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More Outstanding Vehicle Wraps

They didn’t win in the Vehicle Graphics Contest, but still turn heads

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Movie buffs recall the famous line stated by Marlon Brando’s character, Terry Molloy, in the 1954 classic On the Waterfront: “I coulda been a contender.” The same could be said for many of the non-winning entries from the 2014 Vehicle Graphics Contest, whose winners were featured in ST’s October issue (see p. 71). Had we enlisted a different trio or quartet of judges, or if the judges we recruited had been in a different mood, who knows? Perhaps these projects would’ve ended up in Victory Lane. Beauty is, indeed, in the eye of the beholder. However, I think most would agree that these wraps perform their duties of promoting the customer’s business quite well.

Wicked Wraps
Before the Robertson family gained fame on Duck Dynasty, who knew the U.S. was so obsessed with hunting waterfowl? Wicked Wraps (Mukilteo, WA) decorated this truck with a rather ominous-looking wrap that began as a sketch by a friend of the son of a Team Duck Assassin member, which depicts the swamp at dusk. Katherine Becher, who co-owns Wicked Wraps with her husband, Wade, designed the graphics with a vehicle template from The Bad Wrap and Adobe Creative Suite. The duo printed the wrap on its HP DesignJet L26500 latex-ink printer with Avery Dennison Graphic Solutions’ MPI 1005 Supercast Easy Apply RS air-release media. They applied Avery’s DOL 1360 glossy overlaminate with a Kala Mistral laminator. Wade installed the wrap using Geek Wraps felt squeegees and Power Slam magnets, as well as Yellotools cutting blades and propane torches.

New Vista Image

Any fan of The Andy Griffith Show (I count myself as one, albeit much younger than most in this small demographic subset) probably smiles at any reference to Floyd’s Barber Shop. I’m not sure how old Floyd himself would have reacted to a namesake truck that terms itself “The Original Rock ‘n’ Roll Barbershop”, but I think it’s a classy tribute. The customer, who operates bricks-and-mortar barbershops in 11 states, wanted to cross-promote, and he converted a FedEx delivery truck into a full-service salon on wheels that also offers such new-school creature comforts as flat-screen TVs and a souped-up stereo system.
New Vista Image (Golden, CO) produced the wrap on its Seiko ColorPainter printer with 3M Controltac with Comply air-release media. 3M’s Scotchcal 8518 glossy overlaminate, which New Vista applied with a GBC Pro Tech F-60+ laminator, will keep the graphics vibrant on Main St., Route 66 or whatever U.S. roadway on which the truck travels.

Ink Monstr

During the holiday season, my daughter Annabel loves to watch the classic claymation cartoon, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and laugh at the villainous Bumble. She would no doubt see the similarity between the Bumble and Yeti1, Frost Bites’ food-truck mascot. Honestly, frozen yogurt doesn’t provoke the palate quite the same as tacos or Thai food (although Frost Bites’ 45 flavors sound scrumptious, especially carrot cake and Kit Kat), so an engaging wrap graphic is required.
The customer hired Ink Monstr (Denver) owner Nick Hughes to create the frosty wrap. Hughes designed the wrap with Adobe Illustrator software, and the shop printed the wrap with 3M Controltac with Comply v3 air-release media on a Mutoh ValueJet 1624 solvent-ink printer. Ink Monstr laminated the wrap with 3M Scotchcal 8518 glossy topcoat with a Seal 62 laminator.

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Signarama Redding

Amidst increasingly complex times, people gravitate to comfort food. It doesn’t demand attention like a smartphone; it won’t depreciate in value like a stock or real estate, and it’s more satisfying than the violence, smut or angst sometimes prevalent in popular culture. Pie especially evokes thoughts of carefree innocence; whenever I eat pecan pie, I wistfully recall my late grandmother’s superior version.
Adrienne Sherman, who opened For the Love of Pie four years ago, grew her business such that she invested in a food truck to take her baked goods to festivals and events near her Redding, CA shop. She hired the Redding Signarama franchise to create the truck’s gargantuan wrap. Derek “Big Kat” Highet designed the wrap with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator software, and the shop executed the job on its HP L260 latex-ink printer with 3M Controltac with Comply air-release media. 3M Scotchcal 8518 glossy overlaminate, applied with a Ledco laminator, will keep the whipped-cream and lattice pie toppings colorful – and passersby salivating.

 

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