July 15, 2020

When is a wrap, not a wrap. When it’s a detail accent package that throws the same, powerful punch…

Some vehicles are just born head-turners. For all sorts of reasons, there are cars that provoke reactions. People approach them when they’re parked. Children point at them as the pass on the road. They hold the gaze just a bit longer than a vanilla coloured Mondeo might.

These days, wraps are responsible for a lot of the attention that the so called head turners on wheels get. No surprise then that it’s commercial vehicles in the main that use wraps or that they use them for the purpose of advertising and promotion. Such vehicles lead hard lives and roam the roads doing a very valuable job. Thanks to wraps, they look all the better doing it.

Beyond wraps for commercial and practical purpose though, there exist a whole school of thought that seeks to change the appearances of vehicles to bring to them a sense of individuality and occasion. Drill deeper and you’ll find car customisation aficionados and practitioners. And where you find them, you’ll find some truly wonderful looking cars.

Here’s one. It’s a Suzuki but that seems hardly worth mentioning. Wearing its war paint it’s something much bigger than an example of its marque. It’s a car that someone dedicated to it really has made their own. It’s not likely you’ll ever see another exactly like it anywhere else. What is likely though is that you see something similar made in homage. It’s going to inspire others to try something similar. That, might be simpler than it seems.

As dramatic as it looks, the car isn’t wrapped. It’s painted in a key colour, a stunning colour as it happens. The dramatic effect is derived of the contrast of the colour itself and the accent work so skilfully delivered by John Hazlehurst of Sheffield based Spectrum Signs and Graphics.

The detail and contrasting accents comprise Metamark 7 Series coloured materials. The cutting and application are products of very elevated levels of hand-on skills. Lines so smooth and so beautifully flowing off the car’s panel contouring don’t just happen.

The choice of a matt contrast that works with a paint gloss that’s deep enough swim in is inspired. Even the blue stripe, a minor player in the ensemble of other details, uses the device of colour to work with the changing density and tone in the grounding paint. It’s a brilliant piece of work and a credit both to the car’s owner and to John Hazlehurst’s Spectrum Signs and Graphics.

In the midst of this car will be found design and colour exemplars that could inform design directions that would work for commercial vehicles too.

Now there’s a thought.