442 87 442 front bumper decal prototype (improved)

If anyone is familiar with the 87 442 front bumper decal, you know the originals were gold ink printed on clear substrate in two pieces and applied with the 442 very close to the top of the painted bumper cover. This approximately centered the "Oldsmobile" lettering on the bumper cover. Many times these started peeling around the edges and either tearing off or getting dirt underneath and looking like dog poop over the years. GM did NOT make the OEM decals available over the counter. They made them with gold decal material but basically had the 442 closer to the center of the bumper cover.

OEM:



Over the counter GM replacement:


And how it mounts:



These decals are getting to be pretty much non-existent in the GM wrapper. You'll be very lucky to find one.

I took it upon myself to make a slightly improved version. First, I had to find a gold material as close as possible to the original striping. I got a $3,000 quote from some vinyl company that said they could color match it....um....ok, if I were doing this for a living I just might. However, I believe I have found the closest match out there, and I've searched through a ton of gold vinyl.

Then, the design was very slightly tweaked. Not the 442 decal itself, but the backing/transfer tape. I cut it to the same dimensions as the over-the counter decal, but added two notches on either side, in the event anyone wants to mount the decal in the same place as the originals were. Just line the notches up with the top of the bumper cover and apply. Or, you could simply line up the decal with the top of the transfer tape and apply it that way like GM intended. You get to choose.

Here's the rough prototype and a swatch of the metallic gold decal material. Eww. I resized the photo and it made it look a bit wonky. But, nonetheless, it's going to be better than just being lucky when placing it as it's the same sizing as the GM decal. Got some more tweaks to do, but it might come out ok. I got a ton of white vinyl to practice with, as I don't want to burn up my gold vinyl stash just messin' around. I'm also going to make the trunk decal with the correct guide to plop on top of the trunk "Oldsmobile" emblem so it basically self aligns. And with any luck, I'm going to try to make the bumper cover front and rear gold stripes as a repair kit. The bumper covers, especially the front and the corners, see lots of action over time and I've seen many with scars. The kick up angle that wraps around the corners is likely to be tricky to replicate, but I might be able to do it.



The gold is pretty friggin' close. This is an actual GM decal I was using to help develop all this junk. The GM decal gold has a very teensy slight hue of light rose gold to it in certain light and angles. But the vinyl I got doesn't have that. But again, it's the closest I've found and I've gone through over 2 dozen samples. It looks better in person. Plus, coloring can vary from batch to batch.

Prototype is done, first test run on the gold. I think it just may work.

Got the trunk lid and 85-86 front bumper 442 decal made as well. The opening simply drops over the top of the "Oldsmobile" emblem on the trunk lid or front bumper for easy alignment. 87 uses it only on the trunk lid. Now all I got to do is cut and apply the transfer tape on the front. The beauty of these is they require no wet method of application. They can be installed dry. 3M controltac stuff has microscopic air release ports in the vinyl which means you can install these without application fluid, which can get a little messy sometime. They're thin enough as well as not to become an air trap hazard.



Hard to get a good picture of the color. They're gold, but the angle of lighting changes the hue as soon as it's moved. Computer picture just don't capture these very well.

Aaaannnnnnnnndddddddddd.........I did the last one just to see if I could. And I did. I didn't bother cutting it in gold, as these are prototypes. The cutter doesn't know or care what color vinyl is being used.

Here's the prototype door decal. Note both the sides are slightly curved to match the front door curvature depending on which door you use, and the bottom sits on top of the side door stripe decal for "self-aligning" purposes.

So basically, got the entire set of numbers for a stock 85-87 442. All the decals were patterned from NOS GM decals.

I'm wanting to do the bumper stripes, but I still have to figure out the correct way to curve the pattern to the proper degrees. I'll figure it out, but likely not today.