Mick Tinglehoff's rookie helmet

[oldschoolvikings]

I thought this might be of interest to the community. This is Mick Tinglehoff's rookie helmet from 1962. It was in a case at the Hall Of Fame this past weekend.

Quite a beat up looking relic. But what was interesting to me, was the paint job. The shell was painted purple (apparently a molded purple shell was unavailable at the time) and the horns were also painted on... not a decal. You can see in the pics that the paint has scraped off in spots. If you look close you can also see that the horns were taped out first... there are those tiny tell-tale paint pulls at the edges that anybody who has ever taped out a paint job should recognize.

That last pic shows the process pretty well, I think. The rivets and screws were removed first and replaced after the paint job. The whole helmet would be masked out then some sort of template traced on. You can see a slight incised line where the horn was cut out before being sprayed.

A lot of work, I'd think.

[HailGoldPants]

Incredible photos... Thanks for posting!

It is amazing how much helmet design has changed in the last 50 years.

[altosax29b]

I would love for this to become a thread of pictures of helmet relics. This is awesome.

[oldschoolvikings]

I would love for this to become a thread of pictures of helmet relics. This is awesome.

Like this one?

[MJWalker45]

My uncles played for a semi pro team called the Tuscarawas Vikings in the 19 70's. They did this with their helmets too. I wish I had pictures of the helmets in action.