Does anyone remember these 60s-era advertising gizmos?

July 10, 2023 1:25 PM

This is a long shot, but here goes...when I was a kid (circa early to mid-1960s) I remember peering out of the car window while my parents drove and seeing these propeller-like things spinning on wires, usually around gas stations or used car lots. They were wind-powered, so I also remember seeing them spinning into a blur when the skies darkened and a huge thunderstorm was imminent. (Call me strange, but I enjoyed the weird, scary, thrill I got seeing those spinning gadgets against a darkening sky.) (More inside)

IIRC they looked similar to this, with two blades, but larger and had a large "ball" in the middle where it was slid onto the wire. I could be misremembering (maybe there were three blades?) but this gives a general vague idea of what I'm trying to describe. I'd love to find some photos online if I only knew how to Google them. Did they have a specific name?

posted by Oriole Adams to Grab Bag (7 answers total)

How large were they? Did they look like pinwheels?
posted by MadamM at 2:23 PM on July 10, 2023

Just a guess, but perhaps they were wind-powered bird deterrents? That would be consistent with your memory of seeing them near gas stations and used car lots (locations where people might want to discourage birds from defecating on parked vehicles).

For reference, here's a modern building-mounted bird deterrent; I can imagine something similar being attached to (and rotating around) a wire instead. Unfortunately I didn't have any luck finding photos of similar devices from the 1960s. Modern ones generally look more like anemometers than propellers, but it's possible the preferred design changed over the years.
posted by CahootsMalone at 2:33 PM on July 10, 2023

I have a vague memory of those. They were propeller shaped, like the propellers on a beanie hat. They were not shaped like pinwheels. My memory is that there were two sets of propellers that spun in opposite directions. I did some googling, and can't find anything more. I'll be watching this thread to see if we're both imagining it!
posted by Winnie the Proust at 3:02 PM on July 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

I recall the ends of some of those propellers being bowl-shaped, and all of them in primary colors. Here's a brief glimpse of the same thing, only different, a view of an LA car lot in Zabriskie Point (1970), just before Mark Frechette swipes the airplane.
posted by Rash at 3:51 PM on July 10, 2023 [7 favorites]

Best answer: I remember those, too. They were spinners, propellers strung on suspended line the way you'd see colorful pennants strung across a lot. I only remember two bladed versions. All in bright colors to catch the eye, much like the pennants, banners, and inflatable figures you still see at such businesses. I have no idea what they were called, and can't seem to find anything on google. I'm guessing the best chance of seeing them would be via movies of the period, like Rash's example from Zabriskie Point.
posted by 2N2222 at 4:38 PM on July 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

FWIW, I also seem to recall some much more recent advertising wind spinners that resemble pinwheels more. Actually maybe more resemble Aermotor rotors, but in bright colors. But this is indeed much more recent. The two blade spinners suspended in the air on a line I don't think I've seen since the 70s.
posted by 2N2222 at 4:52 PM on July 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Such a great childhood memory: I remember my Grandfather somehow obtaining a few strings of those spinners for my 8th birthday party. They were not at all flimsy and it took 3 men to string them up in the yard. If a kid had put his finger near one, byby finger. Some of the spinners whistled and made bird sounds.
posted by james33 at 6:25 AM on July 11, 2023 [1 favorite]