Dan Gurney Lincoln Mercury Dealer Poster

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Community Discussion
1

I recently purchased an original Dan Gurney Lincoln Mercury Dealer poster. It came in the mail and is fantastic! No issues what so ever. Dan Gurney autographed it and I can’t wait to get it framed and hung up in the house. Here is a picture of it.

My new purchase has increased my curiosity… So I went looking for other posters. I found one that was for sale by Vern Estes on his literature email that he sends out. Vern is a dealer in Cobra/Shelby and racing literature. Back in 2017 Vern had one of these posters for sale on his email, but I just noticed today that it is a different version than the one I have. Here is Vern’s poster from 2017.

Notice there is a lady on the left side and Dan’s shirt collar is a little different than the poster I purchased the other day(at top of this post) with a man holding a pit board. What is the story with these two versions? One early one late? Can anyone shed any light on why there are two posters?

I have contacted Vern and asked him. He knew about the two different versions, but isn’t sure if they had different uses or reasons.

Thank you,
Brian

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Great Q, Brian…Mine is with the Track sign, not the girl. I kinda like the girl, can’t lie :wink:

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I’ll be darned, I never noticed the two different versions! I’ll have to go dig it out but I’m pretty sure mine has the guy with the pit sign also.

Gurney was selling them on his website up until, oh, 10 or so years ago.

Looks to me like the poster at the top (with the pit-sign-dude) has Gurney’s actual signature, while the bottom one looks like it was printed or an “auto pen” type thing.

Bellow is the article on the L-M Sports Panel from the book “The Big Book Mercury Cougar” by Don Skinner, which I’m sure everyone here has on their shelf.

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Phillip,

Thank you for your response. I was hoping you would chime in here. :slight_smile:

Yes, they both have different signatures. We can’t explain that.

Thank you for posting the L-M Sports panel article. That is great! That page also has the lady on the poster.

Brian

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I love stuff like this - thanks for bringing it to everyone’s attention!

So, if I had to guess, I’d say that the original version is the one with the woman. Then obviously, a run of posters was printed that way and then for some reason the decision was made to have the artist (George Bartell maybe?) alter the art and then another run of posters was printed.

That is a very expensive thing to do, so the change was deemed important enough - which is very interesting.

  • Phillip
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:paw_prints:
It makes me wonder who the woman was and if there is a connection or if there was a falling out.

I have one framed and packed away, I wonder which version, this makes me want to confirm.

It would be neat to know how many of each were printed and when the variation was introduced.

Thank you for posting the two different posters and bringing to light the variation.

:paw_prints:
www.CougarClub.org
6AFD3C3F-52CB-4806-BD74-29C758FB6716.jpeg

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I have the first version (with the pit sign dude). I’ve had it for years and finally framed it just last week to get it ready for the garage gallery. I examined the signature carefully and it is both identical to the one shown above, and appears to be printed, not actually signed. Since the style of writing is so different on the second one, I wonder which one is real? My guess is the first.

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A google search for Dan Gurney’s signature matches the pit boss version; the girl version isn’t even close.

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I have several items with Gurney’s signature, plus have seen cars that he signed in person.

This is the way that his actual signature looked.