Does anyone have any info on how the tailgate F O R D block lettering was factory painted? by hand? stencil? Thanks

 

You mean on the tailgate? That is a good question. That was a question here many many years ago. I don't think we got a definitive answer then. Maybe someone knows now.

 

I've seen people lay a sharpie on it's side and go around the letter at the edge to give a paint line. Then come back with brush and fill in. Gives a pretty straight edge. I have done it on license plates

 

I would think in a production situation it would be rolled on. Imagine a roller similar to a mimeograph drum.

 

That is what we came up with years ago. A hard roller without any nap to it like a house paint roller.

 

Concur with the hard rubber roller. This is the sort of roller that would be used to apply ink to a sheet of type set in a printing press or to a wood cut to make a print.

 

I wonder if they had a man or a machine so it?

And some tailgates got white paint on the letters and some got black.

 

More than likely a drum attached to a jig maneuvered by hand over the tailgate and manually rolled back and forth.

 

I use a paint pen that I pick up at my local ACE HARDWARE. It has an internal stirring ball, and a felt tip that you depress to release more paint. This is obviously not how it was done in 54.

 

Well done, Jim!

 

I masked my 64 tailgate and my painter wants to mask the script on my 49 says may take an hour or two


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Thanks everyone - I will give it a careful approach. My tailgate is black with white Ford lettering.

 

TO paint the FORD letters on my 70 F-350 flatbed I took a foam brush and cut it to the width of the letters and used that to apply the paint. It looked OK. It might be harder with a cursive script but I think that is easier then taping it off. When I got my 54 painted 17 years ago the body guy painted the letters, then taped them off then painted teh tail gate.

 

This time when I painted my 54 I bought the stick on letters and they look good.

 

Yes the script is going to need a sharp knife or razor very small areas to cover