The Big Car, Times Square

Theme: Signage. Notes by Mark Lentz.

Thanks to Agilitynut and her Super Signage page for finding the story behind this sign:

June 11, 2002, Detroit: Approximately 1.5 million people walking through Times Square each weekday will see the three-dimensional [Cadillac] CTS, which protrudes more than 5 feet from the front of the board with its headlamps on, revealing the front grille and part of the car's front profile. The display consists of 18 separate pieces assembled to create a vehicle eight times larger than a production CTS. Each headlight is 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide, large enough for an above-average person to stand inside.

Twelve flatbed trucks moved the piece from Atomic Props & Effects in St. Paul, Minn., which created the structure. Trucks left the production facility between May 28th and June 2nd, headed to New York, and the arrival of each was orchestrated to assure timely arrival at the Times Square location so each piece could be picked directly off each truck and installed. Sherwood Outdoor, owner of the property at Two Times Square, oversaw the posting.

The two-story-high CTS is sculpted in Styrofoam and encased in a weather-resistant elastomer that is sprayed on as a liquid and cures in 5 seconds. Cadillac supplied actual math-based data for the designers to work from to ensure an accurate representation of the vehicle. Atomic Props consulted an automotive paint supplier and used the CTS' paint codes to ensure an exact match.

Sherwood Outdoor and Cadillac reached an agreement to use the space for advertising in 1998. The CTS is the fourth vehicle the company has displayed in the Times Square area, with the most recent being the 2002 Cadillac Escalade.

The Times Square cube refresh is part of Cadillac's "Break Through" campaign and reflects the company's return to its heritage of producing vehicles known for head-turning design and innovative technology. (Press release from Cadillac site)

"Cube refresh" is our jargon for today. When you put new pictures up in your cubicle, you're doing a "cube refresh".

The Sherwood Outdoor site is also good background for our study of signage, in which we think of the skyscrapers as massive coral reefs, supporting vast colonies of signage:

Sherwood Outdoor was established to fill the need for a first-class outdoor media company exclusively dedicated to Times Square. As a subsidiary of Sherwood Equities, Sherwood Outdoor is the exclusive agent for all of the more than 40 sign properties located on the three landmark Times Square buildings owned and operated by Sherwood Equities. One Times Square (where the ball drops on New Year's Eve), Two Times Square (the most often photographed building in Times Square)and 1600 Broadway. This large block of signs include the majority of the most visible and most spectacular signs that exist in the world and close to forty percent of all signage in Times Square. (SherwoodOutdoor.com)

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Site Tips: If you have Explorer or AOL (recent version), and a mouse with a scroll wheel, you should be able to move the mouse anywhere over the text at right and scroll it with the wheel, so you can still see the picture while reading.

Most of the pages have a large version of the main picture which you can make your wallpaper by first clicking on it to download, then right-clicking and choosing "Set as Background".

	P Photos: Mark Lentz








11/18/2003

		The Big Car, Times Square Theme: Signage. Notes by Mark Lentz. Thanks to Agilitynut and her Super Signage page for finding the story behind this sign: June 11, 2002, Detroit: Approximately 1.5 million people walking through Times Square each weekday will see the three-dimensional [Cadillac] CTS, which protrudes more than 5 feet from the front of the board with its headlamps on, revealing the front grille and part of the car's front profile. The display consists of 18 separate pieces assembled to create a vehicle eight times larger than a production CTS. Each headlight is 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide, large enough for an above-average person to stand inside. Twelve flatbed trucks moved the piece from Atomic Props & Effects in St. Paul, Minn., which created the structure. Trucks left the production facility between May 28th and June 2nd, headed to New York, and the arrival of each was orchestrated to assure timely arrival at the Times Square location so each piece could be picked directly off each truck and installed. Sherwood Outdoor, owner of the property at Two Times Square, oversaw the posting. The two-story-high CTS is sculpted in Styrofoam and encased in a weather-resistant elastomer that is sprayed on as a liquid and cures in 5 seconds. Cadillac supplied actual math-based data for the designers to work from to ensure an accurate representation of the vehicle. Atomic Props consulted an automotive paint supplier and used the CTS' paint codes to ensure an exact match. Sherwood Outdoor and Cadillac reached an agreement to use the space for advertising in 1998. The CTS is the fourth vehicle the company has displayed in the Times Square area, with the most recent being the 2002 Cadillac Escalade. The Times Square cube refresh is part of Cadillac's "Break Through" campaign and reflects the company's return to its heritage of producing vehicles known for head-turning design and innovative technology. (Press release from Cadillac site) "Cube refresh" is our jargon for today. When you put new pictures up in your cubicle, you're doing a "cube refresh". The Sherwood Outdoor site is also good background for our study of signage, in which we think of the skyscrapers as massive coral reefs, supporting vast colonies of signage: Sherwood Outdoor was established to fill the need for a first-class outdoor media company exclusively dedicated to Times Square. As a subsidiary of Sherwood Equities, Sherwood Outdoor is the exclusive agent for all of the more than 40 sign properties located on the three landmark Times Square buildings owned and operated by Sherwood Equities. One Times Square (where the ball drops on New Year's Eve), Two Times Square (the most often photographed building in Times Square)and 1600 Broadway. This large block of signs include the majority of the most visible and most spectacular signs that exist in the world and close to forty percent of all signage in Times Square. (SherwoodOutdoor.com) All content ©2003 on behalf of its creators. Join our mailing list if you would like to be notified occasionally about noteworthy new content on NYCJPG. This page requires a 6.0+ browser for the pictures/text to display correctly. If you have an older version of Netscape, Explorer, or AOL, the text will appear cut off and the pictures distorted. Site Tips: If you have Explorer or AOL (recent version), and a mouse with a scroll wheel, you should be able to move the mouse anywhere over the text at right and scroll it with the wheel, so you can still see the picture while reading. Most of the pages have a large version of the main picture which you can make your wallpaper by first clicking on it to download, then right-clicking and choosing "Set as Background".