Gator
Well-known member
My dad was a sign painter. He worked for a gentleman, W. A. Welch, in the small south Louisiana town of Opelousas. Their shop truck was a 3/4 ton Ford with a factory work bed and a custom made rack that stretched from bump to bumper. In the early 70's our family moved home to Sulphur, about 20 miles from the Texas state line. Dad started his own sign company. In the late 80's, Dad bought Mr. Welch's company from him when he retired. Unbelievable, the old 1966 shop truck was still being used. Now, this old Ford could carry everything needed to put up a billboard, the sign face panels, the posts and the lumber for the framework that the sign face was attached to. The truck had the engine replaced a few times but everything else was original. Dad went and shopped for a new truck to take it's place, he could believe the old truck was still running. Well, every dealer, Ford, GM and Dodge, said that it would take at least a one ton truck to do what this truck was doing. So Dad keep the old shop truck.
Fast forward to last year, Moebius Models releases their 1966 Ford service truck kit. It looked exactly like what Dad's shop truck was. I have friend who is a big Ford guy. He told me that the body was the same for the 1/4 ton as it was for the 3/4 ton. I now had a base model to make the shop truck!
This past weekend I started on the old girl. I got the frame started.
I also start working on the artwork for the decals. Dad's company was Hiway Ads. I recreated his logo from an old photo I have of the sign in front of the shop. I never knew why Dad spelled highway that way but I changed the spelling and redesigned the logo. I think he would approve. Back in the day, he and I made a pretty good design team. Still working on the lettering listing the sign types. I want to go with something more period and he loved script fonts.
He liked drop shadows too.
Fast forward to last year, Moebius Models releases their 1966 Ford service truck kit. It looked exactly like what Dad's shop truck was. I have friend who is a big Ford guy. He told me that the body was the same for the 1/4 ton as it was for the 3/4 ton. I now had a base model to make the shop truck!
This past weekend I started on the old girl. I got the frame started.
I also start working on the artwork for the decals. Dad's company was Hiway Ads. I recreated his logo from an old photo I have of the sign in front of the shop. I never knew why Dad spelled highway that way but I changed the spelling and redesigned the logo. I think he would approve. Back in the day, he and I made a pretty good design team. Still working on the lettering listing the sign types. I want to go with something more period and he loved script fonts.
He liked drop shadows too.
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I was lucky enough to be the keeper of a photo collage Dad was given by the Shriners after he painted their parade train. That's where I found the photo of his shop's sign.
