Exterior Decor Paintjob

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Hey, guys. I'm planning on having done an exterior décor style paintjob in the exact style that the factory did from 1981-1988. I plan to get the truck painted professionally, and I don't want two tones painted straight across the body like in 89-91 Squares. I want the little downslope that occurred on the front fenders. Is there like a template that you could make, or how else would that effect be achieved? Here's an example of what I'm talking about that I found on Google.

 

[CSFJ]

Looks like you would tape it off flush with the front of the side marker opening, and run parallel to the front edge of the fender up to the top of the stripe.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Oh, I meant on the top of the fender not the front. Sorry, I guess my wording wasn't all that clear.

 

[CSFJ]

Lol. Yeah, I'm looking at the same thing for my truck. Looking at the pics, it appears to be very close to halfway from the body line to the top of the fender, also the same on the box.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

See, what I thought was you could use the down slope of the top of the fenders as a reference to make a template and then shift that template down to where the paint boundaries would align with the rest of the truck. I think that work except at the very front because it appears to lose its adjacency.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Here's another picture of a truck that's got the factory style more closely matched.

 

[CSFJ]

The front fenders do slope down, somewhat, but the stripe appears to stay in the middle of the distance to the body line. Also appears to terminate at a point straight back from the top of the grill. At least in from the pov of the pic. I wouldn't worry about a template, it seems that would just complicate the process. When you start taping it off to spray, tape the whole length, and step back and double check it's close to where the factory did it. I've never seen any measurements of the scheme, but I would think as long as you're close, it will look original.

 

[CSFJ]

It appears that they applied the pinstripe to the outside edge of the main body stripe. Never noticed that before.

 

[CSFJ]

The pinstripe on the blue truck is the same way. Just doesn't show up until you zoom in.

 

[bucket]

First truck looks like a respray, the stripe looks a little low to me. Second truck looks original, crooked fender stripe and all. They often weren't put on the straightest when new.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

Yeah, in hindsight, the first truck isn't original paint. Hopefully I can replicate that stock scheme, though.

 

[DanMcG]

Ok slightly off topic, but has anyone used vinyl car wrap to experiment with different two tone color schemes? I'd like to two tone mine and thought it might be a relatively inexpensive way to try different patterns and colors.

 

[Keith Seymore]

It appears that they applied the pinstripe to the outside edge of the main body stripe. Never noticed that before.

By way of further detail - those stripes were part of the masking process in the factory.

The secondary (inset) color was sprayed first and then the stripes applied. They had a protective layer over the top; the inset was then taped off with butcher paper in the desired shape, using the stripe as a guide.

After the main color was sprayed over the entire vehicle the masking was removed, revealing the two tone appearance.

K