RIP: a little slice of signage history

With Sunday's opening of the Southbound lanes of the Inner City Bypass, the changing of the traffic flow on Vivian street, and the mass confusion this seems to have reigned on the motorists of Wellington, a wee slice of Wellington's signage history has been quietly lost.

I was a great fan of the giant faded Champion Sparkplug sign, and the wonderful associations with a bygone era of motoring. It reminded me of a summer spent restoring an old Peugeot 404 with my father, a pile of beautifully illustrated 1950's Life magazines I got from one of the now extinct second-hand book warrens on Cuba Street when I first moved to Wellington, and endless runs to Midnight Espresso to drink black coffee and debate art at some late hour when we should have been asleep.
And what pinnacle of the advertising world have we gained in its place?
A billboard advertising billboards.
I don't think we're in Auckland anymore, Toto.