What type of black was on the original decals, flat, satin, gloss? I have an original used decal and the black is flat but that could just be due to age. I believe inside of the Tri-shields was white.
Dr Decal is supposedly selling NOS 430 valve cover decals. They look gloss to me https://www.drdecal.com/product/1967-69-buick-430-4bbl-valve-cover-nos/
Those are not nos, they are the wrong size, and no embossing in the numbers or circle around the tri-shields. The numbers should not be outlined in white either. Compare my original to the one he is selling. You can buy that style in 400 or 430 anywhere.
This is an original (used) 430 decal. It only looks gold because of a layer of adhesive stuck over it. This decal was on my first 68 GS400 underneath the 400-4 decal. The factory put the wrong decal on and then just put the correct one over it. Big difference in the original decals compared to the current reproductions.
I just noticed that on the embossing on the Dr Decal site. Some of that Dr Decal stuff is in fact NOS. I bought a 350-4 air cleaner decal that was gorgeous and was embossed. I guess he has some repro stuff sprinkled in there
Hey Mike, Are you thinking of resurrecting the idea of reproducing these? I remember years ago of you trying to get this done but there weren't enough people on board. I would love to see it happen. The originals look so much better than the current repos.
Wow you have a good memory, that was quite a while ago. Thinking about it but the cost may be prohibitive. The embossing is the expensive part and no sense reproducing them if they are not embossed. Don't want to get stuck with a 10 year supply and a huge up front cost.
I have a couple that are NOS (supposed to be); I bought them at the Nats 20 years or so ago. One has the tampo misaligned with the embossing. Both appear to be glossy (maybe very slightly satin?) and yes, the trishields are white. The white looks a little satiner(?) than the black. And the dash isn’t embossed, it’s just a silver square. Patrick
Any idea approximate cost per decal? Maybe we could get it done this time. It seems like there are more 67-69 GS guys around here now that might make it feasible. It's funny, I was just recently thinking about searching for that old post just to see if anyone might be interested in this and now I won't have to.
No clue on cost, I am currently working with a local print house to see what they can do. It is going to require tooling to make the embossing and that drives up the cost. I should have a quote by the end of the week. Fingers crossed its reasonable but I doubt it.
Is the BUICK name embossed? Strange that the "-" is not embossed on yours, both of the originals I have do have embossing in the dash.
Yes, the BUICK is embossed, as are the circle immediately outboard of the ‘bumps’ and the outline of the trisheild. You can see it better on the misaligned one. The seller’s sticker on mine says ‘67 GS; maybe ‘68 was different?
Just thinking out loud but, couldn't the original decal be scanned and laser printed to have a simulated embossed look? That would better than what's available at the moment and would help keep the cost reasonable. I just don't know if it's possible or how realistic they might look.
I just checked my '68 decals and BUICK is very slightly embossed. No way I can get tooling made for that at a reasonable cost. Simulating the embossing may be possible and would keep the cost down, I will speak with the printer about that. The printer commented on the original decal that "someone must have printed a lot of these decals to make them worth while". That's not a good sign
The printer is currently trying to source a suitable material to print them on. Something that can withstand higher temps and can be embossed is a proving to be a challenge. Any decal material experts out there? As for temps, it told them 180 deg F and above, sound right?
3M foil label material seems a good base for repro. Company below offers embossing, and I believe an accurate reproduction can be done. https://www.american-nameplate.com/product/embossed-metal-nameplates
Well, I pulled the plug with the printer on this project. Unless I can get them embossed it would not be worth it too me. Embossing tooling is expensive. Maybe someone else can pick this project up and get it rolling.