Another '78

This is one I let get away. I never should have sold it 'cause it's the best one I ever owned. I later added a padded rollbar cover to it. It also had the hard steel doors; it had already started to get hot when this pic was taken and I later took the top off. These were 16" wheels instead of the standard 15". It had all stainless accessories with polished alloy wheels; stainless front bumper. After I had it painted I had the paint shop give me about a quart of the paint with reducer added where I could airbrush with it. It's hard to see in the photo, but the white vinyl was sprayed on the bottom to give it a gradient look before applying to the black outline. Then it was clear-coated to seal it.

1978 CJ5

The latest vinyl job: 1978 CJ5 for Bob L. and his son.

Rolling Ads

We use premium 2 mil cast vinyl warranted for 9 years outdoors, but most of my earlier work is still as fresh-looking as the day it was applied 13 years ago!

I have had some people asking about the old Z71 logos; we got 'em! And they can be had in any color combination you like as opposed to the standard light/dark silver metallic that the originals came in. This one is currently on my truck - 1998 GMC sports side. It is in gold polyester/red vinyl.

Past Vinyl Projects

I have always enjoyed marking up old Jeeps. This is the Jeep I have now - minus the lift and big tires. That's my son, Crisco, at 18. He removed the graphics a couple years later. The red one was the '78 that I fixed up and had painted gold pearl. It was the best one out of four CJ7s I've owned. That's it above, under "Another '78", with the hard top on and doors off.

The Hatton High School Bandboosters commissioned me to "flavor" their equipment trailer with their logo and name. I enjoyed doing this. The little neighborhood girls showed their appreciation by "TP"ing my front yard; they go to another school! Team spirit and rivalry run deep in the Deep South. I think this was done back in '03.

Don't know what happened to this sign. It was made for the Family Education program in Moulton, Alabama, but, as a result of a tragedy there, the name was changed. Guess someone thought there would be a stigma if the name remained.

This was done for a church daycare in Courtland, Alabama. Totally made of vinyl and aluminum.

This was made for a church I once attended. It's just right down the road from where I live now.

This was a sign I did for Curtis Foster and his cabinet business. It was also while my business was operating under the name of Artographs. Artographs is primarily my art and photography business now. You can check out some on-goings in that department at: artographs.blogspot.com. My brother, Keith, helped me install this sign while it was spitting snow. Postal service don't got nuttin' on me!

Here's more before/after shots of the latest graphics on the Jeep. (Note the "Alpha/Omega" on the bumperettes. Crisco applied these back when I had the old cutter in '03. It's a testament to how long good 2-mil cast vinyl will last outdoors. It's still as fresh-looking as the day it was applied. It's all we use.)

Here you can see the drivers' side after the application. Note the white outline around the metallic doeskin inside. In designing the lettering, I usually have an outline color, which means cutting two separate times. I applied the white vinyl first, let dry, then applied the doeskin. I have in times past applied the top layer to the bottom layer before applying to the vehicle, but you run the risk of having more air bubbles to contend with.

I've started a project of restoring an old '85 Jeep CJ7, that I bought back in '99, gave to my son, then bought back last year. It has a hard top and steel doors, but I doubt I will put them on it. It's more for summer time cruising with the top off. Anyway, since we have the cutter, I have begun the graphics on it, and will give a few before/after shots to show the process we make on it. If you click on each pic, you will get a larger, clearer view of what we do. The one above is before I started. You just have to begin with a clean, dry vehicle. After washing, I usually wipe it down with alcohol in the spots I intend to apply the vinyl to remove any lingering contaminants.