1967 Mercury Comet - It Ain't Paint!

Here's one of the engine displacement callouts being positioned on the Comet's hood. Jim used carefully measured grease pencil marks on the body to match pencil lines applied to the transfer tape. This assured proper alignment and symmetry from one side of the car to the other.

Once the design was correctly positioned, a soft plastic squeegee was used to stick the letters to the car and work out any trapped air bubbles. Naturally, the paint surfaces were thoroughly cleaned of any wax, dust or dirt beforehand. Wax prevents good vinyl adhesion while trapped dirt causes bumps.

The transfer tape was carefully peeled away from the vinyl in a horizontal motion. Pulling it straight up can dislodge the more delicate portions of letters and numbers.

When it comes to two-color graphics like this Holman Moody logo, slightly different steps are taken. First, the base element was stuck to the body and air bubbles were squeegeed out.

Then the transfer tape was removed. The partially spelled words were not a mistake. Naylor added them to serve as register marks to help ensure perfect alignment of the next layer of vinyl letters

Guided by the partial letters beneath as well as pencil lines, the top layer was applied in perfect alignment.

Peeling away the transfer tape revealed a sweet two-color Holman Moody logo, and there wasn't a drop of paint in sight.

Riffing on the car-dealer sponsor logos found on just about every '60s oval track Stocker, the boys cooked up fictitious Southern Auto Sales logos for the quarter-panels.

It's a good idea to use a 20-ounce squirt bottle of water--with two drops of dishwashing soap--to lubricate larger logos during application. Once the air was worked out, the transfer tape was removed.

For a unique two-tone effect, identically sized red letters were applied over the black base letters. Jim placed the top letters slightly out of register to get the shadowed effect.

Peeling away the transfer tape revealed the vibrant design. But what about the fuel filler door?

Careful slicing with an X-Acto knife opened the filler door. Then the edges of the letters were tamped down and stuck in place.

Large graphics like the roof number should be applied indoors where wind can't blow them out of position during the tricky application process. Again, pencil lines applied to the centerlines of the body and graphic ensured proper placement and professional results.

After all bubbles were squeegeed out, the transfer paper was peeled back. The NASCAR convention is to apply roof numbers from the driver side of the car. This way the numbers are legible to spectators and race officials as the cars scream around the lefthanded turns. Turn left, young man!

You could win this car or one of five other classics at the Timber Wolf Speed Shop. Go to twspeedshop.com or read the Timber Wolf ad in this issue for details.