Ford Tailgate Lettering

[JMUBullnose]

Does anyone happen to have some of the Ford Tailgate letters for the '84 trucks? I know I can just order a set for ~$26 but my wife has a vinyl cutter and I want to actually do it myself with Oracal 651 vinyl.

I was hoping to find accurate (standardized) dimensions for the letters that won't potentially be wonky from my measuring on my own tailgate.  I suppose I could also just buy one of the NOS kits...but that kind of defeats the purpose of using what I have on hand!

And if folks are interested in it - I'm happy to supply lettering at cost once I have a good pattern.

[Rembrant]

Your truck is a Styleside long or shortbox, correct?

I have an '84, but it's a Flareside. I will need tailgate letters at some point, but I'm not sure how long off that is yet.

[JMUBullnose]

Yeah - mine is Styleside - but if I get patterns I can make 'em for anything in any color that Oracal makes.

[Gary Lewis]

I don't have any and don't need them because I have the trim panels for my trucks.  But, I love the idea of having someone on here that can provide them in any color the vinyl comes in, which should cover most of the colors the trucks came in since the letters won't be directly against the other truck color.  

[JMUBullnose]

To that effect - I can do pretty much any cut out type of decal you can think of as well. I plan on doing a larger Ford Oval just to put on my tool box (But I may have to wait a bit on that - my wife is getting mad that I'm the one using her new 'toy' all the time!)

[1986F150Six]

Gary, that is how your Garagemahal sign was made.

[Gary Lewis]

Makes sense, David.  And, by the way, I LOVE IT!

[JMUBullnose]

Oooh - got a photo for the new comer?

[Gary Lewis]

Here's the best I can do w/o taking it down.  But I think it shows it well.  




And, here's where it is within the context of the others - top dog!  Thanks again, David.  

[JMUBullnose]

Ooooh - that's nice!  Thanks for sharing!

[PetesPonies]

I always paint them.

[FuzzFace2]

PetesPonies wrote

I always paint them.

And that is how the factory did it. That is if it did not have the panel across the tail gate of the style sides.
Also if you look at factory painted letters you will see they don't have shape edges from tape.

I have not done this yet but what I found for painting letters, the factory roll painted on the letters.

A soft rubber roller, think I seen 4" wide, that they used in block printing is used.
For paint they used 1 shot pin striping paint. They put some on paper to pull out some of the liquid.
They then roll the roller thru to get paint on it then do a letter, get more paint on roller and next letter, etc.

They say to practice on the gate before you get paint on the gate so you have a clue how it works.
So if you feel artistic and want factory painted letters you now know how.
Dave ----

[Gary Lewis]

I like that approach, Dave.  I'm hoping you'll document it when you do it so others can learn the technique.

[FuzzFace2]

Gary Lewis wrote

I like that approach, Dave.  I'm hoping you'll document it when you do it so others can learn the technique.

I will, need to finish prepping the tail gate and get it in primer before I give this a try.
 
The 1 art supply store I hit did not have the right size roller, to skinny for my liking.
Will have the wife get one thru Amazon the next time she orders something.

The One Shot paint they say you can get thru Eastwood but will try my local auto paint supplier first when the time comes.
Dave ----

[Gary Lewis]

Sounds like a plan.  We'll figure out a good place to put your how-to.