[MDSHARK81]

Thank You, I will order

[Verdoro 68]

Haven't had much time to focus on new decals lately, but I went ahead and had a small test batch made of the SD455 decals since I had the art done. These have the right fonts, the right sized arrowhead, the correct number of dashes and the brushed direction goes the correct way. I may need to darken the red a bit in the next run. I'm still searching for a place that can do the embossing which is harder than I thought, but for now these an improvement over what's out there.

Mine is on top, existing repro on the bottom.



Close up:



Original for reference:

[65 Lamnas]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

Haven't had much time to focus on new decals lately, but I went ahead and had a small test batch made of the SD455 decals since I had the art done. These have the right fonts, the right sized arrowhead, the correct number of dashes and the brushed direction goes the correct way. I may need to darken the red a bit in the next run. I'm still searching for a place that can do the embossing which is harder than I thought, but for now these an improvement over what's out there.

Mine is on top, existing repro on the bottom.



Close up:



Original for reference:

Super nice work....thanks for all you're doing. Here's the next "million dollar idea" that won't seem very relevant at first.....but if you could do this.....you could soon retire.

I saw someone, I think from here on PY, with the 350 HO decal, reminiscent of the 71-72 455HO original below. Set it up so that the "455" part you can plug in whatever number, like 421, 400, 462, 350, or 535 numbers can be plugged in. SO TIRED of the Buick-inspired sticker that folks think is original.

[LastoftheThinkers]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

Haven't had much time to focus on new decals lately, but I went ahead and had a small test batch made of the SD455 decals since I had the art done. These have the right fonts, the right sized arrowhead, the correct number of dashes and the brushed direction goes the correct way. I may need to darken the red a bit in the next run. I'm still searching for a place that can do the embossing which is harder than I thought, but for now these an improvement over what's out there.

Mine is on top, existing repro on the bottom.



Close up:



Original for reference:

Your is super clean compared to the repro. My only concern, and I have nothing to go off of, is how it compares to the original. I think it may actually be cleaner than the original.

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by 65 Lamnas

Super nice work....thanks for all you're doing. Here's the next "million dollar idea" that won't seem very relevant at first.....but if you could do this.....you could soon retire.

I saw someone, I think from here on PY, with the 350 HO decal, reminiscent of the 71-72 455HO original below. Set it up so that the "455" part you can plug in whatever number, like 421, 400, 462, 350, or 535 numbers can be plugged in. SO TIRED of the Buick-inspired sticker that folks think is original.

The member who did those air cleaner decals got in contact with me a while back and graciously offered up the art should I ever want to make them. I've had a handful of requests for custom decals, but I've avoided them for the most part because the minimum run is usually 50 to 100. I can do waterslides as one-offs, but it's still a decent amount of labor for the art and setup - and they're not as durable as a vinyl sticker.

It's funny, I don't advertise but I can tell word gets around to small communities as specific products trend in sales. A few weeks ago it was '70 GTO emissions decals, last week it was Corvette oil filter canister screens. The '65-'66 fan guard waterslides are a constant.

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by LastoftheThinkers

Your is super clean compared to the repro. My only concern, and I have nothing to go off of, is how it compares to the original. I think it may actually be cleaner than the original.

It's very possible. These old decals were hand drawn using drafting tools and have artifacts from the printing process that get lost when you go to digital. I can usually replicate the design flaws but I haven't spent as much time replicating the process.

These Baltimore plant stickers that came up in the '68-'69 forum the other day and are a good example of the character that can easily get lost.




I don't have an original SD decal in hand to reference, so I've been working off pictures. On the SD decals you'll notice the spacing between the P and R in Super is wonky on the original - I brought that over with the new art. Upon further inspection another area that may not be quite right is the red. I specified it opaque when I had this run done, but looking closer I think it may be transparent and show the grain of the metal on the original. Pretty easy fix on my end.

[326HO-Lemans]

Ok this turned out amazing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Verdoro 68]

Awesome! I was wondering if you ever got around the apply that one. Glad it worked out.

[dhcarguy]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

Some updates: I had someone complain about the durability of the fan guard waterslides a while back. He clearly didn't read the instructions, and honestly I'm not sure how the heck he managed to get it so mangled, but it's been in the back of my mind. After working with him and refunding his money, it irked me that he left a bad review on my Etsy store. So, I had some regular adhesive decals made for '64-'66 cars for guys who care more about durability rather than originality.

I haven't found a place that can do the embossed surface of the SD valve cover decals and I've looked high and low. Even if I produced them as flat decals they'd be an improvement over the current repros, but I'm going to keep hunting because having the embossed part would be super cool.

Finally, I had someone reach out from the Corvette community about air cleaner silk screens for '63-'69 cars so I've been doing some research and made screens that I think cover most cars. Very similar to Pontiac in most cases with different part numbers or ink colors. I've also been working on the art for oil canisters. Apparently the sources who were doing these before have retired or closed. As I understand it, there was a fairly big merger of Corvette resto houses recently (kind of like PY -> Ames) and the silkscreen service may have been a casualty. It's also been historically very expensive, so I'm down to make a few DIY kits for these guys.

Lastly, I'm debating upgrading my printer setup because it's really time consuming to make the waterslides - two passes of white then a pass of color on top. The yield is fairly low because the registration is unpredictable due to running the paper through so many time. Not an insignificant investment as they're several thousand dollars, but I think it would save time and produce a higher quality output.

'64-'66 fan adhesive stickers


'63-'67 Corvette air cleaner screens (red for '63-'64 only)





'67-'69 427 tri power screen

Just ordered the 65 caution FAN
. 1- sticker and 1-water slide from ETSY

Thanks

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by dhcarguy

Just ordered the 65 caution FAN
. 1- sticker and 1-water slide from ETSY

Thanks

Packed and ready to ship. Thanks!

[5minmajor]

Hi Ken,

Is this something you can or are willing to do? I've contacted Osborn, who said that this is the only one he's supplying and is not interested in making a different version because of the low demand.
I can supply a better scan of the original and reproduction.

[5minmajor]

Hi Ken, Are you able to reproduce these types of emissions decals?
I've only been able to find the one with blue lettering. I've contacted Osborn and they have no plans to do one that matches my original.

I can provide a better scan if needed.

[5minmajor]

Hi Ken. Do you do underhood emission decals? My decal is reproduced but the font and graphic color are incorrect for my car. Is this something that would be difficult to produce?

[Jimbobeast]

Does anyone reproduce window stickers? It would be neat for car shows.

[Verdoro 68]

Mike Noun at pontiacwindowstickers.com does a great job with them. PHS also reproduces them.

Small update on my end...I've been keeping busy with a ton of requests and orders ahead of MCACN, mostly from Corvette guys. I am working with Kyler from Ames to get my Pontiac stuff in the next catalog. I'm super excited about that.

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by 5minmajor

Hi Ken. Do you do underhood emission decals? My decal is reproduced but the font and graphic color are incorrect for my car. Is this something that would be difficult to produce?

I some how missed this post - yes, this is exactly the kind of thing I can do! I haven't done any mid-late '70s white emissions decals yet. It's the same process and as far as I can tell the same laminated material as the early '70s emissions labels, just different colors and fonts.

Interest has been picking up steadily over the last year. It's all been word of mouth so far which is cool. The NCRS Corvette crew has been keeping me busy lately. I just bought a <really expensive> printer that can do white and black in one pass which will speed production of waterslides without compromising quality. The two pass process I was using was very time consuming and error prone. This printer can also output t-shirt transfers which is something I'm interested in trying out. I've always wanted to do some shirts with simple emblems and decals on them - SD455 shaker logo, 400 rocker emblems, etc.

I also started outsourcing the creation of silkscreens to a local silkscreen company to keep up with demand. They do a much better job and are much faster than me. It took me three days to produce a screen with 6 images on it. I had to stretch, coat, burn and wash the screens and often times I'd only get 4 or 5 out of a screen. They can get me a screen with 20 -30 images on it in two days.

[Jimbobeast]

I scanned a copy of a blank repro 1970 window sticker in Adobe Acrobat, then my Graphic Designer daughter (I knew there was a reason I had these kids) created text boxes. From there it was just a matter of gathering the info and typing it in. The font is incorrect, but this sticker represents the car as it exists today, not how it left the factory, so who cares. Just something neat for car shows, so people can check out the cost and the olptions. If anyone wants a copy of the file just let me know. You will need Adobe.

I had to reduce the size of the attachment to meet Forum requirements

[Jeff Hamlin]

I appreciate these as they are only for use on the '66 OHC-equipped Tempest and Lemans.

I believe '67 switched over to White, but I am still waiting to hear from Club members for confirmation.

Very Happy with the results.
Thanks, Ken!

[Verdoro 68]

Glad they worked out. Sometimes it takes a few revs to get these things right when working from pics.

Work has been keeping me busy so progress on decals has been kind of slow. I've been working on the '66 & '67 GTO tire pressure decals, a '72 455HO emissions decal - and I think I finally found a place to do the embossing on the SD455 valve cover decals. We'll see how they come out.

[Verdoro 68]

Got the SD455 decals in today. They're looking really good with the embossing! I went round and round with the production department on the details of the red transparency embossing. Unfortunately they output them with the brushed grain going the wrong direction. So close!

I'll drop them a line Monday and see if the can redo them with the grain going vertically. I had one supplier decline to do my decals anymore because of how particular I am, this might be a second LOL.

No one asked for these, but the quality of the existing repro compared to the rarity and legendary nature of these cars deserves better.