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behold, the Wraptor ;) (truck graphics write-up)


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This is for all three of you who aren't on Facebook.  Everybody else has probably already seen it 200 times so please just ignore.  :)  Almost photoshopped my website out but I talked to two admins and they said it was ok so here it is.  If there's any issues please just delete, I'm just proud of it but don't want to ruffle any feathers.  

 

Basically I kept seeing all these trucks that were representing everything but home audio so I wanted to do the same thing with Klipsch.  The below two were my favorite:

 

example / inspiration 1:

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example / inspiration 2: 

 

 

 

 

 

So I hooked up with a designer and we came up with this based on design styles that I liked, it's actually a rendering but it almost looks real, this truck doesn't exist.  This took several proofs to get to this point, I literally threw away about 75 versions of almost the same thing.  Matt Sommers provided feedback on some tweaks and approved this design:

 

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I finally got the courage to pull the trigger, found a shop in Nashville called the Wrap Lab who had done multiple Raptors and other high end cars so I was more comfortable with dealing with them than the local guys who admitted that they didn't like stuffing the wrap behind anything, they just cut around stuff, and I saw examples of that and it was just as bad as I suspected, so I drove down and left it for a week.  

 

installation:

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Good thing I stared at that pic for awhile, finally realized that the front fender was messed up so that had to be redone:

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finished except the door handle was wrong, notice the driver side door handle makes it look like you are seeing double, that part of the L and I was about an inch too high, they had to redo it.  

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first look outside the shop:

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at a local pond:

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tailgate closeup:

 

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at the warehouse:

 

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IT turned out great for the most part.  If I were to do it over I would try to avoid the door handles if at all possible but they aren't that big of a deal, we knew going in that would be a challenge.  The body panels made a few things appear slightly different than I expected but if I didn't point it out most people would never notice.  The Raptor is a wide body truck, those fenders are VERY curvy compared to a normal truck, it messed some things up mostly revolving around my website.  The tailgate top is twisted as well and I couldn't do much with it.  The inside of the front and rear fender and right above the URL was probably the hardest though.  If I ever did another one I'd make sure I got actual 3D renderings to be safe.  Paint shops have some very good software that they can use to visualize all the curves, it would be more useful than I expected in situations like this.  Here are a couple of renderings that didn't make the cut but were made using this software.  This truck doesn't exist either, just blows my mind.  

 

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Anyway, it was a fun project.  It was surprisingly nerve racking to turn over a new truck to people knowing they're going to take a bunch of stuff off of it plus not knowing exactly how it was going to turn out.  If I had done it a few times before and had an older vehicle I wouldn't care but yeah that was strange.  :)  

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Cory that is one fine Ford! 

Wouldn't mess with it unless it was for the same reason that you did. The copper adds enough to it to keep the mainly B&W from looking possibly dull.

Do you have to be careful with slinging mud up on that stuff? You're a good bit northwest of here so don't know what color the mud is up there.....

but if it is close to the copper color that will look good dirty too!

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That looks great, it turned out perfect. I don't blame you for being nervous about the whole thing but you have to like it, it couldn't have turned out better. 

 

It's the only one in the world like that :emotion-55:

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1 hour ago, JohnJ said:

Do you have to be careful with slinging mud up on that stuff? You're a good bit northwest of here so don't know what color the mud is up there.....

but if it is close to the copper color that will look good dirty too!

 

Thanks. This is about what happens when I turn the local fire roads into a baja course. The fender flares and side steps blocks most of it. The wrap actually protects the paint quite a bit from rocks too supposedly so I dont expect it to be too bad in this regard. 

 

 

IMG_20190313_172734_831.jpg

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1 hour ago, carlthess40 said:


Your right, a Chevy needs all the help it can get to look better, the Ford needs no help as it is

BS, wrap a Ford to get something to hide what it looks like from the factory.
On the other hand I really hate the barn door amount of chrome on most all pickups.
That is why I went with the Silverado RST instead of the +$20,000 cost to get monochrome

 

Digging at you C man

 

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Thanks. This is about what happens when I turn the local fire roads into a baja course. The fender flares and side steps blocks most of it. The wrap actually protects the paint quite a bit from rocks too supposedly so I dont expect it to be too bad in this regard. 
 
 
IMG_20190313_172734_831.thumb.jpg.5bbd3c2a2c53cf834037e218f997f467.jpg

Looks great
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I'm the third I guess.

Ford did not sell out to the almighty govt the last decade. I respect them for that.

Plus did y'all read or hear about what goes into making one of those Raptors? Could be better now, what I saw about them was a few years ago!

Not just a tweaked exhaust and fender flares.

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2 hours ago, JohnJ said:

Plus did y'all read or hear about what goes into making one of those Raptors? Could be better now, what I saw about them was a few years ago!

Not just a tweaked exhaust and fender flares.

 

I don't know what all it is but I've heard that almost all of it is specific to the Raptor.  I know the body panels and suspension are, those are the biggest things.  A-arms should be longer, body panels wider, rear axle should be wider, different gear ratio, custom seats including Recaro's if you choose, some modes on the computer wouldn't be found in a normal truck, I think until the recent 2019 platinum F-150 the raptor was the only truck you could get with the twin turbo 3.5 and the floor shifter but not sure, custom tailgate applique, optional front locker, of course the grill... probably more but the looks and the suspension were my biggest things, this thing is like riding on a cloud, the suspension is insane.  

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6 hours ago, rockhound said:

Very nice, I’m one of the three without Facebook!

I'm #5

But I was shown the truck from the wife, I kind of had a feeling it was going to be a hit when I first saw it, it is a cool looking truck.

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@MetropolisLakeOutfitters

The Ford SVT group makes it, `nuff said!

I read it's the drivetrain and suspension upgraded plus knowledge gathered from the off-road crowd. A mean stance thrown in!

Do you have the `19 with twin turbos and variable on-the-fly adjustable Fox shocks? 

 

First car was a`73 big block Charger, fast & torquey but stunk in the curves. Second the Bicentennial edition of "The Hugger" did what the Charger couldn't do in the curves - 350 4-barrel in a Camaro then was pretty quick. Had a celica that could go full throttle through any curve or turn almost. A 4WD S-10 Durango 6 banger fun... but a drunk hit me and tore it up. `89 Silverado, Sapphire Blue with a nuetered 350. A Cutlass in there too, a 96 dakota with tranny fluid in the 5 sp gearbox:dry:. A la cakaroacha `94Caprice 9C1 - med horse, 330ft lbs, 13 second 25+ hwy mpg curve hugging I-95 traffic clearing beast that turning the ac on cooled the engine!

 

Brand is not that important when the vehicle is set up to inhale and exhale correctly, suspension can take it, and it can do 80+ mph for 20 hrs straight (stopping for gas & a pit stop once or twice) without blowing up!

 

Sorry for going off a little but when you grow up on the southside here where the World 600 was run, next door neighbor takes you for rides in his Hemi Superbird when you're six and seven years old.... it and his wife's Roadrunner had road runner beep beep horns!!!

N ascar C ountry is different..... it was at least.

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