"Black" Decal Project - VIN 500 **Split From Matt's Graphic Overlay Projects**

[kajcienski]

By "early", do you mean low VIN? If so, I can try to grab a high-res (10 Megapixel) picture when I visit 559 in the shop next time. I'm aiming for this weekend or Tuesday.

I honestly have no idea what the HVAC design looks like on mine. I was more concerned with all the other fascinating stuff, and getting it running, to focus on the details. And now it's at DPI, so I can't run out and check real quick.

I mean the HVAC decal that matches the cluster font - this is what people have requested I model my black decal off of. I believe it is the early to mid decal...? I would need someone to just take off their light panel with the decal attached and do an actual scan. I need all the proportions exact this way and then recreate the graphics in the manor I need to do the decal. Thanks for the offer! If you have the correct decal and you can do a scan, that would be amazing!

[Shep]

I mean the HVAC decal that matches the cluster font - this is what people have requested I model my black decal off of. I believe it is the early to mid decal...? I would need someone to just take off their light panel with the decal attached and do an actual scan. I need all the proportions exact this way and then recreate the graphics in the manor I need to do the decal. Thanks for the offer! If you have the correct decal and you can do a scan, that would be amazing!

No problem! I know DPI has a scanner, so I'll try to get them to make a scan of my HVAC panel while it's there. If nothing else, then to provide a blueprint for reproducing that panel in case something happens in the future. In the meantime, I'll take a high-res picture while I'm there so I don't leave empty-handed, both with and without the backlighting. Considering the very low miles, I doubt it's seen enough use to warrant a replacement (and after checking my complete service records, freon charging and heater core repair are the only HVAC-related repairs). But I'll still try to get a scan, even with the pictures


By the way, I have actually seen VIN 500 in person. I'm not too far from the Crawford Auto Museum, and I saw in another thread that you were looking to get the HVAC design for that one. I do see a problem with that approach though: I strongly suspect there hasn't been a battery in VIN 500 in years, perhaps decades. While this normally doesn't pose a problem, it also means that the "blackout" panel doesn't have a source of power to light it up. And I'm not sure if a scan would backlight it either. I do know that VIN 500 gets moved around every so often, as well as the three other stainless steel cars they have there (70's Lincoln, 70's Ford Thunderbird, and 40's Ford, all three of which were at this year's Classic Car Show at the Cleveland Auto Show). As far as I know though, they haven't done any work on it in a very long time. But who knows, maybe they'd be willing to work with you so they can reproduce it themselves.

[kajcienski]

No problem! I know DPI has a scanner, so I'll try to get them to make a scan of my HVAC panel while it's there. If nothing else, then to provide a blueprint for reproducing that panel in case something happens in the future. In the meantime, I'll take a high-res picture while I'm there so I don't leave empty-handed, both with and without the backlighting. Considering the very low miles, I doubt it's seen enough use to warrant a replacement (and after checking my complete service records, freon charging and heater core repair are the only HVAC-related repairs). But I'll still try to get a scan, even with the pictures


By the way, I have actually seen VIN 500 in person. I'm not too far from the Crawford Auto Museum, and I saw in another thread that you were looking to get the HVAC design for that one. I do see a problem with that approach though: I strongly suspect there hasn't been a battery in VIN 500 in years, perhaps decades. While this normally doesn't pose a problem, it also means that the "blackout" panel doesn't have a source of power to light it up. And I'm not sure if a scan would backlight it either. I do know that VIN 500 gets moved around every so often, as well as the three other stainless steel cars they have there (70's Lincoln, 70's Ford Thunderbird, and 40's Ford, all three of which were at this year's Classic Car Show at the Cleveland Auto Show). As far as I know though, they haven't done any work on it in a very long time. But who knows, maybe they'd be willing to work with you so they can reproduce it themselves.

Thanks so much! I have some scans that a fellow "forumer" generously sent and look great but additional scans always help. I'm going to try and see if VIN 500 has a battery or if they would be willing to help me out in the interest of the DeLorean community. It would be really amazing to see what it looks like when lit! Would you be willing to go and photograph it if I can arrange it? Any thoughts?

[kajcienski]

A shout out to Mike on this forum that got me this super high-res early (I believe from a 900's VIN) decal scan! My plan with this is to remove the "white outline" of the text and graphics and use this as the base for the blackout overlay design for people with stock setups. My best assumption is that after the original blackout decal didn't perform well, they took those same graphics and made them visible - while adding the white outline to make them really "pop" as well. At least that is what makes sense to me! I will keep the colors the same as this decal version except the rear defrost "square", that from what I can tell from VIN 500 pictures, was lit up yellow like the mid decal versions. Anyone have any additional thoughts before I dig into this? Any suggestions? I'm not sure how much interest there is in this since the backlight would need to be converted to one of my (or anyone who wants a do-it-yourself job) LED units to really display properly with bright and truly even light, but I think it would be super cool to get this into some cars! I believe this was a very new idea for the time and am sure that if the original backlight panel was designed better, they would have kept this design through production. The prototype blackout decal I made for my own setup in this thread looks really awesome when lit (also cool when "off") and am definitely going to make permanent in my own car.

My only question is if there was an even earlier version of this decal? This is from VIN 910 I think so is definitely early. But if there was an earlier one, I would be curious to know the difference - I would like to be as authentic (as possible) with trying to match the original blackout version on VIN 500.
dmc_ac_bezel_2.jpg

[dmc6960]

I'd be more interested to see what the VIN 500 decal actually looks like when lit up, then base the design off of that. There is no way to know for sure if this is what it would be.

[kajcienski]

I'd be more interested to see what the VIN 500 decal actually looks like when lit up, then base the design off of that. There is no way to know for sure if this is what it would be.

Very true, but I think all of the decal designs are valid to go blackout and the early/mid version is the overwhelming fan favorite (this would be a known recreation anyway). I am with you on trying to get an exact match on this one and will try very hard to convince the museum to light it up, but perhaps there is more of a reason why it did not go into production than just the backlight... Could be very interesting. The good thing is that the design can always be altered on my end so can please the purists (although the design will never be a truly exact re-creation) and the owners that want the "best of all designs" made blackout. A good example would be how large the Fan Fail and Rear Defrost letters are in early versions. It doesn't even fully light the text because it is so large. This was changed on the later decals. I think an improvement. I'd rather make a few changes like this so it looks better and performs well than keep it the way it is while everyone knowing it is a repro anyway. But all in all, I'm 100% with you and will do my best!

[Patrick C]

I'd be more interested to see what the VIN 500 decal actually looks like when lit up, then base the design off of that. There is no way to know for sure if this is what it would be.

[kajcienski]

Very interesting. Thanks for this pic! I wish the picture was better to see more detail - but it seems obvious that the decal was pretty terrible as far as performance due to poor backlighting. You can sorta make out the red part of the temp control where the bulb is (looks washed out in the bulb spot) and faint symbols on the mode and fan switches, but does not seem to display worth a darn. You can clearly see the graphics on the instrument cluster and would expect the same on the decal. I realize this is a scan of a printed picture, but can at least tell that much I think. Anyone else have any thoughts? I might be totally off on this but is my humble take on it. I'll be contacting the museum to see what can be done.

Note: Interesting seat texture!

[Shep]

Thanks so much! I have some scans that a fellow "forumer" generously sent and look great but additional scans always help. I'm going to try and see if VIN 500 has a battery or if they would be willing to help me out in the interest of the DeLorean community. It would be really amazing to see what it looks like when lit! Would you be willing to go and photograph it if I can arrange it? Any thoughts?

I have a wedding I'm preparing for that will happen in two weeks (July 28th), and it's all hands on deck until then, but I can certainly arrange to go up there on a weekend once August rolls around!

My only question is if there was an even earlier version of this decal? This is from VIN 910 I think so is definitely early. But if there was an earlier one, I would be curious to know the difference - I would like to be as authentic (as possible) with trying to match the original blackout version on VIN 500.
dmc_ac_bezel_2.jpg

I will say that decal doesn't look familiar as what I have, but maybe it's just me. I'll find out on Tuesday what 559 has (the rest of my family has off, including my almost-brother-in-law who's a DeLorean fanatic).

[kajcienski]

I have a wedding I'm preparing for that will happen in two weeks (July 28th), and it's all hands on deck until then, but I can certainly arrange to go up there on a weekend once August rolls around!


I will say that decal doesn't look familiar as what I have, but maybe it's just me. I'll find out on Tuesday what 559 has (the rest of my family has off, including my almost-brother-in-law who's a DeLorean fanatic).

Cool - I look forward to seeing what 559 has! I called the museum and am making progress. We will solve this mystery