Admittedly, yours truly is a sentimental sucker for family nostalgia, and well, I’m pretty much its preserver. As a lucky kid growing up in and around the auto dismantling business, acres of old cars and trucks made a pretty neat playground. If we were to walk the same acreage today we’d see mostly dirt, but around the outer edges, reminders remain.
One day while digging in the aforementioned dirt, I happened upon an old hand-painted sign, which of course, I recognized. In the ’60s the sign was affixed to a delivery truck. It’s the last of the batch, from an era when oil-based enamel might actually outlast a fleet vehicle. That’s why it’s painted on transferrable sheetmetal, rather than a disposable truck’s door. The sign’s familiar ’60s lettering style has since been superseded, twice over the years. All three versions, however, are the work of the same artist—Riverside, California’s Richard McPeak.
In Riverside, alongside the freeway on West La Cadena Drive, McPeak Painting & Pinstriping is still the place to go for custom painting, pinstriping, and real-deal hand-painted signs. As a long-haul presence, McPeak has also been the main trainer for the area’s up ‘n’ coming custom painters, and I’ll include myself in that mix as I worked, watched, and learned there as a teen in the ’70s.
As we inch our way closer to the technical portion of our story, I must confess that our subject truck was not a quick, efficient build. Shameful truth be told, it’s taken 40 years to complete my high school auto shop project and the poor old pickup would still be scattered around the family acreage were it not for my truck-lovin’ wife, Mrs. Rotten. After a very long stall, she’s picked up the pieces, and with a little help from friends she’s seen the job through to fit and function with our latest Montana-based endeavor.
Time changes things, including our tastes and ideas. The original plan for this project was quite different, but lately it’s obvious that the truck’s original forest green lacquer finish should be preserved, along with the absolutely authentic eucalyptus stump that grew through the grille while nobody was watching. With the whole patina phenomenon currently in overdrive, let’s have us some real-deal, hand-painted, distressed-to-match signs as a finishing touch for the new/old shop truck—Mrs. Rotten’s 1947 Studebaker M5.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.1 First, let’s have a look at the old hand-painted sign that triggered this bit of breezy storytelling in the first place. Now let’s dust it off and take it back to its creator. It’s time to revive the older lettering style and put it back to work—on the original-painted doors of the new/old shop truck.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.2 For this one-time job a pattern won’t be necessary. Once the canvas is cleaned with grease and wax remover, McPeak begins his layout. Using a multi-purpose wooden yardstick and a white Stabillo pencil, the headline angle is established. From here the headline characters are lightly hand drawn.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.3 Again the yardstick and Stabillo pencil are used, this time to establish horizontal guidelines for the secondary copy, which is quickly penciled in. By now you may notice that the new signs won’t read exactly like the ’60s-vintage sample. In appearance, however, they’ll be very close.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.4 With 58 years of sign-painting experience, McPeak has used his share of lettering enamel. The job at hand will begin with a toned-down mixture based on 1-Shot 191-L imitation gold—and yes indeed, those are gallon cans on the bench. For the rest of us, smaller quantities are available from Summit.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.5 For the wider of these characters, McPeak’s lettering quill selection is a Mack #6. Storage methods vary from artist to artist. Between uses McPeak preserves his brushes in lard oil. Here in preparation the lard-oiled quill is carefully rinsed with mineral spirits.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.6 On this fairly cool day, mineral spirits makes an adequate reducer. In warmer weather an additional spritz of Penetrol would improve flow. While this won’t make us sign painters, it’s certainly fun to watch as McPeak makes it all look easy. Notice how he twists the quill in corners?
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.7 For the next couple steps, 3M 1/4-inch fine-line tape will come in handy. This 1-Shot 104-L red underline is quickly brushed in between tape lines with a Mack #2 quill. Because fine line is considerably thinner than standard crepe-type masking tape, raggedy edges are less likely to occur.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.8 Up to this point the wheels are the only taupe-colored parts on this truck. It’s an odd color. We may never find matching material for interior trim, so we’ve asked McPeak to tie the wheels in. With the full spectrum of 1-Shot colors on the bench, it doesn’t take him long to nail the match.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.9 For the upper block-letter portion of the taupe-colored secondary copy, fine-line tape is stretched along the initial Stabillo guidelines. With skillful twists of the quill, the letter “S” is accomplished in a single stroke. Then the letter’s ends are sharpened and squared with the tip of the same quill.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.10 The bottom line characters will have a forward slant with their upper tips extending slightly beyond the Stabillo pencil guidelines. For this reason fine-line tape is not used here.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.11 At this stage McPeak is down to the proverbial short strokes as a black shadow is added to the dry-enough headline. As we can already see, the shadow will add depth and dimension—and it’s almost a shame to have to do what comes next.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.12 As predicted, our shiny new signs are too nice for the new/old shop truck. Now two weeks old, they’re dry enough for the final step at home. With ordinary household cleaning products, let’s accelerate the aging process to match.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.13 With good old-fashion cleanser, a Scotch-Brite scrub sponge and water, the distressing procedure gets underway. After just a few passes with the Scotch-Brite side of the sponge it’s time to slow down. From here the less-aggressive side of the sponge works fine.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.14 This goes quickly, so along the way rinse-checks are conducted. We know that when we’re finished, the signs will continue to weather naturally and for our purposes we’d like them legible. Thin and somewhat transparent makes a good stopping point.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.15 For now we’ll let the freshly distressed signs breathe before the entire truck is detailed. Mrs. Rotten has an outside-the-box method for preserving such patina—and I don’t mean to tease, but that’s another story.Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.16 Now providing we have our way, we’ll be back to address preservative maintenance, and we might even share the secrets we’ve learned from a couple of—you. ‘Til then, can anyone recommend an appropriate wood preservative?
