Message From Our Editor – Chris Hamilton

Living the Life and Printing the Passion

THE DECISION TO CREATE AN ISSUE SOLELY DEDICATED TO CUSTOM PAINT WAS MADE A FEW MONTHS BACK WHEN WE FIRST SET OF EYES ON THIS MONTH’S UNBELIEVABLE COVER TRUCK AT SEMA 2018. We’ve heard the term for many years and seen massive groups online push the phrase “paint is dead” due to the extremely strong vehicle wrap industry we all know exists in today’s modern world. Well, let me be the first official industry representative to say the custom paint game is far from the dead, and in most cases, it’s leading the pack.

There have been some amazing advancements both in product and practice when it comes to painting a vehicle, which has constantly evolved over the years. Custom-built body panels and meticulously modified one-off trucks have far too much time and effort in them to just cover it all with a glorified bumper sticker. Don’t get me wrong; most of the wrapped imports and custom trucks on the show circuit look impressive with their wild designs, but it’s pretty hard to compare a print and paste decal aside a hot rod with months of paint and airbrush work … or is it?

We dive deep into that question by featuring five of the most impressive trucks currently in the industry, highlighting some of the nicest paint jobs we’ve seen in years and one of the slickest wraps to date. We also have paint-related tech articles aplenty in this issue as well, so spend the next month taking it all in. Send us your thoughts on the current state of the paint vs wrap debate by email at chamilton@engagedmediainc.com. See you guys out there!