Best Unique Vehicles of 2011

FIRST PLACE

Fabricator
360 Wraps
Dallas
(214) 432-9029
www.360wraps.com

Designer
Tommy Strader

Installers
Matt Blanchard
Jayy Esquivel
Tommy Strader

Client
EA Motorsports

As noted in the introduction, this project earned the unofficial distinction of Best of Show runner-up in what was probably the lengthiest deliberation in contest history. Strader said, “For this job, we had the best kind of client – one who gave us design free-reign. He was dedicated to making his car win the award for most attractive on the INEX Legends Cars circuit. The season isn’t over, but the positive feedback EA Motorsports has received thus far gives them a good shot.”

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After Strader perfected the design – it features a jet-turbine engine, which he said “looks cool and represents speed and enormous power” – 360 Wraps fabricated the approximately 300 sq. ft. of graphics on its Mutoh ValueJet 1614. A glossy overlaminate keeps it vibrant throughout racing season.

SECOND PLACE

Fabricators
Lynn Wilkerson
Mario Munoz
Great Big Signs
Kyle, TX
(512) 262-2157
www.greatbigsignsinc.com

Blackout Signs
San Marcos, TX
(512) 738-6715
www.blackoutsigns.com

Jim LaPaso
Kyle, TX
(512) 396-4041
www.lapaso.com

Designer
Lynn Wilkerson

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Client
Freebirds World Burrito

Great Big Signs’ transformations of VW microbuses into 3-D sculptures for Freebirds World Burrito, an Emeryville, CA-based, quick-service, Mexican-food chain with approximately 50 locations in Texas, California and Oklahoma, have become a Vehicle Contest fixture. “Libby,” Wilkerson’s whimsical sendup of Lady Liberty that Great Big Signs fabricates from formed fiberglass coated with a copper-patina faux-finish, has taken her customary spot astride a Harley, holding a wrapped burrito and projecting out of the van’s roof. This one carries particular significance because it heralded the opening of the first L.A. Freebirds location.

Wilkerson began his design process with a pen and paper sketch, and digitized his work with CorelDraw 13. Great Big Signs fabricated the letters from 0.125-in.-thick stainless steel with a plasma cutter and swirl sanded theletters to give them their shimmering texture. To evoke the Hollywood sign jutting out of the L.A. hills, Great Big SIgnsclearcoat-welded the letters to a ½-in.-thick, steel framework, which Blackout built. Blackout Signs, which helped with installation, also created the “broken metal” debris from where Libby, the sign and the projector seemingly break through the van’s roof. LaPaso fabricated the projector sculpture, whose reels spin in the wind, from steel. Wilkerson and Munoz decorated the van with an Iwata dual-action airbrush and 1Shot® lettering enamels and hardener.

THIRD PLACE

Fabricator
Extreme Graphics
Tampa
(813) 855-4364
www.extremegraphics.net

Designer/Installer
Mike Postill

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Client
Lyndon Kirkland

Kirkland, a deputy in the Pinellas County (FL) Sheriff’s Office, wanted a noticeable motorcycle. Being a dutiful husband, he featured his own alma mater, the University of Miami, as well as his wife’s, the University of South Florida (USF), on the bike. Postill carefully divided the bike in half and completed the design using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. He produced the wrap on his Mimaki JV3-160SP printer with 3M Controltac IJ180C-10 with Comply v3 air-release media, and protects Sebastian the Ibis, Miami’s mascot, and USF’s Bull with 3M 8518 glossy media.

HONORABLE MENTION

Fabricator
Media 1/Wrap This!
Longwood, FL
(407) 331-6161
www.pushtheone.com

Designer
Jason Wissig

Installers
Christian Cortez
Pete Dow

Client
Hell’s Bay Boats

Selling Price
$8,000