The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Repainting "chevrolet" in two places

Two areas on my truck has "chevrolet" painted which I need to address and wonder who has some insight/suggestions. One spot in the metal strip above the speaker grill which has chevrolet recessed.

The other is the infamous tailgate which has raised letters. Can I assume that on the gate, they just carefully masked all around the raised letters and then shot it with a contrast color ?

Jeesh....no replys!
Freehand that tailgate!! :p

This might be the start of an interesting discussion.
Tom Brownell in his book, "How To Restore Your Chevrolet Pickup" states that "Tailgate lettering 1955 and earlier was painted the same color as the tailgate, not contrasting".

Jim Carter's catalog makes the same statement: http://www.oldchevytrucks.biz/p/1947_1955/fullpage.php?page=022&session=1029501

This is not to say that contrasting lettering does not look nice. My non-original turquoise '54 pickup came to me with white tailgate lettering and it looks like belongs there.

Tim

For both places I used the vinyl letters available from several vendors. They go on easy and have stuck for two years.

I wonder if you paint the contrasting color really heavy on the tailgate lettering (don't mask it off). Then paint the whole tailgate the desired color of the truck. After that carefully wet sand the letters down to the contrasting color. Then shoot clear over the whole thing. Would that work?

I was faced with the same dilemma on my '54 grille, and I ended up painting the "Chevrolet" with a contrasting color -- I used "Thistle gray" for the lettering and grille backround color and "Mariner Blue" for the main color, as original, and it looks great - I'd post a picture, but not sure how to do it. To mask off the area, I bought the decal set, threw away the actual letters and used the remaining die cut "backround" part, which you would normally throw out, as the mask and then lightly sprayed in the letters. I plan on doing the same in the cab and on the tail gate when the time comes.

I would suggest getting the decals but use them to mask off the area instead of using as decals since they have the right shape.

Mainer54,

Where did you find a decal set for the '54 dash "CHEVROLET"? Is that what you plan to use for a template for the dash lettering?

Thanks, Tim

My non-original 54 has a goldish-colored trim (including the tailgate letters) that I'm going to change to the same color as the truck, but darker :
[img]http://AlanHorvath.com/54chevy/chevypics/exhaust_1.jpg[/img]
The guy who's gonna paint it says he'll tape (mask) it off.

I have the "Chevrolet" embossed on my dash, too, but it's the same color as the dash.

Tim,
I haven't gotten to the interior yet and looked for the dash decals, so I don't know if they exist.

on my 49, on the dash, i painted the whole thing black, and then rubbed off the paint with steel wool (leaving all of the reccesed letters black) it worked very nice, and was easy to do.

Brian K

you could also buff off the paint (maby)

Tim and Mainer54,
Jim carter's catalog (page 16) has decal set for dash grill above speaker hole called "dash block letters".

Horvath,
Though not stock, nice color combo.

cmayna,

Jim Carter's on-line catalog does not show dash letters for '54'/55. My old hardcopy catalog does not show them either. I do not have a new catalog, so I will call them.

http://www.oldchevytrucks.biz/p/1947_1955/fullpage.php?page=021&session=1030553

Thanks,
Tim

Tim,
Sorry I didn't look more closely. I stupidly assumed the catalog contained 54-55 also. Hopefully they can help.

Regards
Craig

If ya want to paint the tailgage letters a contrasting color the best thing to do is buy the decal kit & remove the letters [ & hang um in the garage ] & use whats left as a template for paint. It works great.