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Vehicles + Vinyl

Vehicle Graphics Contest

Signshop Vehicle Winners

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FIRST PLACE

Social Distortion, founding fathers of the West Coast’s post-punk scene who still jam today, penned the song “Mommy’s Little Monster” about youthful miscreants careening towards selfdestruction. In a similarly menacing vein, yet with no references to joblessness or promiscuity, BigAutoWrap created “Mommy’s Big Monster Car” by converting Susie’s (shop owner’s Tim Gray’s wife) Chevy Suburban into a fire-breathing, beady-eyed machine – at the sly suggestion of Tim’s seven-year-old son.

To meld the scaly monster with his wife’s wish for upbeat colors, Gray exceeded Photoshop’s 30,000-pixel maximum resolution to create the intricately detailed, scaly backdrop that even covers windshield wipers and door hinges. Fisher, the wrap’s supervisor, chose to print the sides, and the hood and roof panels, as one contiguous piece to prevent vertical seams except where doors required them. To match the Suburban’s body, Gray used the template from Car ’n’ Truck’s 2006 vehicle-outline templates. Using Oracal’s 3551 RA high-performance calendered film, Big Auto Wrap produced the print on its Roland SolJet III SC 540 printers and protected their investment with Oracal’s 290F overlaminate.

SECOND PLACE

The judges respected this shop truck’s clean, easy-to-read design. Because Jeremy also uses his shop truck for personal transportation, he designed the side panels to resemble a show car while the tailgate subtly advertises the shop’s services. He devised this program with Adobe’s Illustrator and Photoshop CSII and Wasatch’s SoftRIP digital-printing software. To prep the surface, the installation team applied 3M’s Primer 94. On the shop’s Seiki ColorPainter 64, he printed 3M’s Controltac IJ180-10C and Scotchcal™ perforated, windowgraphic film. Installation entailed using 3M Velcro squeegees, propane torches and years of experience. Imagination Graphics protected the project with Avery Graphics’ DOL 1000 overlaminate.

THIRD PLACE

To appeal to an array of would-be customers, bluemedia decked out a Toyota Rav4, a Lincoln Navigator and a former Federal Express delivery truck with cool, azure graphics and a customized interior with shelves, brackets and drawers to accommodate a signshop’s needs. The shop output the system, which Keal designed with Adobe’s Illustrator and Photoshop, on Controltac IJ180-10C media with Comply on its Mimaki JV3-160S solvent-ink printer. It’s insulated from road contaminants by 3M’s 8518 gloss-finish, cast overlaminate.

HONORABLE MENTION

HONORABLE MENTION

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