I think Mark Peters is still slinging a brush,,I think he is in Charlotte N.C. Robert Madden is a great stripper in Columbia,S.C. HRP
These are the main reasons I see. Yes nothing can take the place of an good hand job. But if you don't like it, you change your mind or you go to sell it there is only 1 real way to remove it and that requires a new paint job. So I say it has its good points and its bad. But if you are doing a quality restoration or re-creation, you need to have them painted on. This is just a ****ed-up statement and really wasn't worth my time commenting.
The first photo in this thread was !00% brush painted,(even the decals) with one shot. The new owner chose to remove some of the artwork for his own... and used Easy-off oven cleaner. Worked fine. Haven't seen it in a while, but it did surface as a prop in one of the Ultimate Nascar shows, as one of Bill Frances early cars. None the worse for wear, and still hand lettered.
But you commented. So you're saying that its cheap to letter a car? The way I see it, a lot of pinstripers and artists that used to do cars for a reasonable amount have learned that customs and hot rods that rhyme with "splat rods" will pay through the nose to have their stuff look "cool". Now the bar has been raised and everyone has to pay to play. Its more expensive for hand paint than vinyl. Hence the proliferation of vinyl. Period. I never said it wasn't an artform or something that isn't worth paying a lot to have done. It just like everything else...you get what you pay for. But to refresh, the question was "why do people ruin a nice car with vinyl lettering". There's my answer. Sorry you don't like it.
I think its safe to say generous offers by talented folks like that are few & far between in this current climate.
NO, I didn't say that it was "cheap". I said that your statement of "4 million dollars to letter a car" was ****ed-up. I was unaware that my statement was difficult to understand.
Rex_a_Lott and HOTRODPRIMER: Thanks a bunch for the referrals. I think I may have found Mark Peters and am waiting to hear back. Thanks: Paul
The guy that did my race cars in the 1980's used a combo vinyl AND hand paint to give the stick -on stuff more depth.....
The lettering on my Zipper (Avatar) was done by Jake out of Texas about 12 years ago. I asked him leave the brush strokes in the door number just like the old days. Still get compliments on the lettering. FYI, the lettering cost about five times what vinyl would have cost.
I think in a lot of cases it just comes down to.. "just because you can afford nice things, doesn't mean you can buy taste"... They just can't see it.. It sez all the same things as it did back in the day, so it must be correct... Here in LA, it's like the guys who rip down beautiful historic homes and build a McMansion's and call it restored with a few updates... I hang out with a few of my buddies vintage road racing and they have some "really" nice stuff.. One guy has multiple early 70's Gurney Eagles to name a few.. he thinks nothing of putting a 20k in a motor or $2500 every time he takes her out for tires, not to mention fuel and track fees.. but won't put a dime into the cars looks.. to him it looks great!.. sad yellow paint and a couple of bad black vinyl graphics advertising his business.. He loves the attention the car gets, but just can't see what it could be or the huge increase in value if nothing else... Actually 80 or 90% of vintage road race cars look like they escaped from a late 80's dirt track in fresno... Sorry to all I offend.. well kind of... ha
I suspect this get's him some kind of a break on his taxes by claiming the car as a business deduction. When he gets tired of it, just peel off the vinyl and have it painted and hand lettered like it should be.
there is still a sign guy in every town... sometimes more than one. ask around at the car shows and rod shops..... truth is many people don't know the difference and don't give a damn $10,000 to $150,000 restored car, boat whatever... then cheap out on the lettering... computers just made that easier... before that they hired joe wino. I stay busy with all the boats cars bikes etc. I just have to drive a little further to get to them. send me a PM and I can find you someone near by to do the work. - GEET
Too bad we cant get a comment from Ken Howard....(von Dutch) I can see him now,toting his vinyl sign maker around with him
I don't think vinyl is all bad... My grandma used to own an office supply store and did banners and magnetic signs in vinyl. I messed around with it a little bit when I was a kid (like 10 or 11) and made a couple stickers and even got to do a couple jobs for customers with it. I guess I could say that making vinyl signs like that is part of what inspired me to get into pinstriping and lettering. Theres a dude down the street from my dads house that does really good hand lettering, but when he's doing high-volume stuff like log trucks and what not he'll use vinyl for the fill-color and then outline everying and do the smaller letters by hand. Doing it that way makes sence to me, and I would still consider it "hand done"...
I have a friend that owns a sign buisness and does vinyl, so I get it for free. I just use them as stencils. Viva la old skool!!!
I'm still a one man shop behind my house...41 years this March.....Most all my work is done on a Gerber Edge,.............BUT, I wish they'd all blow up and it would go back to Hand Lettering.....I wouldn't have 500 people that do it on the side cutting the price and not being around when the cheap stuff wrinkles up and falls off........I did a G***er style Vette couple weeks ago and do Pinstripes by appointment only....did a '39 Chevy today and got a Bike tomorrow.......I like the Hand Lettering and Pinstriping myself.....Us old timers used to say..."he's got a Hand".....There's people that do Pinstriping and then there are people that ARE PINSTRIPERS.....there is a difference!....Not many of us around anymore......Still stripe out of my '29 Model A......some of the younger ones ask me if I bought it new.......these youngsters need to have ther **** kicked and pants pulled up more often..hehehe.........It's all just a living...none of are taking anything with us. Here's the one I did today.....
Its sad, but people dont want hand lettering any more, or steam powered cars, or stone axes. I do some hand lettering, but only where vinyl cant be used.
About 5 months ago, I used some on my cowl. It looked great. You couldn't tell unless you got right up on it. But I change my mind alot and took it off. So, if it had been real that would have been a big waste of money.
You guys that do murals and airbrush amaze me......I stick with regular Hand Lettering and Pinstriping......I've done some airbrush work on large signs inside the lettering, but not like you guys do..................AMAZING....."What a Talent"
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