[FunctionalShaker]

Good information for those of us hanging onto NOS decal sets.

[Formulabruce]

Originally Posted by FunctionalShaker

Good information for those of us hanging onto NOS decal sets.

I would get them out of the original box, slowly "uncurl" and lay them flat with books. The original box isnt big and they were quite tightly "wound" up inside.. my 2 cents.

[165th]

Stripes production update for November:

First, thanks for everyone's patience on this project. I never would have thought it would take this long. I've had a lot of irons in the fire, so pushing this along has been on me.

The good news is (for some of us ) I am committed to having the White stripes available by Christmas so they can be put under the tree!

Current status:
A. The artwork for the hood stripe is complete. It's an absolute match to NOS. Just to be sure, I'm having a second NOS stripe brought in just to compare since the shaker end has the large opening and possibly the propensity to stretch/move/shrink.

B. White color: I re-read this thread and found the following input on suggested white color:
- Polar white: 4
- Cameo white: 2 (The second vote was mine )

I am just a little worried that the standard white ink is a little bright, so in true, over-thinking it fashion, I am having a custom ink made in Cameo White. The next proof set that will include the hood stripe will be done in Cameo so a comparison can be made.

I'll add pictures here. I'm also sending the final proof set (together with the early proof in Polar white) to a member on these forums who is knowledgeable on stripes. He can provide an opinion on color and quality, as his endorsement of this product will be a prerequisite to selling them.

Timeframe:
Ink: w/o Nov.7
Proof: w/o Nov. 14
Inspection: w/o Nov. 21
Production: w/o Nov. 28

C. Bird and Trans AM and 455 H.O.:
The artwork for these will be much easier and should be able to fall in the timeframe listed above for the stripes.

D. Blue stripes: Gradient pattern art will follow the items above and we can drill down with proofs and color in January. While the white color variation between Polar and Cameo is slight, the blue variation between NOS blue/aqua stripe color and Lucerne blue is stark.

What color did the current repro stripe use? If anyone has a repro blue trunk or spoiler stripe they would like to put on loan to further this effort, I would appreciate it.

E. Price: As soon as the artwork is finished, I'll have pricing available early December.

Thank you again for everyone's input and encouragement. It's with your help these will be perfect for our hobby.

[Formulabruce]

Lets hope Norwood likes em!!

Thanks for all your hard work, IM sure it will be appreciated by many

[Norwood]

When I like them EVERYONE who owns a 70-72 will know it as will as the whole Pontiac onlin community. PG will also know it and I am sure that some board administrators where PG is a sponsor will not like me. I'm ready to have some fun...

[carbuff]

Interested in a white set for my blue T/A clone project. I'm not too far away in Austin as well. Thanx for all of the effort on these!

[se428bandit]

When they are ready to sell let me know,i need the stripe only. I have a set that i bought from S&S and they went on not so pretty. I'm not going to blame anyone, i just want to have these taken off and a new set installed.

[carbuff]

Just curious if there is any update on the latest proof set? I'm specifically interested with respect to the color choice. I'm going to have to choose a color for my hood scoop in the next few days, as it's at the shop ready for some other paintwork, so I'm hoping to at least know if you're headed towards Cameo or Polar white?

Thanx!

[165th]

Hi Carbuff, the stripe will be polar white. I had some cameo white mixed up and it's just too pale. Polar white is clean and tight looking against the blue and black. And for those with white interiors I think it will compliment the white interior better too.

Here are some comparison pics:

Layers top to bottom Pic 1:
Current reproduction stripe (note the poor dimensional aspect of the trunk stripe)
Test panel with Cameo White
New Proof stripe in Polar white
NOS early '70 white stripe for blue car with dot fade gradient (prior to the change to black)
NOS white stripe

Top to bottom pic 2:
Cameo White test panel
New Proof stripe
Current reproduction
NOS white dot fade stripe
NOS white stripe

Top to bottom pic 3:
Cameo White test panel
Cameo White PPG 1972 color chip
New Proof stripe
Current reproduction
NOS white dot fade stripe

Top to bottom pic4:
Cameo White test panel
Cameo White PPG 1972 color chip

If you'd like, I'll be glad to send you a swatch of this white so you can have your paint mixed to match, and let everyone know what the color mix will be for it!

[165th]

Today I picked up the first proofs of the hood stripe. They came out nice, but not yet ready for prime time!

Among a few other things, on this set the printers ran the white out past the interior clear reveal, but that's an easy fix.

I am going to tweak the dimensions a bit here and there, but all in all for a first run I'm very pleased.

Some of the pictures are a little hard to visualize since I've applied the stripe over a painted stripe on my hood.

I fashioned the hood stripe after two NOS stripes and dimensions from CCIE3611 (Brent), a forum member who has an original striped unrestored '72 TA.

One interesting note is when the stripes are centered over the shaker opening, the distance from the front edge of hood to beginning of the stripe is 1 1/16". Brent's car is the same. The proof is fashioned this way, however, it is different than the assembly manual sketch which shows 7/8" from edge of hood to stripe.

[68bird400HO]

Originally Posted by 165th

One interesting note is when the stripes are centered over the shaker opening, the distance from the front edge of hood to beginning of the stripe is 1 1/16". Brent's car is the same. The proof is fashioned this way, however, it is different than the assembly manual sketch which shows 7/8" from edge of hood to stripe.

I just recently put an S&S stripe kit on my 71 TA. I noticed the same thing about the hood stripe. The manual says .88 from the edge of the hood but when I centered the stripe over the shaker opening, I also ended up a little over 1" from the hood edge.

I am thinking that the manual instructions may not be perfect (no surprise) because I also followed them on the "Trans Am" script on the the back of the rear spoiler. It says .88" up from the crease of the filler panel. I followed that and now my "Trans Am" looks too high. The tops of the letter go into the curved area and start coming back out at you. I looked at a number of pictures, afterward unfortuneatly, including a few factory photos I could find and it seems like that entire script is lower and on the flat area of the back of the rear spoiler. I would be interested to get a measurement from your friends original car since it looks like I will be redoing that one.

[165th]

Here is the rear spoiler Trans Am on an original paint unrestored car.

[165th]

Time for a quick update. Development is... well, development. I've had to move to a different screen printer after some quality defects could not be overcome with the company I was working with. Screen printer no. 2 however is confident the issues identified can be easily overcome. More proofs to come in the next week or so.

Meanwhile, I picked up a set of NOS blue stripes for a white car that were recently being sold by Restoreamusclecar. The second set of stripes are very helpful and informative comparing with the items provided by members here. By the way, I'll be returning your stripes now that the artwork is complete and I have this record set of stripes. Thank you again!

I've mentioned this before, one detail I've noticed consistently with all of the NOS stripes I've seen is the distress to the original stripes that is caused by the original backing paper and transfer paper. These quality old decals are literally sandwiched by two papers of less quality. After 40 years of storage, the transfer paper and backing paper has shrunk, curled, tugged and pulled on an otherwise great decal. I'm mentioning again because now with the stripes I have, I can remove the paper.

What I have done with the NOS set I have is photo documented the decals and part numbers, then removed the transfer paper from the top and moved the decal to some fresh backing paper. This is allowing the decals to relax from the tugging and stretching from the old paper.

Some of these decals have nominally enough adhesive to possibly still be used some day, but in all cases the transfer paper would have to be removed and new transfer paper put on prior to installing anyway, so it's best to get it off sooner than later.

For those of you with NOS stripes holed away, you may want to consider this. Besides, you get to enjoy them more anyway because you can see them instead of the old paper. The backing paper can be picked up from any sign company doing wrap on cars, because it's literally trash to them, as they discard the backing paper after installing decals on cars. Transfer paper can be put on (if it's even needed) in the future just prior to installing the stripe, if you ever do.

Below are some pictures and the impact before and after removal. First removing the transfer paper. In the last picture you can see the wrinkles and contours left by the papers:

[165th]

Then, reapplied to the new backing paper:

[keith k]

Thanks for the updates. Glad to hear things are continuing to move along.

[Scott455HO]

Hello 165th, I'll be needing a hood stripe for a white car as soon as you have them ready. What time frame do you think that will be?

[165th]

Hi Scott, I will be working on the Blue stripes in January and hope to have them available sometime in February.

Attached are pictures of a set of white stripes. A set like this will be going to Illinois this week where the most discerning eye will be able to review and hopefully endorse these.

[Nor-Cal 70T/A]

Hello 165th,

I also need blue stripes. February availability would work perfect for me, I hope it works out!

-Larry

[Norwood]

Just bringing this up to the top for any updates.

[165th]

Hi Norwood, I have been waiting on the Trans Am letters to include in the package for review. I'm hoping to have these by week's end.

We are working on the blue stripes now and have noticed the color of the NOS blue stripe (blue/aqua) is a different shade than the blue in the NOS Trans Am letters (blue/sky blue).

If anyone has a repro. blue stripe they wouldn't mind shipping to me, I'd appreciate it so we can compare the repro blue color with the NOS color. I just need a trunk or spoiler stripe to compare.

I have returned everyone's stripes they put on loan for this project, except the NOS white stripe with the dot fade pattern. We are using that stripe to create the dot fade for the blue stripes.