The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Door decoration on a chevy 3100

I've seen a lot of cool door decorations on some chevy 3100. Are there pictures that are painted on or is it vinyl stickers that you can buy from a dealer. I live in Norway and have a 1951 chevy 3100 that I want some cool door decoration on.

Glad to have you aboard, great bunch of guys here, you'll
never have to worry about getting burnt on this forum, just
all the help you need.

Don't know of any pre-programmed door art Roger, but one of
our old Bolter's who isn't with us any more started an archive
just for that purpose. His album is still up for the public
to view:
http://www.pbase.com/czechman/door_art

Should give you some ideas of what the USA sign painters from
yesterday left for us.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL USA

Hand painted would be very nice. Vinyl or polyester stick on is available at many places. Send them the art work or have them design from a sketch or picture. Google is full of info. Should be sign shops/artists in Norway? You can go with magnetic if you wish. An artist can make it look old with patina.

For me, hand painted is the way to go. That's how they were done back then. Ask around, I was able to locate an old timer who lettered my truck, even mixed his own paint on site. I have used vinyl lettering on my last 3 or 4 work vans, they will soon look raggedy.

Firstly welcome Roger.

Scandanavia in general has a very healthy Rod and Custom scene,i'm pretty sure if you check through some publications local to you,you may well find a signwriter/pinstriper near you.

I have to agree with getting it painted rather than vynils,it just seems more appropriate for such an old truck.

A quick look on the internet and I found this i'm not sure exactly where he is in Norway in relation to you but he might be able to help.
There's even a Chevy truck in his portfolio.
Good luck.

Had an uncle who, along with his dad and brothers, were sign
painters. They're all gone now but when I was a kid any we
used to go visit I used to love to wonder into the old barn
where they worked and look at their latest project. They were
artists in their own way and to this day I still wish I could
paint like that. A lot of the pin strippers still paint lettering also.
Agree with ya on the vinyl Leo, I always thought it looked
cheesy. Just doesn't have the same permanent feel that real
paint does, which develops a patina over time rather than
looking 'raggedy'.
I'd like to think that's patina that I'm seeing in the mirror
as I age, but most people that meet me classify it as just
plain ragged.

Oh, and for those that remember, I didn't mean Woody has left
this world, I meant that he's left the fold. Don't know how
he's doin', like Fred, he just kind of disappeared into the
mist and doesn't answer to any pm's or emails.
Denny G

There's a young lad near me continuing the tradition Denny,he's just turned 16 and pinstriping/sign writing like a Pro already!

I'm planning on letting him loose on the truck when I get it's bodywork in a fit state to accept such artwork ....

"Oh, and for those that remember, I didn't mean Woody has left
this world, I meant that he's left the fold. Don't know how
he's doin', like Fred, he just kind of disappeared into the
mist and doesn't answer to any pm's or emails." I was gonna PM you about that Denny. I really enjoyed Woody. I hope he is OK
Dan

What I do is not as classy and realistic as painting a sign on the door. I have two 12"x24" magnetic sheets with different "logos" (@$18, delivered).

logo 1 - for a business (my painter's family business)

logo 1 - describing the "personality" of my COE

This allows me to change/remove (or obtain different) signs any time.

If I had a business, or if I was trying to match an original sign, I'd get the period-correct-looking sign painted on.

Put him on the next Ferry Cross the Fjord to Rogers place John,
bet he'd enjoy a weekend trip to Norway and a chance to put a
few quid in his pocket.

dg

Thanks for all your good advice .. I agree with you all that hand painted will be the only correct think to do so I will check out if there are someone in the amcar scene in Norway who knows someone who can do such kind of art.

Here are some pictures if any of you were wondering how it looks.

http://s1302.photobucket.com/user/christopher115/library/?view=recent&page=1

Do any of you now what looks good on yellow ?

Mine were hand-painted based on a ball cap bearing my dad's old shop logo. Painted just looks better to me, but either can be done. Either way it will be custom most likely, not off the shelf.

Thanks for the pix, that is a super nice looking truck, is it
Roger or Chris? Did you restore it or buy it that way, it's
a beautiful job anyway you got it.

A turquoise letter with a mustard shading would blend with
that strong yellow nicely. But any of the primary colors,
red, green, black would really stand out nice on that light
background. That's the perfect color for a nice hand painted
sign.

Colin, how did you get the lettering to match the patina so
well, looks as windblown as the truck does.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Glad you cleared that up Denny. I was starting to think I had missed something.

Norway isn't actually that far away from us.

I'm sure he'd relish the challenge Denny but he's a good lad i.e. he's concentrating in his schoolwork at the moment,the pinstriping is merely a hobby/sideline for the time being.

"A few quid" Surely that should be Kroner?

Christopher is my son He was the one who found the truck and convinced me to buy the truck. And thanks for the advice.

Thought we'ed save him the trouble of exchange John.

Let us know how the art work turns out Roger, like to add it to
our file. I started a door art folder the same time Woody did,
in fact we discussed it in a thread here on the 'Bolt. Woody
was much more organized than I am so his turned out for the best.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Not to get off topic, but I think Woody "Czechman" had to sell his truck all of a sudden and never came back. I used his door art for ideas.

I wet-sanded it starting at 400 and working up to 800.

I made sure to do it in the right direction so it looked as natural as possible.

Well it sure does look original.

Leo, I talked a lot with Woody toward the end. He hurt his
back pretty bad and it didn't look like he was gonna get
much better, at least good enough to finish up the work on
the truck. I tried talking him into waiting to see if he
didn't get to feeling better then try to finish up the truck.
I'm just guessing but with all the work he put in on it, he
might have been burned out on it also. What ever the reason
he decided to bail out of the project and find a buyer,
without the Stovebolt project to talk about I guess he
just decided to move on.
He was one of the good guys and I enjoyed swapping ideas with
him. He told me once that he had worked at one time building
prototypes for the GM concept cars. If I remember correctly
he said he did the fabrication and then it went to the finish
shop for the detailing.
He must still be around cuz he's left the Door Art folder up
on his pBase album. That's not a free album and I think he
uses it for his photo work. Don't know if he ever looks in
on the bunch here or not. I hope if he decides to close the
photo album he leaves the Door Art to one of us to host.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I cheated on my "hand painted " door art. I took my company logo to a vinyl sign place, had them do a reverse stencil. I stuck it on my door and simply painted the letters in, using one shot lettering enamel. Removed the vynil and Trimmed it out a little and it looks great. Hand lettered.

That's not cheating Phil, that's using our head. And it is truly
'hand painted' just vinyl guided.
I used the same to do the Thrift Master logo on the VC:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/120528647

Lets see a picture of how it turned out.
dg