My encounter with Von Dutch.(almost)

Here I am trying to finish off some work so I can get out of town. Sam finished this truck just in time to get me on it, and a few stray bike parts. While doing this I got to wondering just how I ended up here.



My first exposure to the world of pinstriping was an article in a Hot Rod magazine about Von Dutch back in the mid 70's there was a couple pages on the basics of striping and I wanted to try my hand at it. Well the next few years had me struggling to figure out why my lines didn't look like all those other stripers. Purely by chance I was able to get hold of Ed Roth, He began helping me via pictures and phone calls, and I was on my way. Ed was sending me invitations to the Rat Fink reunions for years but, I wasn't able to go. Then the year that Dutch passed away ,I decided that I wasn't going to miss any more. That gave me my first exposure to other stripers and their work, from all over the country. This was a great motivation for me, and still is to this day. but out of all the pinstriping work I have seen, I had never seen a stripe job by Von Dutch. For those of you who don't know. Dutch was the man credited with starting the custom pinstriping form way back in the 50's. Two years ago, after the moon party in L.A., we went to the first Dave Mann tribute bike show. To my surprise there were 2 motorcycles there that sported Von Dutch pinstriping. These stripes were 20 years old but looked like they could have been done a month earlier . woooa. To me, this is like meeting the man himself. Shortly thereafter I got to hold a striping brush that came from Dutches' paint box, owned my my bud Jimmy C. To a guy from the confines of Ohio this was a big deal. Check these out. Dutch laid a great line.
Here I am trying to get this thing back together. then it's off to warm(?) Florida for the vanner council meeting,and other assorted diversions, hope it's better than it is here. stay tuned for an up date if I can get to a computer .....