Lettering For A 1929 Ford Truck - Classic Trucks Magazine

During the final stages of my barn-find buildup I decided to have my pal SoCal pinstriper Jeff "Styles" do a bit of patina'd lettering on the doors of my '29. I chose a logo from a long defunct business in the small town I grew up in back in Oklahoma and asked him if he could apply the logo so it looked as though it was of the same age as the finish on the pickup's un-restored body, and he did so perfectly as you can see.

During the final stages of my barn-find buildup I decided to have my pal SoCal pinstriper

We've all listened to the occasional stories of lucky devils who stumble across one of those well-worn shop trucks we hear about. There's no doubt most of us wish we were the ones that'd been so fortunate as to chance upon a solid ol' Fred's Garage & Massage Parlor delivery truck in the barn out back. Unfortunately, discoveries like those are rare and only getting more so.

Enter the faux barn-find phenomenon, or purposeful patina-the art of making a silk purse into a sow's ear, so to speak. It's not everyone's taste, but a growing number of folks are working hard to make their classic pickup trucks look the part of shop vehicle with a long, hard life under its belt. It doesn't take a lot of work or tons of talent to reduce a mature paintjob to the well-worn look of your favorite pair of broken-in jeans. That said, here's a step-by-step on how to achieve that timeworn shop truck/commercial look for those who might consider building a cool classic truck with the look of an old-timer. It's a neat way to individualize your truck, and after you're done, you'll be able to spend more time driving and enjoying your old-timey faux survivor than polishing and protecting a shiny, new paintjob. Follow along while striping and lettering pro Jeff "Styles" shows us how we can go about customizing our trucks ourselves.

The pickup in question is the '29 I've often referred to in my ramblings. It's a barn fresh set of sheetmetal resting on a Bruiser chassis outfitted with a '64 Ford 289 backed by a Cruis-O-Matic and a Currie 9-inch. Since the body is in the exact condition as it was found I wanted the door lettering to have an equally weathered look as the rest of the body-and Styles assured me that it'd be a piece of cake. In fact, he said with a bit of help from any local sign shop (to make up a stencil) anyone could accomplish patina'd lettering themselves in an afternoon.

The pickup in question is the '29 I've often referred to in my ramblings. It's a barn fres
The pickup in question is the '29 I've often referred to in my ramblings. It's a barn fresh set of sheetmetal resting on a Bruiser chassis outfitted with a '64 Ford 289 backed by a Cruis-O-Matic and a Currie 9-inch. Since the body is in the exact condition as it was found I wanted the door lettering to have an equally weathered look as the rest of the body-and Styles assured me that it'd be a piece of cake. In fact, he said with a bit of help from any local sign shop (to make up a stencil) anyone could accomplish patina'd lettering themselves in an afternoon.

The pickup in question is the '29 I've often referred to in my ramblings. It's a barn fres

Next came placement. Since the logo was nearly the size of the doorskin, Styles took some measurements so the finished lettering would end up as close to centered on the panel as possible.

Next came placement. Since the logo was nearly the size of the doorskin, Styles took some
With the stencil in place he then began peeling off the backing from the self-adhesive vinyl starting at the bottom as shown here. Making sure all was level, he then cut away the lower portion of the backing so the stencil could be stuck to the panel starting from the bottom and then working upward.

With the stencil in place he then began peeling off the backing from the self-adhesive vin

Styles whipped out his striping equipment and began by showing me which of his materials he'd be using to accomplish the patina'd look I wanted. To create a patina, Styles explained that one of the newer versions of sign painting enamel would work best. By a newer version he meant a two-part urethane enamel that utilizes a hardener (catalyst) rather than an old standby like One Shot striping enamel that is an air-dry type. The catalyzed paint dries faster than standard striping enamel and is more resistant to the solvent used to weather the look of the lettering.

Styles whipped out his striping equipment and began by showing me which of his materials h
Styles had earlier shown me a fullsized design he'd come up with using my rather crude sketch. He found a font style and a crown image that fit the desired style and spent some time drawing it out on a piece of masking paper to give me an idea of what the fullsized image would look like. It was perfect, in my opinion, and from there he used his plotter to make the self-adhesive stencil you'll see momentarily (this is the part of the process that the services of a commercial sign shop will be needed. Styles said most any commercial sign shop has the equipment and can whip out a stencil like he used at an extremely affordable price).

Styles had earlier shown me a fullsized design he'd come up with using my rather crude ske
Here's the actual self-adhesive stencil Styles made using his plotter (a computer-guided machine used to cut vinyl sheeting to make decals or, in this case, stencils).

Here's the actual self-adhesive stencil Styles made using his plotter (a computer-guided m

Lettering For A 1929 Ford Truck - Cool Commercials

Faux Patina Brushwork