Punky Manor - Vintage Stock Car - Tribute Build

Build Exploration...Part 3

As I mentioned in my last post, I have decided to use elements from both Punky's 1963 Galaxie and his 1974 Torino race car paint jobs.

On the 1963 1/2 Ford Galaxie paint scheme, Punky had several small contingency decals on both front fenders. I only have a couple of pictures for reference, but I was able to make out most of the decals.

So, where does one find these 40 year old decals? As I do with most things, I did a few searches on the internet and found a few sources. I ended up buying most of the decals I needed on Ebay, one at a time. 

Here is the set for the passenger side front fender...

And here is the set for the Drivers side...

I was not able to identify a couple of the other decals, but I think I have enough here to get the look I am after.

There are a few other elements that I need to include in the overall paint job on the Tribute Torino. One of those elements is a sponsor's name. Although Punky's original Torino's paint job did not include his Dad's business name on the car, most of his other cars did. I believe it needs to be part of this tribute.

Punky's Dad Neil (Sr.) owned and operated an Auto Body Shop and Used Car Lot in Altoona, WI. I have decided to include this sponsor name on the rear deck lid of the Torino I am building, because it offers the largest area to paint on. 

I will be hand painting this logo, so I wanted the name to look like it was painted over 40 years ago. This calls for a bit of research and design. 

Modern race car lettering is a huge departure from vintage race car lettering. In fact they look nothing like the era I am trying to recreate. Having worked in and around the sign business for the past 3 or 4 decades, I have seen the evolution first hand. The script lettering that is available on modern sign making equipment lacks the uniqueness which is evident in hand painted lettering. 

It is my belief that the only way to make a vintage race car look period correct is to hand paint as much of the lettering as they would have back then. So I will be hand painting everything on the Tribute car except the contingency decals pictured above.

The lettering samples I have created below were designed using 40 year old reference font books and images from old race cars. Fortunately I have the software available to scan, manipulate, and print the lettering I need for this project. 

This is what I put together for the deck lid...

And for the Driver name on roof and the engine size (for either side of the hood)... 

One last element for this paint job is the Schlitz Logo for both doors. Some people might just opt to have these printed on vinyl and cut out to stick on the car. Seems to me that these were hand painted back in the day so that is what I will be doing. I might introduce a bit of brushed gold leaf on the logo border to add a bit of sparkle.

I think this pretty much takes care of the parts of the paint job that are getting put on top of the paint. But what about the color of the car itself? How does one go about finding the original paint codes for the base colors that were used back in 1973/1974? 

I think I will tackle that question in my next blog...thanks again for visiting.