A decal is “a design prepared on special paper for transfer onto another surface such as glass, porcelain, or metal” as the New Oxford definition states. The term “decal” is an abbreviation of “decalcomania” and represents a decorative type design, according to Websticker. This term is placed in the same space with the outdoor stickers, and it can be associated with the idea of a transfer made between two mediums, sometimes with the help of water or heat. The vinyl decals are often transferred, in pieces or as a whole, from a masking sheet directly to the smooth surface on which they'll be placed.
A car decal can be used to advertise a business or for company cars or fleets. Through time, car decals were also used to make the cars look cool and interesting and to send a message (the lettering decals), on racing cars to promote the automotive parts producers, or in the tuning industry for those extreme, modified cars. There are a lot of crazy decal models from which to choose, the models made from a lot of different materials with a lot of different sizes and shapes. In the last 10 years, the decal industry has gone mad showing to the world that one can choose from a simple tiny humor decal to an entire car-wrapping decal solution. Here's a list of 21 of the weirdest car decals in the world.
21 Pepsi Truck Decal
When one sees this truck, one must think that there are floating crates all over there, but that's one incredibly real decal. It represents an interesting illusion graphic thought of by Pepsi for advertising. Everyone knows that Pepsi is a huge company that doesn't need that much advertising because there are already enough people who buy their products, but once a big company gives up the advertising strategy, it becomes a lost cause. Once a person sees that truck almost full of Pepsi bottles on a sunny hot day, he or she will immediately think of a nice cold Pepsi to cool down that heat. The truck represents the power of that company and the means of transport for the refreshing drinks. This is true advertising through visuals.
20 The Horror Snake Bus
According to Ourplnt, Bates Y&R, a Danish advertising agency, had the maddest idea to advertise the city zoo: a giant snake wrapped on a Copenhagen bus, squeezing the life out of it with a horrifying look on its face while hissing. This type of decal will surely be seen and remembered by everyone, even if it kind of terrifies through its rage.
The graphics are made so real that it really looks like the snake will turn its head and start to hiss all of a sudden.
This decal is a perfect match for a zoo, making people desire to go and see that terrible snake. It's a great opportunity to catch some visitors while making them look at it with wonder and a lot of appreciation.
19 Dreams Come True
Anyone can dream, and everyone can make the dream come true even if it's done through a decal. This Smart owner had a funny idea, and he surely is a motorcycle fan or owns one. This car is the perfect match for such a decal because of its size, and one has to admit that the idea is brilliant. This is also a great opportunity, and it could be a great idea for a motorcycle dealer to advertise the brand. The details are perfectly drawn, and one will look twice to get the whole idea. It looks so real—as if the guy really is on a motorcycle combined with a Smart top. This type of decal was created for those motorcycle fans who also own cars to be able to express their passion even further.
18 The Creative Chuck Norris Car Sticker
This is a humor car decal that can be used, as it's seen in the picture, by those people who want to make fun of their cars’ body bends until they repair them. As everyone knows, Chuck Norris is a great star of action movies and a martial-arts fighter.
His punches are known to be so hard that many decal and sticker manufacturers were inspired by them.
The final products are funny, catchy, and interesting and represent an amusing way to “hide” a minor car body bend. When one reads the decal, one will surely think of Chuck Norris kicking that car door or fender with his leg and an angry look on his face, and these are really funny. That's the whole purpose of it anyway.
17 The Aliens Are Here
Aliens are here! Watch out! That window decal can give a real shiver over the spine. That nasty-looking fellow looks like a very angry real alien that's watching the traffic that passes by. A child would be terrified of this sticker, but an adult would definitely laugh. Having in mind that aliens represent a very interesting subject nowadays and for quite a few years now, the graphic designer that thought of this was incredibly bold. The Ford Probe on which it sticks gives one the feeling that the alien came many years ago on Earth, and that it's already annoyed by the humans who are keeping him in that car. It would be interesting to mention that anyone can have an alien “inside.”
16 Star Wars Millennium Falcon and Han Solo
Star Wars will never fade in the eyes of the science fiction fans, and as long as there are Star Wars movies, there will be crazy fans. This particular fan decided that he should have Han Solo and Chewbacca along with him every day as he drives the car.
Maybe the driver was in need of some Force in the steering wheel, or maybe he thought that his Dodge Caravan could be compared to the Millennium Falcon.
However, it's an interesting decal, and the designer had a lot of imagination to do it. This decal would fit on a mother’s car for her kid to feel safe and pretend to be a Jedi in the spaceship.
15 The Scion Tank
This Scion is ready for war in its tank skin. The owner is quite fond of the army and weapons, and it can be seen on this decal. It's an interesting and weird sticker at the same time, with lots of details and colors, but those parts on the windows don't make driving easier at all. This decal would've looked better on a pickup truck or on a bigger car, but on this little Scion, it's quite funny and, of course, quite interesting. However, the owner chose an interesting way to play with the little monster, transforming it into a yellow and orange tank with big alloy rims in matching orange. However, its looks can give one the idea of a true armored vehicle prepared for battle.
14 Cut Here!
This 1970 Fiat 500 has that dotted-line decal with the scissors and the words that say “Cut here!” It's quite funny actually, having in mind that this is a little sweet car. It's an interesting perspective, and it would be great even if the car would be red, black, grey or any other color. The Fiat 500 can be modified with a lot of decal types, from stripes to dotted lines to other crazy stuff because it's a small car, and it offers the possibility to play with it. This decal wouldn't have been that interesting if it had been placed on another car. Some decals don't match certain cars, but some of them do in a perfect way, like this one over here.
13 The Cat And The Wiper
This decal is one of a kind and really cute because it represents a smiling cat with the rear window wiper as its striped tail. This unique decal would fit on a girl’s or a woman’s car. It's simple but funny, and it sends one clear message: that person loves cats and maybe even has one.
Animal lovers would like to have the graphic of a little cat or dog on their car just because they love their pets.
A person who doesn't love animals would never understand the message of this decal and, of course, wouldn't buy one. These types of small decals are funny and great simply because they represent an animal or deliver a funny message in their own way.
12 The Fiery Dragon
This decal can be compared with an airbrush drawing because it has a lot of details that seem to be made directly on the hood of the car. It represents a dragon head that spits fire through its mouth and into the air through his nostrils. On the left and on the right of the dragon head are a few thunderbolts that interact with the fire and offer an image of power and pure rage.
This decal completes the exterior kit of this BMW perfectly, embracing its front bumper and both of the front wings.
The graphics are perfectly balanced with the colors, and the dragon head was placed on a black background—like the dragon head is coming out from the engine through the hood. A weird but true piece of art.
11 The Smart With Tron Stripes
The small cars usually have a lot of interesting decals that can fit perfectly on them. This Smart is one of them. These reflective TRON stripes offer the car an interesting look when the light catches it. It seems like an electric car that comes directly from a movie and that these stripes are being fueled by the car. This decal is kind of weird, but it does offer a new image for this small vehicle. It follows the lines of the car in a funny way because if there was no light, one wouldn't understand what car it is. However, this type of decal wouldn't be a great fit on a bigger car because it really has a certain charm when it's glued to a smaller car.
10 Stick It
This is definitely a weird decal. Why would anyone stick a patch on his or her car? It seems that there are people who'd really feel the need to do that. On this white car, it looks even stranger, but maybe the owner is a nurse or a doctor and that patch represents his or her occupation. It would definitely turn heads and make people look at the car more often to figure out if there's a problem with the rear bumper or the rear right wing because of how the patch is positioned in this photo. It can surely be listed as one weird sticker with its strange meaning that cannot be understood by too many people. Think twice before patching the car with this decal.
9 Devil On The Outside
This Lamborghini beats every other Lamborghini with a decal. This weird sticker has Hell and the Devil on the hood, while the left of the car has graphics that represent the souls through a number of skulls. This horror image wants to show the power of the car and the fact that it can raise Hell when it's driven. This decal also seems to be worked on with an airbrush because it has so many details and a lot of colors.
The graphic designer had a lot of imagination and creativity to make such an interesting representation of Hell and its ruler.
It's quite a masterpiece if you think of those details because it's definitely made from a drawing. This car went to Hell and back.
8 Metal And Bolts That Represent A Printer
Epson is one of the best printers on the market, and it definitely is represented perfectly by a nice decal placed on an interesting Bugatti. This is a great type of advertising because the car is well known to be a really fast one while the metal and the bolts give it a more powerful look like it's made from pieces. However, this decal can be considered a weird one because on the left of the car, it transforms from metal to a strange carbon-like thing. On the other hand, the idea of this decal was to show the true way of this printer. The rough old-school look of the metal pieces makes the car seem old, but if one would see it on the street, one would know the “power” of Epson.
7 The Alligator Skin On The Car
This type of decal is definitely a strange one. It wouldn't be placed on any car, and it wouldn't be used by any type of person. The mirror of this car shows a snakeskin type of sticker in a silver color that shines brightly in the light.
Weird as it is, this decal was chosen by someone and placed on a sports car, judging by the type of mirror.
Some people enjoy this type of sticker and do anything to have something like this on their cars. However, the decal was placed perfectly on the car as if it came like that from the factory. Unfortunately, once placed on the car, this decal cannot be replaced easily or placed on another car.
6 The Greatest Fan Of Nicolas Cage
This Suzuki Swift is surely owned by the greatest fan of Nicolas Cage. This is most definitely weird. It would be understandable to have posters in the room or photos in albums, but a decal on the car is a little too much. He or she chose a sticker that waves, meaning that Nicolas Cage is saying “Hi” from his or her car. It can be possible that the owner of the Swift would've wanted to believe that Mr. Cage is waving to him or her every morning before going to work and every evening when he or she got home. This is kind of crazy, and this shouldn't be taken to mean that a true fan should behave like this.
5 The BMW That Went Through All The Colors
This BMW M3 GT2 Art Car was made by Jeff Koons as his 17th masterpiece for the BMW Art Car collection, according to Jalopnik. This specific car wears the “79” decal as a tribute to Andy Warhol’s 1979 car, a BMW M1 that participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979. The beautifully colored and striped M3 GT2 was on display at the Art Basel’s Collectors Lounge placed in the Convention Center. It seems that BMW is an official supporter of a lot of art shows. Those stripes make it look like the car has been through a wind tunnel with all the colors in the lines floating in the air and coming together at the back of the car to form some interesting figures. It's really interesting, actually.
4 The Co-Pilot Who Sits By The Rear Window
This is another case of a huge fan of an actor, a fan who wants to have his or her idol's favorite face on the rear window of his or her car. Bill Murray has starred in Ghostbusters and a lot of other well-known movies through time.
It seems that this car owner really wants to remember Bill Murray’s face each and every day he or she drives away with the car.
More or less, he or she would like to have Mr. Murray as a co-pilot in the car. It's understandable to like an actor or a musician very much, but keeping a decal with him or her on the car isn't such a good idea. People shouldn't go too far with these fan obsessions because it doesn't look good on the exterior.
3 Graffiti Is Fun
As a graffiti artist, one would love to tag the car or the walls in his or her home. This car owner wanted to have a complete collection of types of tags and graffiti styles on the hood of his or her car. Remember that graffiti is an art, too and all those drawings represent something, even if not all of them can be understood by everyone. This type of decal seems rather nice but also a little weird because this isn't a serious car anymore. At the age of 50, for example, one couldn't drive such a car and still be taken seriously. Those stickers apply mostly to young people who don't keep a car for too many years and who understand graffiti art.
2 The Furry Chrysler
What did this person have in mind? To protect the car from being cold or to protect the paint in case of a car accident? This furry Chrysler can be named one of the weirdest types of car decals that have ever existed. It's definitely a strange thing to do to a car. One would like to see how it looks when it rains outside or when the wind is blowing. Maybe the owner likes bears too much, or maybe he or she doesn't have a pet at home and would like to pet the car instead. Maybe it looks like this because of the color, or maybe the owner wanted a fluffy car. However, this is just too much to do to a car.