Curious Consistency Seen Among Cars Who Bear 'Johnson' Bumper Stickers

If the bumper brigade in Harvard Square is any indication of the coming election returns (which it undoubtedly is not), then Lyndon Johnson should get 79 per cent of the vote. In two days of diligent car inspecting, 38 Johnson stickers and 10 Goldwater stickers were seen.

And apparently people with similar tastes in Presidential candidates also have similar tastes in motor vehicles. Four-fifths of the cars with Johnson bumper stickers were of a shiny, primary red, white or blue, with powder blue also very popular.

Although there were so few pro-Goldwater cars that it is hard to analyze their colors, it was nevertheless obvious that they were quite different from their Democratic counterparts. Black, or a combination of black and red, navy blue, and light green paint decorated eight of the ten cars; the other two were beige and grey.

Individualistic

The vast majority of Johnson cars were either Fords or Volkswagens. And if Chevys and Volvos are added, a full 80 per cent are accounted for. All the cars were noted for simplicity of design; there were virtually no convertibles or hardtops, and only one two-toned.

The BMG supporters, however, did not favor any one particular make so much as they favored individuality in their cars. Seven different makes were represented among ten cars; a sleek Mercedes Benz sporting Dartmouth and Wellesley decals, a black Corvair with two red stripes, a Volkswagen bus from South Carolina decked out like a traveling hotel with curtains and bar, a Nissen De Luxe buried in Goldwater and Ted Kennedy stickers.

Two steel colored Volkswagens from Massachusetts bore just one Goldwater tag. But the rest each had about six stickers pasted around the car, the "Au H2O in '64" sometimes repeated several times. Many Goldwater stickers showed signs of having been ripped off, which none of the Johnson bumper stickers did.

But it is a safe bet that the LBJ bumper sticker people are not among the Extremists for Johnson who scratch at other people's cars. Their stickers are solitary, scrupulously neat, and say something restrained, such as "All the Way it LBJ" or "Scientists and Engineers for Johnson and Humphrey." Only two cars of the 38 bore tags revealing their other affiliations; only one mentioned any political candidate besides the big boy. Only two cars sported anything daring as "Stop Barry, The Life You Save May Be Your Own." The LBJ bumper tag army is specially socially in their electioneering an in their cars, pure and abstract, and will brook no diversionary nonsense.

All the Goldwater cars that were spotted were parked.