Reproduction Tin Sign – Chrysler Plymouth

posted by pbwethy @ 12:00 PM
May 27, 2010

With Father’s Day around the Conor I have been looking for a gift for my husband, and then I found this authentic reproduction Chrysler Plymouth tin sign for his man cave. Our son and him spend a lot of time there.

The Plymouth automobile was introduced on July 7, 1928. It was the Chrysler Corporation’s first entry in the low-priced field, which at the time was dominated by Chevrolet and Ford. Plymouths were actually priced a little higher than the competition, but they offered standard features such as internal expanding hydraulic brakes that the competition did not provide. Plymouths were originally sold exclusively through Chrysler dealerships. The logo featured a rear view of the Mayflower ship which landed at Plymouth Rock. However, the Plymouth brand name came from Plymouth Binder Twine, chosen by Joe Frazer for its popularity among farmers.

The origins of the first Plymouth can be traced back to the Maxwell automobile. When Walter P. Chrysler took over control of the trouble-ridden Maxwell-Chalmers car company in the early 1920s, he inherited the Maxwell as part of the package. After he used the company’s facilities to help create and launch the Chrysler car in 1924, he decided to create a lower-priced companion car. So for 1926 the Maxwell was reworked and re-badged as the low-end Chrysler “52″ model. In 1928, the “52″ was once again redesigned to create the Chrysler-Plymouth Model Q. The “Chrysler” portion of the nameplate was dropped with the introduction of the Plymouth Model U in 1929.


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Tin Sign – Remington Sporting Cartiridges

posted by pbwethy @ 12:00 PM
April 12, 2010

He began designing and building a flintlock rifle for himself. In the fall of that year, he entered a shooting match; though he only finished second, his well-made gun impressed other shooters. Before Eliphalet left the field that day, he had received so many orders from other competitors that he was now officially in the gunsmithing business. By 1828, the operation moved to nearby Ilion, New York, at the same site which is used by the modern Remington firearms plant.

In 1865, Remington incorporated into a stock company, and in 1873 began a new venture, producing Remington brand typewriters. Remington sold the typewriter business in 1886. The typewriter company eventually became Remington Rand, and the firearms business became Remington Arms Company. In 1888, Remington was purchased by Marcus Hartley and Partners, a major sporting goods chain who also owned the Union Metallic Cartridge Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The Bridgeport site became the home of Remington’s ammunition plant.

In 1912, Remington and Union Metallic Cartridge were combined into a single entity, called Remington UMC. Even today, Remington produces U.M.C. brand ammunition. In 1915, the plant at Ilion was expanded, and with this expansion became basically the same plant as today.

During World War I, Remington produced arms under contract for several Allied powers. Remington produced M1916 Berthier rifles for France, Pattern 1914 Enfield rifles for Britain, and Model 1891 Mosin-Nagant rifles for Imperial Russia. As the war intensified, Remington production grew ever greater.

When the U.S. entered the war, Remington became deeply involved in the war effort. Notable contributions by Remington included development and production of the U.S. M1917 Enfield rifle, a simplified version of the British Pattern 1914, and development of the Pedersen device.

Late in the war, the collapse of the Imperial Russian government had a severe impact on Remington finances. Russia had ordered enormous quantities of arms and ammunition, but ran short of money to pay for the orders. They delayed payment, pointing to alleged defects in Remington products. When the Bolsheviks took power in the Russian Revolution, they repudiated the contract entirely. Remington was left with huge stocks of guns and ammunition, and no prospects for payment. U.S. government intervention was required to save the company from bankruptcy. Noting the explosive growth of business at the beginning of the war, and the precipitous decline at the end of the war, Remington made the conscious decision to promote and emphasize their line of sporting products. They viewed hunting products as a more stable business which might help them to survive future ups and downs.

During the Great Depression, Remington was purchased by the DuPont Corporation, which had made its fortune with improvements to gunpowder. A year later, Remington purchased the Peters Cartridge Company; today, many of the Remington headstamps still have R-P on them for Remington-Peters.

In 1940 the U.S. Army became worried about its ammunition capacity, and asked Remington to collaborate in a plan for national expansion. With the aid of DuPont, Remington built the Lake City Arsenal and Denver Ordnance ammunition plants, and three more plants later on. Though the plants belonged to the U.S. government, Remington was asked to oversee their operation. Among the weapons Remington manufactured for the government during World War II was the famous M1903A3 Springfield bolt-action rifle.

In 1986, Remington closed its ammunition plant in Bridgeport, Connecticut, creating a brand-new facility in Lonoke, Arkansas. This site was chosen as the geographic center of the sporting ammunition market. A year later, Remington built a new clay targets plant in Athens, Georgia.

In 1993, Remington was sold by DuPont to the investment firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R’).

In June 2007, a private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management, acquired Remington Arms for $370 million, including $252 million in assumed debt. This happened because Remington was millions of dollars in debt and did not report a profit during the years 2003-2005.

In December 2007, Remington Arms acquired rifle-maker Marlin Firearms.

As of 2009, ammunition sales continued to remain high during the ongoing United States Ammunition Shortage. Chief Executive Officer Ted Torbeck was quoted in the Chambersburg Public Opinion newspaper on 2009-11-30 from Remington’s most recent quarterly earnings conference call as saying “Since the U.S. presidential election, demand for (ammunition) has risen amidst concerns that the new administration will further restrict the use or purchase of firearms and ammunition and levy additional taxes on these products. Since that time we have responded by ramping up production, providing for additional employee overtime, establishing additional production shifts, and expanding our supply chain, none of which has required significant capital.”

This sports tin sign makes a great gift.


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Animal Tin sign – Welcome to our Refuge

posted by pbwethy @ 12:00 PM
April 5, 2010

The Mallard, or Wild duck (Anas platyrhynchos), probably the best-known and most recognizable of all ducks, is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and sub-tropical areas of North America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand (where it is currently the most common duck species), and Australia. It is strongly migratory in the northern parts of its breeding range, and winters farther south. For example, in North America it winters south to Mexico, but also regularly strays into Central America and the Caribbean between September and May.

The male birds have bright green head, while the female is light brown. The Mallard lives in wetlands, eats water plants, and is gregarious. The Mallard is the ancestor of all domestic ducks, and can interbreed with other species of genus Anas. This interbreeding is causing rarer species of ducks to become genetically diluted.

This welcome to our refuge tin sign makes a great gift for anyone.


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Tin Signs – Welcome Home

posted by pbwethy @ 12:00 PM
March 31, 2010

Welcome to where time stands still
no one leaves and no one will
Moon is full, never seems to change
just labeled mentally deranged
Dream the same thing every night
I see our freedom in my sight
No locked doors, No windows barred
No things to make my brain seem scarred

Sleep my friend and you will see
the dream is my reality
They keep me locked up in this cage
can’t they see it’s why my brain says Rage

Sanitarium, leave me be
Sanitarium, just leave me alone

Build my fear of what’s out there
cannot breathe the open air
Whisper things into my brain
assuring me that I’m insane
They think our heads are in their hands
but violent use brings violent plans
Keep him tied, it makes him well
he’s getting better, can’t you tell?

No more can they keep us in
Listen, damn it, we will win
They see it right, they see it well
but they think this saves us from our Hell

Sanitarium, leave me be
Sanitarium, just leave me alone
Sanitarium, just leave me alone

Fear of living on
natives getting restless now
Mutiny in the air
got some death to do
Mirror stares back hard
Kill it’s such a friendly word
seems the only way
for reaching out again.

This Old west tin sign makes a great gift.


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Tin Sign – America Let Freedom Reign

posted by pbwethy @ 12:00 PM
March 23, 2010

Artist: American Patriotic Songs Lyrics
 
There have been many wars
On the shores of liberty
The losses have been much
But the cause will always be
There’s a flag that still stands
It will never fall
So it’s time for one and all
To answer freedom’s call
Let freedom reign
Shine the light of day
And guide us on our way
Let freedom reign
Drive the clouds away
And let the sun shine through
The red, white and blue
I am proud to stand tall
As those who’ve done before
The stars n’ stripes will be my pride
And in God I am assured
Though the battle may be lost
And though the fortress may fall
We will rise to build again
Cause victory is our end
Let freedom reign
Shine the light of day
And guide us on our way
Let freedom reign
Drive the clouds away
And let the sun shine through
The red, white and blue
Let freedom reign
Let freedom reign
And let the sun shine through
The red, white and blue

This eagle tin sign makes a great gift for anyone.


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Tin Sign – Rosie the Riveter

posted by pbwethy @ 12:00 PM
March 18, 2010

Rosie the Riveter was most closely associated with a real woman, Rose Will Monroe, who was born in Pulaski County, Kentucky in 1920 and moved to Michigan during World War II. She worked as a riveter at the Willow Run Aircraft Factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan, building B-29 and B-24 bombers for the U.S. Army Air Forces. Monroe achieved her dream of piloting a plane at the age of 50 and her love of flying resulted in an accident that contributed to her death 19 years later. Monroe was asked to star in a promotional film about the war effort at home. The song “Rosie the Riveter” was popular at the time, and Monroe happened to best fit the description of the worker depicted in the song. Rosie went on to become perhaps the most widely recognized icon of that era. The films and posters she appeared in were used to encourage women to go to work in support of the war effort.

According to the Encyclopedia of American Economic History, the “Rosie the Riveter” movement increased the number of working American women to 20 million by 1944, a 57% increase from 1940. Although the image of “Rosie the Riveter” reflected the industrial work of welders and riveters during World War II, the majority of working women filled non-factory positions in every sector of the economy.What unified the experiences of these women was that they proved to themselves (and the country) that they could do a “man’s job” and could do it well. In 1942, just between the months of January and July, the estimates of the proportion of jobs that would be “acceptable” for women was raised by employers from 29 to 85%. African American women were some of those most affected by the need for women workers. It has been said that it was the process of whites working along blacks during the time that encouraged a breaking down of social barriers and a healthy recognition of diversity  African-Americans were able to lay the groundwork for the postwar civil rights revolution by equating segregation with Nazi white supremacist ideology.

Conditions were sometimes harsh and pay was not always equal—the average man working in a wartime plant was paid $54.65 per week, while women were paid about $31.50. Nonetheless, women quickly responded to Rosie the Riveter, who convinced them they had a patriotic duty to enter the workforce. Some claim that she forever opened up the work force for women, but others dispute that point, noting that many women were discharged after the war and their jobs given to returning servicemen.[citation needed] Leila J. Rupp in her study of World War II wrote “For the first time, the working woman dominated the public image. Women were riveting housewives in slacks, not mother, domestic beings, or civilizers.”

After the war, the “Rosies” and the generations that followed them knew that working in the factories was in fact a possibility for women, even though they did not reenter the job market in such large proportions again until the 1970′s. By that time factory employment was in decline all over the country.

On October 14, 2000, the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park was opened in Richmond, California, site of four Kaiser shipyards, where thousands of “Rosies” from around the country worked (although ships at the Kaiser yards were not riveted, but rather welded). Over 200 former Rosies attended the ceremony.

The documentary film The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter addresses the history of Rosie.

 
J. Howard Miller’s “We Can Do It!”, commonly mistaken to be Rosie the Riveter
Norman Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post cover featuring Rosie the RiveterThe image most iconically associated with Rosie is J. Howard Miller’s famous poster for Westinghouse, titled We Can Do It!, which was modeled on the middle Michigan factory worker Geraldine Doyle in 1942.

 Shirley Karp
In 1943-1945, Shirley Karp Dick (who was the original Rosie during 1939-1941) revived her role as Rosie the Riveter. She was paid $6 to model. Two of her most famous photos were of Rosie treading on a book written by Adolf Hitler, and of her in a U.S fighter (with another woman fueling up the plane). During her tenure as Rosie, Shirley was part of the movement that motivated over 11 million women to join in World War II, by doing the paperwork, making guns for soldiers, or doing other service in the war effort.

Shirley Karp died on January 12, 2009 at the age of 85; at the time she was the oldest living Rosie the Riveter model.

 Homages
 According to Colman’s Rosie the Riveter, there was also, very briefly, a “Wendy the Welder” based on Janet Doyle, a worker at the Kaiser Richmond Liberty Shipyards in California.

In the 1960s, Hollywood actress Jane Withers gained fame as “Josephine the Plumber,” a character in a long-running and popular series of television commercials for “Comet” cleansing powder that lasted into the 1970s. This character was based on the original “Rosie” character and thus owes much to exemplary women’s efforts in the traditional male workplace.

More recent cultural references include a character called “Rosie” in the video game BioShock, armed with a rivet gun. There’s a DC Comics character called Rosie The Riveter, who wields a rivet gun as a weapon (and first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2 #176 (May, 1984). In the video game Fallout 3 there are billboards featuring “Rosies” assembling Atomic Bombs while drinking Nuka-Cola. A Rosie the Riveter action figurine is made by Accoutrements, although this is loosely based on Miller’s anonymous poster, rather than Rockwell’s painting. In the final bars at 3:06 of the video [21] track clock, in Candyman, by Christina Aguilera, which emulates the famous Andrews Sisters vocal harmonies of the WW-II era – while wearing a red bandanna and shot with the era’s vintage Technicolor color processing scheme, Christina gives the famous “Rosie” pose, with fist-up, and right hand on bicep.

This Roise the Riveter tin sign makes a great gift for anyone.


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Tin Sign – Ironman

posted by pbwethy @ 12:00 PM
January 6, 2010

ron Man is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963), and was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby.

Born Anthony Edward “Tony” Stark, he is an industrialist playboy and genius engineer who suffers a severe heart injury during a kidnapping in which his captors attempt to force him to build a massively destructive weapon. He instead creates a powered suit of armor to save his life and escape captivity. He later decides to use the suit to protect the world as Iron Man. Through his multinational corporation, Stark Industries, Tony created military weapons and his own metal suit is laden with technological devices that enable him to fight crime. Initially, Iron Man was a vehicle for Stan Lee to explore Cold War themes, particularly the role of American technology and business in the fight against communism. Subsequent re-imaginings of Iron Man have gradually removed the Cold War themes, replacing them with more contemporary concerns such as corporate crime and terrorism.

Throughout most of the comic’s history, Iron Man has been a member of the superhero team the Avengers and has been featured in several incarnations of his own various comic book series. The character has been adapted for several animated TV shows and films. The character is portrayed by Robert Downey, Jr. in the live action film Iron Man and features briefly in The Incredible Hulk; Downey will reprise the role in the upcoming sequel, Iron Man 2.

This Ironman tin sign makes a great gift for any kid or the kid at heart.


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