Antique Tractor Decals, Tractor Decal Placement and Other Decal Questions Answered!

Recently we’ve noticed some of our customers using our site wide search to try and find information on where decals go on their tractor.  This can be very challenging as this information wasn’t always well kept. We spoke with our technical expert, Jr. Roberts about where to look for research and information on the placement of tractor decals.  Here is what we were able to find out.

Ford decals are the easiest to place.  Many of our sets are only Hood decals, and those are very easy to place.  Also, some of our higher end vintage Ford tractor decals even include detailed installation instructions.  These are pretty clearly noted in the catalog on page 150 and 151.  The decals that include instructions are:  DEC232, DEC442, DEC443, DEC445, DEC444, DEC446. 

Many other antique tractors are more difficult.  For antique Farmall Tractors, there are several books available that cover the decal placement.  We offer a beautiful coffee table style book for Farmall tractors, titled Farmall Letter Series Tractors by Guy Fay and Andy Kraushaar.  This book includes valuable information on decal placement and is touted as an “originality guide”.  There is a similar book available titled Original Farmall Hundred Series 1954-1958 that offers similar information for the hundred series antique Farmall tractors.  In addition to being very informative, both of these books offer excellent tractor pictures in an easy and fun to read format. 

For John Deere tractor decals, the best source is probably the Two Cylinder Magazine. According to Jr, they occasionally offer images from the factory detailing tractor decal placement. 

For other tractors, if you can see where the decals were on the original paint, you may want to make a note of that before you begin sandblasting. That will help you to place the decals correctly when your antique tractor restoration is finished. 

Decal placement for antique tractor restoration is a hotly debated topic.  One of the primary ways that restorers determine where to put the decals is by looking at tractor pictures and by looking at actual restored tractors at various tractor shows.  Of course, if one person has placed the decals incorrectly, then this system breaks down a little bit.  If you get really lost, try searching the posts at Antique Tractors Forum.  The posters there would be willing to help you try and figure it out and share information about where they put their decals and where they did their decal placement research. 

I hope that this helps. If you have any sources of information that we aren’t aware of, please share it in the comments below.  It will be useful to your fellow tractor restoration enthusiasts!