What do these bumper sticker numbers mean?

April 7, 2012 4:23 PM

I saw the following on a seemingly homemade bumper sticker on a car: "5.3 25.3 12.0". Amy thoughts on what it might mean? If it matters, this is in Bloomington, Indiana.
posted by ErWenn to Grab Bag (13 answers total)

Anything stand out about the car?
posted by Blasdelb at 4:29 PM on April 7, 2012

Was it only one bumper sticker? I was going to suggest that it might be dates of death for family members, but obviously some of the numbers don't work. I have seen a number of homemade bumper stickers that commemorate important family dates, especially deaths of children and such.
posted by kingfishers catch fire at 4:30 PM on April 7, 2012

What sort of car was it? Something that had been tuned? I could see that being a 0-60mph time, (something else - 0-120mph?) and then a 1/4 mile time?

We really need more context of the car and its likely use.
posted by Brockles at 4:35 PM on April 7, 2012

Kobe Bryant's career stats as of last year (I think)? 25.3 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game, 12.0 all star appearances?

Being Indiana, it's probably not Kobe, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone's high school stats or something.
posted by acidic at 4:39 PM on April 7, 2012

It's the distance of some triathalon that the car owner competed in. You see then also dor marathons (26.2) and half marathons (13.1)
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 4:40 PM on April 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Just checked triathlon variants and those numbers don't seem to correspond to any of them. Because that was my first thought as well.
posted by sciencegeek at 4:41 PM on April 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I thought it could be race distances of some kind as well. Maybe heights of mountains climbed?
posted by Wulfhere at 4:43 PM on April 7, 2012

Best answer: Never mind the basketball thing-- I think it has something to do with the Upland Brewing Company which is located in Bloomington, Indiana! Those numbers refer to the alcohol by volume, bitterness, and gravity of a particular beer, Schwarz Black Lager.
posted by acidic at 4:51 PM on April 7, 2012 [20 favorites]

Response by poster: It was a Kia Rio, so not likely to be a custom job. (I used to have one myself. It's got a fantastic turning radius, but that's about the only good thing I could say about it.)

We did look around like creepy stalkers, and so I can add the following information: the car had an Indiana license plate and no other bumper stickers, and given the nature of the junk lying in view on the seats and floor, --

Wait a second, there's a new comment to be read...

HOLY CRAP! The car was in the parking lot of the Upland Brewing Company!

Well done acidic! Thanks so much!
posted by ErWenn at 4:54 PM on April 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: How did you figure that out, acidic?
posted by ErWenn at 4:57 PM on April 7, 2012

I googled 5.3 25.3 12.0 Indiana.
posted by acidic at 5:02 PM on April 7, 2012 [63 favorites]

Response by poster: Seriously? Man. I tried Googling those numbers, but I really didn't expect anything to come up, so I didn't think of adding "Indiana". Still, well done.
posted by ErWenn at 5:25 AM on April 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

Looks like 3D Cartesian coordinates to me, but I doubt that's what they meant.
posted by fullerenedream at 12:55 PM on April 8, 2012