Left Door Jamb Paint Code Sticker, For Late 73's and Up Options

[gcrotvik]

Nathan,

I downloaded the DIN Engschrift Std font. The standard strike is too thin. Bold is too thick. Is there a demi-bold? I looked on the site but I couldn't find a match. Also, the lower case L is incorrect.

Here is what I found:

DIN Engschrift Std (font strike too thin)

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/adobe/din-sch...ift/glyphs.html
- lower case L is incorrect, lower case t is close/correct

Engschrift Austria D

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/engschrif...a-d/glyphs.html
- lower case t is incorrect, lower case L is correct

Engschrift DIN D

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/engschrif...n-d/glyphs.html
- lower case L is incorrect, lower case t is close/correct

Thoughts?

Greg

The font you're using looks like Impact ? Impact is like microsoft version of univers which isn't quite right either. I think the font is supposed to be DIN engshrift.

I have a 'L50k neptunblau' sticker like this in my bus, I will have to measure it.

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/adobe/din-sch...ift/glyphs.html

[nathansnathan]

There are a bunch of digital versions of it, but the font predates modern digital typefaces. Some of them you will see the 4 is open like it is, say on the speedometer, some it is closed. Another difference I see is the sticker, the 'a' has a tail that none of the fonts have. You can get the font for free, but sometimes the font isn't as refined a version as it could be, the space between characters will look off, the proportions will look off. The original version that vw porsche used was probably done with film or letraset.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/upload.wikimedia.org-11782-1389369066.1.jpg)

FF makes DIN pro which is really nice (and expensive) and has many weights and titling versions etc. I will check tonight if I have it, I probably do, as a post script mac font. I could convert it to a pc truetype I think - I have an old laptop that has all my old fonts from the NYT and MTV and a version of transtype 2. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I will see what I can find.

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/fontfont/ff-din/

[Tom_T]

Nathan - nice to see someone step in who is more schooled in typefaces/fonts etc., and someone who knows old school Letraset as well.

There is an off-chance that VW & Porsche's vendor for the sticker back-in-the-day actually took the Letraset & modified by hand (ink & xacto blade) certain letters for a particular customer, as was the case for the actual "PORSCHE" Script used for the badges (I don't recall which script they started with).

But you all probably noticed that Sir Andy had modified the 914world logo (4 & W most noticeable) to generic font for fear of legal action - a shame really that Porsche cracks down on their "unofficial" enthusiast site like that!

So Greg may have to do the digital Photoshop equivalent of that, or else track down some old school Letraset/other transfer letter sheets in the appropriate Demi-Bold-Condensed & do it by hand, then scan/photo to digitaize it to match. IIRC they are still produced in sheet form & sold at some art/architecture/engineering/graphics stores around (often near colleges/universities/art schools) for those case where folks are still producing one-off physical pieces needing formal lettering (as opposed to hand lettering or digital art).

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif) ....ahhh yes! The days ....er all nighters.... scrambling to finish off those dang rub-on letter notes in the studio while bleary eyed from lack of sleep. Those were the days!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Good work & collaboration guys! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Cheers! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[gcrotvik]

I gave the fonts, my work/samples and a link to these threads to my brother today. As a web developer, he's a Photoshop wiz. We will see what he comes up with!

The pictures below are where I left off. The labels are 28mm x 75mm. The font size is 20pt. They look (IMHO) close. These are stock cut labels. I may need to have custom labels cut to get the corners a bit less rounded. These are laser labels and were printed on a commercial color printer. Even though they are black, the color printer prints a deeper black than a standard commercial black/white laser printer.

I will take a few pictures this weekend with a foil sample on my car.

Greg

[nathansnathan]

I busted out my old laptop last night. It's running OS 9.2 and it's got about 5gb of old type 1 postscript fonts on it. I do have a ton of versions of DIN, but just 1 of the condensed Engschrift, and I don't think it is better than what you've found. That second one you linked above looks best - the 9 is the worst on the others, the hook is like diagonal instead of coming around. I thought about doing my own version, as I could make a font based on an existing using fontographer, would have to scan or photograph and modify from there, or......

I did find this site in the uk that has really good-looking ones. They are a vw site so maybe wouldn't have all 914 colors? They do have a really long drop down list of codes there, in seemingly no order whatsoever. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

http://www.karmannkonnection.com/acatalog/...essories_3.html

[Tom_T]

Nathan & Greg,

For the MY 70-76 - both VWs & 914s had the same colors available (less for 914), not counting the 98 paint to Porsche color & 99 paint to match [sample] options for 914s & many of the Porsche colors had a VW counterpart with a different marketing name in many case.

So depending upon how thorough the UK guys were in making their list, it may cover all 914 stock colors (1 stage & black + 2/3-stage metallics), since the Super Beetles at least had color options pretty much mirroring the 914 choices.

IIRC the later 914-6's color names & code numbers would match-up after Porsche standardized the colors, but early 914-6s using different Porsche naming/numbers would not (or was it the other way around? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif) ).

A good listing with sample 914 cars in actual colors is at p914.com under paint colors, as well as other originality by MY info.

Greg, I think what you have is a passable repro and probably matches very close to one of the sticker batches that the Karmann factory used - if not precisely exact.

Good work guys! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[gcrotvik]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the feedback. There is a slight modification I need to make with the current font spacing. On comparison last night, my wife and I both noticed there is a bit too much space between the characters. I can easily correct that.

I just got word from my brother that he has a font sample to show me tomorrow. Knowing him as i do, it has to be very close. I will post a copy of that sample as soon as I have it.

One question regarding the foil labels. Are the corners too round? When looking at some sample pictures they seem to be correct. On other samples, they seem to be too rounded. Opinions??

Greg

Nathan & Greg,

For the MY 70-76 - both VWs & 914s had the same colors available (less for 914), not counting the 98 paint to Porsche color & 99 paint to match [sample] options for 914s & many of the Porsche colors had a VW counterpart with a different marketing name in many case.

So depending upon how thorough the UK guys were in making their list, it may cover all 914 stock colors (1 stage & black + 2/3-stage metallics), since the Super Beetles at least had color options pretty much mirroring the 914 choices.

IIRC the later 914-6's color names & code numbers would match-up after Porsche standardized the colors, but early 914-6s using different Porsche naming/numbers would not (or was it the other way around? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif) ).

A good listing with sample 914 cars in actual colors is at p914.com under paint colors, as well as other originality by MY info.

Greg, I think what you have is a passable repro and probably matches very close to one of the sticker batches that the Karmann factory used - if not precisely exact.

Good work guys! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[tod914]

Greg, like I suggested earlier, have your brother bring them both into photoshop. Your working layer and the original. You won't be guessing about spacing, size and kerning. And, you'll save yourself a lot of time. Labels are looking real nice!
I did this real quick test in Photoshop so you get the idea about aligning the text. The bottom layer I had to adjust the perspective on. With the correct font, you should be able to replicate it perfectly. This took about 10 minutes.

[gcrotvik]

Greg, like I suggested earlier, have your brother bring them both into photoshop. Your working layer and the original. You won't be guessing about spacing, size and kerning. And, you'll save yourself a lot of time. Labels are looking real nice!
I did this real quick test in Photoshop so you get the idea about aligning the text. The bottom layer I had to adjust the perspective on. With the correct font, you should be able to replicate it perfectly. This took about 10 minutes.

Hi Tod,

I worked with my brother today on fonts. He found a font that's a 95% match. Now that he has a font, he will pull the label into Illustrator to perfect the spacing and kerning. The only thing we will be missing is the small tail on the lower case a.

I will have a PDF sample later this week.

I need some feedback regarding the size and corners on the label used in my pictures above. They are 28 x 75 mm. I would prefer to use a stock label rather than have custom labels made. Your thoughts?

Greg

[tod914]

That's fantastic Greg. Very likely he can modify the "a" for you. If your labels are the same height and width as the originals, I think your good. I had to distort and skew this one a bit to check the corner radius. It seems to be the same or close enough.

[JeffBowlsby]

These are coming along great Greg. Any plan to do a run of them?...I would be interested in a couple if you do.

[gcrotvik]

Hi Jeff,

Yes, it's my goal to get a complete list of paint codes to reproduce. I will need to make several versions with English and German paint names (eg., saturnyellow and saturngelb) for members to choose from. That part of the project is next. I may ask for your help with the list!

Thanks for your feedback and help. Without your cataloging of labels, this would have been an impossible project.

Greg

These are coming along great Greg. Any plan to do a run of them?...I would be interested in a couple if you do.

[scotty b]

don't know how I missed this before, but just in case it helps you

[seareef228]

Any word on these I really need a 96b Alaska blue met
Ill pay whatever you need I also have a og decal so its messed up
also if its not 100% identical font that's ok
What you produced looks great

[bbrock]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_bump.gif) Bumping this thread up to see if these ever became available. In the home stretch on stripping my car and my sticker is looking just a tad tired. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

[bbrock]

I don't think these stickers are getting the attention they deserve. Don't you know that your cars will run faster, get better mileage, and emit ZERO pollution if you have one of these stickers on the car? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Okay, maybe not, but I PM'd Greg and learned that the minimum buy for him to produce these stickers wasn't justified by the demand, so I started checking VW sticker sources and found reproductions for older Bugs, but not quite like these. After contacting a couple sellers that couldn't do custom, I contacted these guys on ebay who said it was no problem to print custom text and make the label a little longer to fit these dimensions. Sticker has been ordered, I'll update when it arrives to report how they did.

[bbrock]

My sticker arrived today. I ordered from this guy in the UK. Super easy to deal with. Sent a message and within minutes he responded more than happy to do the sticker with custom text and even custom size based on the dimensions posted in this thread. It shipped the following day but took awhile to get here.

Looks like the letter spacing is slightly tighter than original, the space between the stem and dot of the "i" is more narrow, and I should have had him double space between letters of the paint code. But it is close enough for me. So here it is next to the image that Greg posted when this thread was active.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-11134-1389044481.jpg)

[Lucky9146]

Resurfacing this thread to see if any progress has been made on paint decals. I see Brent @bbrock was able to get his through Ebay and have reached out to them to see if still doing them.

Have also looked at Carbone, AA, and 914 Rubber with no success.

Also reached out to @double-a who made the excellent washer bottle decal.
Thanks! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/white914.jpg)

I borrowed Greg's @gcrotvik picture of his prototype
Need L 80 E

[double-a]

Resurfacing this thread to see if any progress has been made on paint decals. I see Brent @bbrock was able to get his through Ebay and have reached out to them to see if still doing them.

Have also looked at Carbone, AA, and 914 Rubber with no success.

Also reached out to @double-a who made the excellent washer bottle decal.
Thanks! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/white914.jpg)

I borrowed Greg's @gcrotvik picture of his prototype
Need L 80 E

if someone can get me some exact dimensions, and a range of photos, i'll see what kind of substrate i can find. matching typeface and color is easy, matching ~50 year old materials is not (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

~a

[Lucky9146]

My sticker arrived today. I ordered from this guy in the UK. Super easy to deal with. Sent a message and within minutes he responded more than happy to do the sticker with custom text and even custom size based on the dimensions posted in this thread. It shipped the following day but took awhile to get here.

Looks like the letter spacing is slightly tighter than original, the space between the stem and dot of the "i" is more narrow, and I should have had him double space between letters of the paint code. But it is close enough for me. So here it is next to the image that Greg posted when this thread was active.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-11134-1389044481.jpg)

Took your suggestion and contacted the same people you did in the UK. Gave them a pic of yours as a reminder of what they did for you and then a pic of what I wanted and specified I wanted a bit more spacing. They said they could do the spacing as I requested. Pulled the trigger yesterday after several emails, and it shipped today! Will post results.
Thanks for the tip Brent! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)