2 tone looks good

 

Blue an gray
My horse is of the same color. Just a year older and not nearly as straight. I'd love to restore mine to the blue and gray but my father-in-law is my paint and body man and he has some matte black left over that will be free to me.

I heart free!!!

 

I'll be that guy and go against the grain here and say do it all black if you want to save some money and if its not a bad paint job it wont look bad. That might allow you to fix something else up on the truck but id agree there is something about that classic two tone paint. That's not much help im sure but something to consider

 

Thanks for the advice all. I will admit I like the two tone on the brick nose trucks. Their body style just lends something to the idea of two colors to me. I think the reason I am waffling so much is the pin stripe. I just worry that there won't be something that really goes with this combo for them to use. For those of you that have any paint/body experience, is that something paint shops keep on hand or do they order for each job? I'd like to look at some of them before they go on the truck.

 

I went through this decision recently and ended up going solid, but here's my reasoning. I am not a huge fan of how the long wheel based trucks look. The 2-tone paint scheme tends to elongate it even more. I really wanted the 2-tone, but I also wanted a short wheel based model. The lwb was just more practical for me. I also did single stage paint so it would be easier and cheaper to repair, since I use my truck like a truck. Oh, and I blacked out the front bumper/grill area and left the side molding off. I also replaced the factory style 4x4 decals.

 

I am biased on keeping it two tone

 

Most paint shopskeep a limited amount of pinstripes on hand but they can order 1000s of different stripes from their supplies for the next day.

They typically have pinstripe charts on hand to help pick sizes and colors.

I repainted a an 87 dually 2 tone back in 01? Dark blue and light blue. I just went to the local paint supply and picked up some 3m stops that matched the factory stipe as close as possible. NO One ever noticed the slight color variation from stock. After all, it is not like there was any stock stipe left on the truck to compare to.

Something else to consider. A sign shop. When i repainted my 97 I want the Exact factory stipe. Unfortunately they have been long obsoleted, what wa left would be almost 20 years old and no good anyway and the 3m stripes were not in the sizes i was looking for.

SO I went to my local sign shop. He cut me vinyl the exact demotions of the original.(15/16 base white with a 1/4, 3/16 and 1/8 silver on top)
I laid dow the white 1st then laid down the silver over top with the transfer paper

I get asked all the time where I was able to find the factory stipe. Body guys are even amazed how it looks factory


Some of the factory stripe

 

That's a great idea. I do vinyl graphics and never thought about using my cutter to make custom pinstriping. Did he provide you with individual silver stripes to apply, or did he have the silver stripes spaced out on the transfer film so you just had one application of the silver to do?

 

@ Broncojunkie & rla2005 - seeing those two pics back to back really makes it a tough call! They both look great. Though I will say I think the extended cab looks better now than it would in a solid color now that I see two examples side by side. I think solid is definitely easier to pull off with a regular cab.

@ Diesel_Brad - how is the vinyl holding up? Does it seem to stick just as well? I'm assuming its lettering grade vinyl at the least anyway, is that correct? I have gone to the autoparts store just to see what they offer, but it has been a limited selection of colors and all have been much thinner than what's on the truck now (it's about an inch wide possibly) and I've been worried it needs to be just a thick as I don't think the thinner ones will look right.

 

Off Topic...

A lot depends on the type of vinyl used. Calendar vinyl (nothing to do with paper with dates on it) is made by compressing raw vinyl material into thin flat sheets. It wants to return to its original shape over time. Eventually, calendar vinyl will crack and the edges will start to peel away. Cast vinyl is as its name implies, it is cast as a thin flat sheet out of liquid vinyl. Cast vinyl will retain its shape indefinitely and will last many times longer than calendar vinyl. Cast vinyl is more expensive.

I use Oracal vinyl. They guarantee their low end product for 4 years, while their premium cast vinyls are guaranteed for up to 10 years. Obviously like any manufacturer's product guarantee, in actual use the product usually lasts a lot longer.

In general, you get what you pay for. If you buy cheap rolls of pinstripe from the local discount auto parts store it probably won't last very long. If you buy quality material from a supplier to professionals it will last a good long time. No matter what you buy, prep is everything. You want to make sure that the surface is completely cleaned of any foreign material or grease. You also need to wait at least a week or two before any aggressive washing or waxing.

 

Excellent information Island Time, it is much appreciated. I wasn't sure what it was called, but I'm assuming most places that do decal work are using the cast vinyl which is what I meant by "lettering grade". LOL I am also going out on a limb here and asking that if I were to ask one of those places, they could probably get it or point to a distributor correct?

 

He cut and weeded out the waste leaving me the exact spacing on the transfer paper. He used "high performance" vinyl . The thinner the better I was told.

it is holding up just fine. The best part.... Enough stripe to do the top and bottom was $100. Factory stuff was $300

 

Whether they use calendared or cast depends on the shop and the application. If it's a good shop and you explain that it's for outdoors they _should_ suggest that you spend the extra for cast. Most of my work is marine and I won't even offer calendared for that. But for interior signs, or short term exposure signs, calendared can save the customer money.

Sounds like you found the right guy.

 

So what did you ever decide to do with the paint. Solid or Combo?
Keep us informed as we don't have anything else we want to do.

 

Nothing says 80's-90's ford truck like a nice two tone paint job!!