looks repo from this one photo. Does the reverse look 75+ years old? Even if the reverse appears to be from an "original" sign, this is a case where I think a restoration "ruined" the artifact.

Quick factoid: a lot of folks think the 35 MPH was to save fuel, not so much, it was to save the rubber tires! Yes, gas and fuel oil was rationed, but the main reason for the speed limit was to save the rubber used in tires. Rubber tires and products were rationed also.

BKW

    Yes, the victory speed has been repaired/repainted and its evident where the old paint and damage is covered by the new paint. The sign itself is original. These were part of an extensive collection of one of our museum Board members and he passed rather suddenly in Feb. About two years ago his barn burned and his insurance company cleaned and repaired what they could. As you can see, they couldn't do much to the fiber board sign.    Scott