Car Wars Bumper Stickers

[owenmp]

Today at the Dragonflight gaming convention in Bellevue, WA, USA, Magesmiley won a plastic bag containing a Car Wars First Edition set, and several BattleTech maps. Inside the Car Wars zip-top bag were three very rare items.

The first rare item was a mint condition Car Wars "Drive Offensively" bumper sticker from 1981. I believe one of these is posted above the doorframe in The Compleat Strategist gamestore in New York City.

The second and third rare items were two mint condition Car Wars adhesive stickers I have never seen before. They were printed by SJ Games.

If it were possible, a nice Car Wars history project would be for SJ Games and players to scan any intact Car Wars bumper stickers, and have them posted on Warehouse 23.

[svawter]

I've got a scan of 2 stickers and 2 vinyl decals, but they have some marks from other papers they were stored with...

stickers:
American Autodueling Association (with logos left & right)
Shoot if you love Autodueling (with AADA logo on left)

decals
red AADA logo
AADA Ace Driver with skull and tire wrenches

I'd be happy to provide these to SJG...

[Magesmiley]

As Michael said, I picked these up at the auction held at Dragonflight over the weekend.

The ziplock baggie is obviously one of the 1st editions of the game. The bumper sticker (copyright 1981) which still has its backing, I'd heard of previously. That leaves the two other items in the picture, which neither Michael or I had seen or heard of, and which we're trying to identify.

They appear to be stickers. They have "Car Wars" in red and feature a black and white station wagon with a gunshot firing from the turret.

The backing material appears to be identical to the bumper sticker. Given that the same color is used for the bumper sticker, it makes me think they might have been produced at roughly the same time.

Does anyone thoughts or other vague memories of these items?

Also, I'm more than happy to provide a scan of these to SJG, if they don't have these on file somewhere (just let me know).

And I too like the idea of collecting up these sorts of promos for W23.

[owenmp]

I might be mistaken regarding the bumper sticker at The Compleat Strategist in NYC. The bumper sticker may have been the, "Shoot if You Love Autodueling" one mentioned in this thread and in Backfire (ADQ 4/1, if I remember correctly).

If there are any residents or visitors of NYC, please take a photo of that sticker and upload the image for Car Wars players to view. I did not have a camera when I saw it. Thanks!

[rdeis]

Cool!

A should have some of the original kill stickers hiding in my pile, but I never saw the ones you're talking about.

[Andreeon]

I wish they would still have Some Car Wars Bumper Stickers ! I Know they would Have A Market! I Would Buy Some! Anyone Have Any More Info On This ?

[Blue Ghost]

Mage, I think that ziplock item you're wondering about is a reinforcement and expansion set. More counters and maps ... but maybe I'm not understanding your description correctly.

Still have my 1st edition CW game. And my kill sticker set >:)

[Magesmiley]

Originally Posted by Blue Ghost

Mage, I think that ziplock item you're wondering about is a reinforcement and expansion set. More counters and maps ... but maybe I'm not understanding your description correctly.

Still have my 1st edition CW game. And my kill sticker set >:)

We were trying to identify where the stickers came from.

The ziplock in the picture is a pre-pocket box version of the game.

[sdharing]

Originally Posted by Magesmiley

We were trying to identify where the stickers came from.

I've got an answer that wanders into mansplaining territory, because I'm not entirely sure it's at all correct. But it's the best I got.

In the early days of the company, we went to a lot of gaming and SF conventions to promote our lines. We also sold our stuff direct in the Dealer's Room, and there was almost nothing we wouldn't sell. Custom-made buttons with fantasy / sf / gaming / comics / etc. themes. T-shirts with heat transfers of our game logos, that we made right there in the booth (don't accidentally back into the heat transfer press while you're working!). And bumper stickers, which we also sold by the score.

Back then, you didn't design a sheet of stickers and tell the printer that's how you wanted it. The printer told you what size sheet he could do based on the equipment he had, and you laid out something (by hand -- no computers involved!) that fit. And we hated wasting space, so after the things we really wanted got laid out, we got creative with any extra space the printer's limitations gave us. And that's where we got those little stickers, which we tossed as freebies into many of our related products. We didn't make them for any particular reason other than there was spare room on the printer's layout sheet.

So I don't think I can tell you exactly which products which goodies got tossed into. All of them. Or none of them. Or at least some of them.

At any rate, that's the way I remember it.

[ColBosch]

That jives with what I recall of those days. I do know that every now and then such little promo items would build up, and SJ Games would sell them in such things as the "Illuminati Indoctrination Kit" (IIRC) or the like.