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Hey guys I am in process of having my 1973 f100 painted. I bought new original style tailgate from dc. My painter says trying to paint the ford letters white like it came from the factory is almost impossible. Does anyone out there have any ideas and is he right?
Thanks for your thoughts
NO he is not right, he just do not know how to cruise the Ford truck internet shopping world. He must be a chebby guy. LOL Get some quality repop FORD tailgate script stickers. Most Ford truck parts vendors have them.
I had white vinyl letters on a red insert tailgate that I applied in 1989 with a repaint. I bought then a second set in case they ever messed up (little did I know then), but in 2022 was by then the red paint was showing some age and TG had rust issues but those 1989 white vinyl letters looked great still. I put new red vinyl letters on my new FORD white tailgate (bought it in the 1990s at a dealership cleaning out old stock) in 2022. They were ordered from 1973-79 Ford Tailgate Letter Decal Set - STYLESIDE | Graphic Express Automotive Graphics
In 1989, I bought them off a rack at my local paint supply.
Very possible - you just need to have a body shop that's worth a damn and willing to go the extra mile. I have a DC tailgate on mine, and my body shop did this by hand...
... etc ... Did ford use vinyl stickers, or did they paint the letters?... etc ... .
Truthfully, I don't recall or know that I ever knew. Truck had already been repainted once when purchased in 1986 ... and pretty sure, had vinyl letters then. I used vinyl also on my '72 Chevrolet before that. I can tell you that the woodgrain siding on the station wagons was vinyl.
Ford painted the letters on all the way up into the 80's on the flare sides.
I am told they used a rubber roller like they used on the old printing presses.
I could not find a soft rubber roller only hard ones and did not think it would work right.
Then use One Shot lettering, pin stripping paint.
I went with decal letters off Ebay.
But because I planed to drive the truck in the dark and the 2 little tail lights were not enough I went with reflective letters. You can get then in any colors too just ask.
They have been on the truck for 5 years now and still look good.
Dave ----
Just mask them off and paint them, it's only takes low level restoration skills. it will take some time and he doesn't figure you want to pay $80 and hour to do it.
If you don't want stickers long term just use the stickers as the part of the masking to paint the embossed FORD lettering.
A little more precise and less time involved.
When I was a kid back in the 50s, my dad was in outdoor advertising and we painted a lot of signs and vehicles, especially our own trucks ('40 COE w/ crane and '47 F3 among them). The sign painters all preferred One Shot sign painter's paints. Those who pin stripe cars and trucks all seem to agree. These are now pretty much lost arts, especially the high end stuff like gold leaf. Yes, we did gold leaf on some cars.
Nowadays everything is done on a computer (even full sized bill boards) and printed on vinyl or similar artificial material to be stuck on or stretched over. Even this is in transition as we see more and more signage done with digitally driven LCD or OLEDs. Imagine a digital tail gate branding or a whole vehicle whose color(s) is/are selected by a touch screen near the driver.
Ford painted the letters on all the way up into the 80's on the flare sides.
I am told they used a rubber roller like they used on the old printing presses.
I could not find a soft rubber roller only hard ones and did not think it would work right.
Then use One Shot lettering, pin stripping paint.
I went with decal letters off Ebay.
But because I planed to drive the truck in the dark and the 2 little tail lights were not enough I went with reflective letters. You can get then in any colors too just ask.
They have been on the truck for 5 years now and still look good.
Dave ----
I almost bought a set in reflective red, but was hesitant to use them. I guess I chickened out?
Thanks guys for all the good infomation. I probably will go with the vinly letters.Thanks for the pictures also.
One other thing I have to decide on is the rear sliding window. Does anyone know if there are any difference between what dc offers and the one that lmc offers?
Thanks again
Old Humpy Dumpy sitting on the wall here with this one.
I'd love a nicer FORD on my tailgate just to remind the Chevys and Dodges who's leading the pack.
I've been tempt to try a super fine paint roller (sponge type) rolled lightly over the letters.
Save the patina or not.
I guess the bottom line is its my truck and if I'm willing to run those shinny chrome Dodge wheels I can mess up the raised white letters too.
I really don't want them to be "perfect". I'd just like them to look nicer than they do.
I'm going to book mark this one and check it out when the time comes.
Thank you buddyrow for the new thread topic.
edit:
that's a damn ugly tailgate following my truck everywhere it goes
I used vinyl also on my '72 Chevrolet before that. I can tell you that the woodgrain siding on the station wagons was vinyl. 
I guess I chickened out? 
