Designer at work: David Showalter

David Showalter sent us photos of his shop truck in SignCraft’s early days. He was a young, creative sign painter with a very cool 1950 Chevy pickup as his shop truck. We asked to see more of his work, and that led to his profile in the July/August 1985 issue of SignCraft.

Thirty-five years later, David is still a prolific sign maker, turning out signs and truck lettering for his hometown of Bryan, Ohio, and the surrounding towns. He still has it bad for classic cars and street rods, too. When SignCraft talked with him late in a spring day at the shop, David was getting ready to take his 1955 Chevy Delray Club Coupe for a drive.

I’m lucky enough to have gotten started in the business in the days of hand lettering, so I do both paint and vinyl, along with 3-D signs, vehicles and other work. I hand letter, cut-and-roll, and use vinyl. I often combine two or three of those on the same sign even. I just do whatever is most practical for the final product.