What do Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Western Carolina University Marching Band have in common? They both trusted JKS to wrap their equipment trailer. (They might also both play “Free Bird,” but I don’t know that for a fact.)
A couple of months ago, I wrote about painting the car hauler for the Wood Brothers Racing team. That project combined old-fashioned paint with vinyl graphics, but the vast majority of the vehicle graphics we do are straight vinyl wraps.
With a vinyl wrap, the image is printed on large sheets of vinyl and then installed on the vehicle sometimes having to use a heat gun. It’s very precise and exacting work. On large vehicles, multiple sheets have to be fitted together exactly. It requires great skill and attention to detail.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, with paint you can get brighter, more vibrant colors. The advantage of a vinyl wrap, however, is that we can generate wraps with amazing and complex graphics. We can even use photographs to produce wraps like Kevin Harvick’s car hauler and the Jack Daniels hospitality bus, shown below.
We can also, when needed, do spot graphics on the vinyl using paint, so our clients can get the advantages of using both methods.
Some of the vehicles we wrap are quite large – 53’ or 25’ trailers. The most common vehicles we wrap are show cars, wrapping dozens every year. We also can do some smaller specialty vehicles. Recently we wrapped a drag racing motorcycle for driver Angie Smith. The whole process took about seven hours because it was an oddly shaped vehicle, but this video condenses it down to just three and a half minutes. Thanks to Amber Vinson with NHRA for such a cool peak at this process.
And here’s the finished bike:
Our installers enjoy jobs like the above because they’re more of a challenge. We have come to call the installers “stick & go” people and we’ve used the same crew for over 30 years. We have sent them all over the country to do installations.
Wraps are some of our most fun jobs, especially when we’re given the opportunity to do both the creative development for the wrap as well as the production and installation. As I mentioned, we recently wrapped the trailers for Lynyrd Skynyrd’s farewell tour, and they’re just one of the bands and musicians we’ve worked with. (The wraps for the band vehicles are some of my personal favorites.)
Another wrap we did recently was for the Bowman Gray Stadium pace car. Bowman Gray, which recently kicked off their 70th season of racing, is our oldest client – we’ve been working with them since 1985.
But vehicle wraps aren’t just a fun thing to do – they’re also a great marketing and advertising tool. We know from personal experience that wrapped vehicles get noticed. When we send out JKS trailers for show car gigs, people take pictures of those trailers and then email them to us.
When you hear the term “Rolling Billboard” – that’s exactly what a large trailer with great graphics and branding really is and it’s the best advertising tool. With a vinyl wrap, the client doesn’t have to hope a lot of people drive by and see it, because the vehicle can go directly to the people! It’s seen by thousands of other drivers while it’s on the way to its destination. Then when it’s parked, at the race track or on the street, it’s a billboard people can walk up to and touch and stand beside to have their picture taken.
So, if you’re looking for a great way to make people aware of your business or service or product, consider a vehicle wrap. That way wherever your vehicle is, it’s telling your story.
Want to see more of our vehicle graphics? Click here.