COOPSTRIPES

What I did on my winter vacation LOL..

2012-01-10T00:26:00.041-05:00

Since the last post I have been all over Gods creation.. I went to Florida ,Thanksgiving week, and worked the Turkey Run at the Daytona speedway.Got setup on Wednesday. Next day..........
Buried.
Gee Can I take it home LOLLots of cool cars at this show. Always one of the best I do each year! After the show, my helper Jim Bag, helped me tear down and I left all my stuff at his place for the winter. Monday I headed over to Lew and Agnes'. We ended up at my favorite Mexican restaurant.. as usual lol

Did a couple stripe jobs while at Lew's, and spent a day hanging at Lew's shop getting my van ready for the rest of the ride to come.

Van doesn't look to bad when its clean. haha Next three days was spent on the road , heading to Calif. for part 2 of the trip. O look what I found in Arizona. LOL

I made it to the home of two of the best people I know. Jimmy C and the Queen, in San Clemente Calif. For those of you who don't know , Jimmy is another Rat Fink artist that I met 20 years ago while attending my first Rat Fink Reunion. Jimmy is one of the most prolific artists that I have ever met. He can do it all, and is the best friend a guy could have. Love working with him. I've learned a lot from Jimmy.They put me up for the week I was in Calif. (yes, that's the ocean out there) No 5 star hotel can beat this!!!

Tat Fink.........Awesome!!! lol

Jimmy is an inspiration for me, since Ed has been gone..

The reason for me being in Calif in the first place was the Mooneye's show and the Brush Off. Sat found us at the Irwindale Raceway at 6am, sitting in a massive traffic jam,trying to get in to mooneye's show. This show gets bigger every year.Tom Kelly was there with this beautiful bike and side car. He does fabulous work!!

Modern artist icon, Robert Williams came by to have a chat with us.. hi Bob!!

Coby was there with his beautiful early Ford van..Maybe the nicest van ever builtTalked with him till it was time to head to the Brush Off

Those of you who have been following my blog,know I get invited to this striper get together each year.. There are some of the top painters around at this gig. Besides the great food ,the attendees bring panels they have painted for a panel exchange. Here is some of the art from this year 0 yea. this was mine
The exchange went off with out a hitch. For a change, LOL Yes, I drove across the country to eat this mans cooking. And its worth it!!
The following week I went to Burbank to meet Kenny. He gave me the personal tour of Warner Bros studios.. how cool was that?? This is the back lot. he gave me the run down on where each shot in what movie was done... I'll never look at the movies the same. lol
They were setting up a shot for the new MIB 3 movie... Before I left town I went to see Patrick. Vanner buddy that I met last year at the van council meeting in California. He wanted some pinstripes on his beautiful early Ford. Turned out pretty good , if I dont say so myself.. And I want to thanks his beautifull wife for the fabulous dinner. Love Mexican cooking..lol Then it was off to Manti, Utah. Need some time with Ilene the Rat Fink Queen. and Deb. Ended up taking a couple days to go to Monument Valley.and Four Corners.
A gorgeous place I didn't know that the valley is Navajo land. Quite interesting. If you want to hike the valley you have to hire a native guide I will definately be coming back here!After all that its was time to hit the road. I have a garage full of work waitin for me... stay tuned.

And the beat goes on,,,,,

2011-11-08T00:00:00.016-05:00

Workin hard on the early,

With all the the mounts welded up we needed to trial fit the engine and trans.

Fits like a glove... with the repositioning of the engine, there is a lot of space behind it. so..... I came up with the idea to shorten the engine hole and engine cover. Here John and Danny are cutting out the floor with the cover mounts.

The side panel had a big hump in it,to accommodate the alternator on the stock engine. The new one has a serpetine belt drive and we dont need that space, so we decided to take it out and make a flat side cover......cool!
Wow ,, to look at it you would never know its 8 inches shorter than stock.. Also, started to plumb in the gas tank, and the new filler neck..

I got the door frame with the gas filler roughed in.

Spent most of the week finishing up the paint on the Nautilus.. should be ready for a trip to California next week. With the motor in, we get an idea where the van sits after it was lowered.. the stance is perfect. slightly lower in the front... It should drop even more after we get everything back in.

2011-11-01T23:25:00.010-04:00

If you have been following my blog, you may think I spend all my time in the garage working on my newest van project. Well as much as I would like to do that, I need to do some work and make the rent once in a while.
I did this street rod a few days ago. A real nice one

I again have another van from Tom in California. He picked up the Nautilus from the last owner in New York. It needed some repairs to the body and paint. The bodywork done ,I am getting to it! This is the first color.. won't be done till next week.

Last Saturday I went to the Ohio State game with Wisconsin... It was one of the most exciting games ever!! The Bucks won 33-29. It was back and forth all game, and the Buckeyes won it on a bomb in the last 20 seconds. Lost my voice for 2 days

Last Friday was trick or treat for the grandkids...I got to go with them. That was fun, even tho I ended up carrying Vada the last half of the trip. Little Vada was a princess. Damm she is CUTE!

Last Thursday I got some help from Danny and John with the doors and other welding projects on the van. Here we are cutting in the new battery box into the floor. The stock battery box is inside the van behind the driver seat. Not the easiest place to get to , and I don't want battery fumes or acid inside. Besides it's ugly. So were gonna hide it under the floor. Wow this is coming along just fine.

In earlier posts we sealed off the ugly gas filler on the side rear of the van.. the new filler is going in the side door jamb. Danny did this trick on his Astro ,so he is helping me with this one...VERY COOL!

Another trick I want to do is to make the front air vent intake to match the grill with the center vertical post removed. A very subtle change but it really does look good.

Another day , another color!

2011-10-20T21:56:00.013-04:00

We've been going gang busters the last couple weeks. The doors are mounted and we are welding everything solid. Then its time to weld all the sheet metal back into place.

Got all the welding done on the driver side. Its time to grind!

2 days of mud work
and lots of sanding

A coat of primer and it's back where we started,,,,sans hinges.. Man does that make a difference.

Man , I want to start painting this NOW!

the early dodge gets even more complicated

2011-10-11T22:59:00.016-04:00

Since the last post I have been fairly busy. Trying to make a living and working on the van as well as keeping up with the household chores. One day a couple months ago, shortly after I had the door pulled on the van I sat and looked at the van . What else could I do to make it look even cooler? The front end of the early Dodge has always presented a challenge. The grill opening can't be altered much as on a lot of other vans. The stock grill is ok. but, it doesn't have a lot of visual flow. There are a lot of conflicting lines on the front that don't lend themselves to a lot of custom tricks. But after a lot of thought I decided I wanted to do some cool things. First , to mold in the stock grill. and cut out the vertical center rib in the middle of the grill. Then remove the turn signals. they will be replaced with signals in special headlights ( I admit I stole this idea). Then after much mental wrestling I decided to shave door hinges and replace them with hidden box hinges. One of the problems with this kind of change on an early van is the amount of room around the doors. With the doors being so close to the front of the vehicle, the door frame in the body is on the very front corner of the van. The type of hinges needed must be installed from the backside of the frame support. meaning? I must cut away the front corner sheet metal to gain access to the area these need to be installed. This was the real wrestling part. To cut out perfectly good sheet metal. Believe me, I tried to come up with an alternative to this , but they all involved even more cutting and welding. so let the cutting begin.
After the door hinges are installed and working properly, the sheet metal will be welded back into place and finished off. A rather radical solution but not really that difficult.

After cutting access holes in the door jamb. the hinges were fitted aligned and tacked into place

The doors had mounting brackets that allow for adjustment welded to the inside.
Wow that is a neat affect.. now to fill the old hinge holes..... Another trick I am doing is a trick I saw 30 years ago in a hot rod mag. That is to round the door corners.... Corners square....................... Corners round!! This is where we are right now. A lot of finish welding and grinding.. nasty work but somebody has to do it.... next time... motor mounts , gas filler and hidden battery box....

Early Dodge,........................ Still

2011-08-28T00:00:00.010-04:00

For the last several weeks, I have been gathering up parts for a conversion to disc brakes for the early Dodge. The original brakes were the drum type. Not the most efficient of binders. The guys from the A-100 group have worked out the conversion using brakes from other later model vehicles, The front brakes are from an 87 Dakota 4x4 pick-up. The rears are from a 98 Jeep grand cherokee. The toughest part is a mounting plate that needs to be fabricated from plate steel.

Picked up a piece of 3/8 steel plate, and designed a variation of the plate found on the internet and drilled it then cut it out.

Fits nicely, Now to finish assembling all the other parts.

The rear axles need to have different bearings. Took them to Vance and he pressed them on for me.. they didnt want to come off. but, he got them .Fits like a glove.

Rears all togeather, now to finish the fronts.

The early dodge continues

2011-08-25T23:45:00.007-04:00

One of the things holding me back on the early,is the passenger door frame needing pulled. when I got the van it had body damage on the lower front corner where the door frame was pushed in, I loaded it up with Mikes help and took it to Kumler where Dean agreed to pull it for me

With no motor or interior ,it was easy to push up on the frame rack. They did a great job. door fits and closes. Now I've got to put all the stuff back in it.

time to get to work!

I have posted several posts lately on this van. I've had several people ask me about my motivation to do this van. When I first got this van, I posted about what I wanted to do with it and why. So for those of you who missed it, I am repeating that post for you.
june 2009

At one time or another , we all have said," I'd love to go back and do it all over , knowing what I know now". That would be nice but we know that isn't going to happen. RIGHT? ..... Well, I might just get the chance.., sort of. My first attempt to build a custom van was to say the least, crude. Ever since I sold it,I have wanted it back. But alas, it went to the crusher, after it was sold about 4 times. 30 years of sellers remorse has given me the desire to reproduce that van, but eliminating the mistakes I made and doing it right . The van was an early model Dodge,that I cut in half and shortened. It was a real cute truck, but I really didn't know what I was doing, or have the proper tools. Over the years I have refined it in my head. Adding ideas, changing things,and making it a little more contemporary. I definitely remember the things I screwed up. I haven't got a lot of pictures of that van,but here are the ones I can find.
My Father-in-law was trying to teach me to weld. I took out the tired slant 6 and, replaced it with a small block V8. Here ,I'm welding the motor mounts. These are pitiful photos. Maybe 4th generation copies.
No ,this is not a trick photo. The chain hoist goes through a hole in the roof that became a sun roof.
This shot in primer shows off how short it was. I still get jazzed looking at this picture. I went to my first van-in, in this van in 1975 , still in primer. The camper van was my mom's. Behind it ,is the last car I owned. A 73 gremlin. It went shortly after I started driving the van I took this picture the day I brought home this Chevy van. It was to become the Barnstormer.. I still have it.This is the only picture of these two vans togeather.

There are a lot of things that I want to change. The porthole is of the day, but will go, as will the side pipes. Larger wheels and tires. These are 14's I think. Move the gas filler,and put it behind a door. I want to seal up the rear doors. Solid with no windows. I love that look. Tunneled tail lights..gotta have tunneled tail lights .I did that with the Flamin' Banana. This is the Flamin' Banana. a 68 Dodge van that I built in the early 80's. My first chopped van. (that's my brother) Here it is almost finished at the 13th Nats. in 1985 I've had several early Dodges over the years. I had a beater van (it would make a great rat van today.) that I got so I wouldn't have to drive the Barnstormer every day. Had a lot of fun with this van.. And believe it or not it was a trophy winner.(that's C.B. not me..)

When my brother went into the Marine Corps, he gave me his van for a couple years. I did a lot of work on it and drove it around . We called it the Rubber Biscuit. He was a Blues Brothers fan. I had Juan do a mural on the back of the "Brothers". While I was at This years Rat Fink Reunion I received a call from a friend of mine, Tom, from so. California. A guy in his van club had an early Dodge he wanted to sell. Tom thought of me. The van is a long wheel base, has a v8,and an auto trans. Exactly what I would want to reproduce my van.

These are the pics I have of the new van. It doesn't look like a lot to the untrained eye, but for a 40 year old van this is in great shape.

Look at the floor. The floor under the driver is one of the first places these vans rotted out. This van still has the factory paint on the floor . It will be nice to work on an early without having to fix a bunch of rot.Tom has the van now. Currently I am working on one of his vans. The sooner I get his done ,the sooner I can get this home. I'm excited!! Stay tuned. I will post more on this project.

If you have been watching I have done several of these things to the van already. In addition, I am changing the brakes to 4 wheel disc. Thanks to Scotty from T.I.T, for all the help on the brakes. I have all the parts and have to make a mounting bracket for the front callipers. I will be posting the progress on that work soon.. I also have decided to shave door handles. also to mold in the grill and smoothe out the front end. Here is a pic that I photoshopped to see what it would look like... I love it.. I also got a new set of wheels for it, 20 inch wheels for the back and 18's for the front,,,I'll let you see those next time!

2011-08-16T23:20:00.005-04:00

The week after I got back from Utah and the Rat Fink Reunion ,I was off to Minnesota,for Back to the 50's. This year it was the largest car show in the country. Over 12000 cars.
I've been doing this show for some 15 years. Its always a great show. Here are some of the cars I worked on.

After 4 days , I was ready to come home. A million things to do to get ready for the Van Nats.You can find out about the Nats at our blog,Vans on the run.blogspot.com . There are also a lot of pictures and stories at Vannin.com. The Nats was a huge sucess. We had a great time.. now I need to get on the early. I want to have it at next years Nats!!

2011-08-07T22:49:00.010-04:00

Since the last post ,I feel like I've lived a whole lifetime. Been to the Rat Fink Reunion, Back to the 50's car show, and run this years Van Nationals. Having finally got some energy back, I've started on the early again. I have a few pictures to post of things I've been working on. The biggest being the Deathstar, the van I've been painting on the last year.

It turned out pretty nice.. Then there was the Rat Fink Reunion. The first weekend in June is Manti , Utah time. The black snow board is the piece I did for the auction. The happy seat was my award piece for the show..

Did these sat, the Camaro was Rusty's wife's. the last piece before Funk Funk and Fink.. lol

and of course we made a trip to Provo!!! The treet of the weekend was when one of the guys attending,who is a Navy Seebee, asked Ilene for a shirt with a print of the Seebee design that Ed had done years ago.. She then took that screen out of the display and allowed us to print some shirts with one of Ed's hand made screens. WOW, That was very cool. Sent chills down the spine!!

Another sucessfull reunion that went by way to fast... cant wait till next year!!

2011-04-21T21:45:00.010-04:00

Since the last post I have been busy with about 5 different projects. With spring finally here, I went to Florida to do the show at the speedway, just like every year. I came right home to get started on the pile of work waiting for me.
Before I left I did this street rod. Extremely nice car. The owner was a pilot,and flew the trainer aircraft in the background.

This boat tail was one of the cars I did in Florida.

Sometimes I just want to run away and join the circus!

when i got home one of the projects is the west coast early. We got the door hardware installed. Had to take out half the interior to get to the inside posts . whew!

At home Vance has been down to help with the early Dodge. We fabricated a cross member for the transmission. Cut up a crossmember from an Astro and shaped it to work under the early. Then welded it in place.

Set the motor in place so we can fit it all togeather. Next is to modify the engine mounts to fit the v-8

Finished welding it to the frame..........so far so good!

Looks damm near factory!

Did this Nova way up north of town. I think this one came out nice!

Mr.Green called me to do another wagon. This is the first pass on the letters.

Outlines and some scroll work finishes it off!

This Olds got a stripe to separate the 2 colors. I've been doing a lot of straight line stuff lately.

Stay tuned for more. I promise it wont take so long.

The early Dodge build begins......

2011-01-28T02:21:00.030-05:00

The weekend after the new year, we started the new van project. Those of you who have been following my blog,know I have this 1970 early model Dodge van and what I want to do to it.If you haven't, check out the post from July 19,2009. After moving everything around to make room, we started taking the van apart.

Cleaning it out and removing the doors.

We cut out the spare tire rack. Not gonna use that one. There is also a recirculation tank for the gas tank. Both of those came out.

gonna move the filler neck too.

Yep, the engine comes out too.

Measure and mark, measure and mark and measure it again.

Here we go.. hack away!!! that's Danny my "other" son. He's helping me along with Vance. It looks like he's doin all the work. lol

With the side out we move onto the roof. Precise cuts will pay off in the end.

We cut the center out with the plazma cuter, then used the sawzall to make the final cut. looking good so far.

Did the same thing on the floor to expose the frame rail.

Ready to make the final cut...

Done

THE CUTS LOOK VERY GOOD..... lets see...............
wow a couple grinds and line it up. COOL!
A few tack welds all the way around and we can roll it around! MAN THIS IS GONNA BE SO MUCH FUN!!!
GRIND N GRIND NWELD N GRIND.
VANCE WELDS A PLATE ON THE FRAME

I am going for the smooth look by filling the rear doors solid. I've always liked that look,and it will make the van look even shorter. Gotta fit and clean the rear sheet metal so all the welding can be done at once.

It fits pretty well but ,before we weld all this togeather, I want to tunnel the talilights.

now for the back plate and its ready for mud.

3 inches deep should be enough
Another trick I've wanted to do is to change the stock grill slightly. the stock grill has a verticle support in the center . The grill would look so much better if that were removed. A little sheetmetal fabricating,and a weld or 2,,,,,,
Yea!! in all my vanning years ,I've never seen this little trick... oooo baby

with no rear door I need as big a door as I can get on the side. I cut out the correct amount of side metal to get a door frame 6 inches wider than a standard side door then cut out the jam. moved it over and we started to weld it all up.

Also had to fabricate the door frame lip so the door would fit equally all around.

Best thing, it is square and straight. The door will be fabricated later. then it was grind weld, grind weld, grind weld,........

don't look at me like that!

We welded up all the seams also.....smooothe all over...............grind grind grind

Looks like all that welding is done.. time to bang out some dents and cover the welds with some mud!! After some filler work, I decieded to add a plate cut in the rear. We were going to put a hanger under the rear but when the van is lowered it will drag on the ground.

Fits well... dont you think??? now more mud , and sand , sand, sand, sand..............

I want to be able to pull my little astro trailer, so we hid a hitch reciever behind the plate. Then pulled the rear axle,and started the lowering process. The rear was a snap. next is the front so we can mock up the motor and radiator locations. After sanding till my arms were sore........ I finally got some primer on the van... it is looking good so far! not bad for 4 week-ends of work...

2011-01-19T00:13:00.010-05:00

After dropping the kids in Vegas, I headed back to L.A. Ended up paying a visit to Mitch at his new job directing the cartoon series ,FAN BOY & chum chum, at Nickelodeon. Got the grand tour and popped in to say Hi to our buddy Jeff DeGrandis..HEY MO!! He sketched a quick Spongebob for my grand daughter. The man is a TRIP!! Headed back to Jimmy C's for the rest of the trip and then back home.... ( I'll be back for that in-n-out burger next month!)

Woah, That yours truly in a Blackhawk helicopter! Would love to learn how to fly one, but I'm here to do a job for the guys in the blackhawk squadron. Jim gave me the tour of the facility. IMPRESSIVE!. These guys were in Afghanistan last year,and had some stories to tell. They deserve all the respect we can give them!!

These choppers were getting their scheduled maintenance

This is the helmet I did for one of their members who is retiring....thanks to all of you!

Matchstick got the doors finished for the chevy I'm doing for Tom. They turned out quite well.

A little finish work,& some primer and she's ready for a paint job!

from Moon to the Brush Off

2010-12-27T21:18:00.018-05:00

We got up at the crack of dark thirty. If you don't get in early you don't stand a chance of getting in.. Ilene and the Fink troupe were already there setting up. Jimmy was to be next to them as usual and we set it all up in record time. I set out to see the cars. Looking for cool cars and cool pinstriping!

Nothing cooler than a stude!

Real nice 56 nomad!!

This was accuratly named

WOOOOH!!, A whole van club!!. A whole new trend with the young guys. They are discovering how versitle and just plain cool vans are.. and in California yet! I was surprised at how many vans were at this run.

All old and classic vans.. new ones aren't so cool

This early ford was very well done.

When this is finished it will be insane!

Even moon is getting into the act! Kenny brought anothr fink pig for the auction. It brought top dollar!!! Way to go DUDE!

Jimmy was workin' hard all day! It is bitter sweet to go to these partys.. Ed Is the one who put all of us togeather.Sad that he isnt here to enjoy all our fun.

What would a christmas party be without Styles Clause LOL

NO WONDER HE'S JOLLY!!
The hardest part of this is having to leave,but I have a date with the Brush Off Party. Again this year I was invited to attend a pinstriper only party known as the Brush Off. If you want to get a panel from one of these fabulous artists you bring a panel for the exchange. Some how it always gets screwed up but we all end up with somthing cool, along with some great food! Here is some of the the art

Bob Spina rode his very cool Harley!

This one was mine. Yes I took it on the airplane!

Santa even slung some stripes on one of the guys guitars, then invited me to join. Then it was time to have mexican food. Again it was a lot of fun to hang out with these guys, BUT, WHERE'S MAGOO?? Soon it was time to head to the airport to pick up the Son and Lindsay. The next day we made a trip to the Giant Forest in the Sequioa National Park.

They start out like this.....

and 1500 years later.....like this!!!

This is the General Sherman. The largest tree on the planet...AWSOME!! And now for an n-n-o burger!

Here we go again.

2010-12-21T21:30:00.008-05:00
Every year for the last 18 I've been going to Mooneyes Christmas show.It was the Rat Fink Reunion, until Ed passed away. It has become my annual trek to the land of fruits and nuts. Hanging out with friends I've made through the years, sharing art and experiences.I just can't miss it. I got there Thursday. Ended up at Jimmy C and Dena's place. I love their place. Friday I ended up going with Jimmy to his current job striping guitars for Gretsch. They are doing a series of guitars with Jimmy's striping on them. He is doing several hundred of them.All destined for the European market. Take a gander

We spent the whole day there .I finished up my barrel for the brush off party. At lunch time I met Joe. He is the head of development and marketing for the Gretsch company. The first thing he did was offer us some lunch. Next thing I know he has a bag of In-n-out burgers!! This guy is my friend for life!! Joe spent some time in the room with us and told me of the project he was working on. Seems when George Harrison was with the Beatles,the first quality guitar he acquired,was his black Gretsch. In the early 60's,he bought it from a sailer who had put it in the want adds of the Liverpool paper. He played it for several years while the Beatles were in their early years. He later gave it to a friend. Several years before he passed away, George reacquired the guitar. As his first real guitar, he had a fondness for it and wanted it back. Joe was able to contact the Harrison family and made a deal with them to reproduce that guitar as a 50th anniversary commemoration. Joe made the trip to England,met the family, and brought the Guitar back. Got it it's own first class seat! They have reproduced that Guitar,right down to the dents and scratches. They even did an MRI on the inside to get it exactly right. They are only making 60 of these, and when you buy one, you get a DVD showing interviews with the family ,even some old tapes of George, and the making of the guitars. All of which, only the guitar owners will be able to see. He showed it to me.. wooww! The facility there is enormous.
Fender now owns Gretsch. They both share this building. It's a warehouse,assembly and inspection facility. It is a Quarter of a mile on each side. Who would have thunk it!! Guess guitars are pretty popular!After a very interesting day, we headed back to Jimmy's to load up for the moon party.. it's going to be a long day!
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The last couple months

2010-12-20T16:43:00.008-05:00

The past couple months I have been getting busy again. I went to Daytona again for the Turkey Run on Thanksgiving week end. It was another sucessfull show. The weather was a little cool but NO WIND or rain.

Ran into another artist, Gerson. He painted this van years ago and brought it to the show. Turns out he is friends with Surfin' Sam, a good customer of mine here in Columbus. I've Known Sam for years. Small world. Here are a couple of the jobs I did there.

Again Jym Bag was there to help me. I couldn't do it with out him. We had the OSU-MICH game on the sirius radio on Sat. Whoo hhoo. Another Buckeye butt kickin' LOL. Really pisses me off that the big ten has moved that game to thanksgiving weekend. I may never get to go to another. See! There are wolverweenies everywhere!
I ended up spending a couple days after the show at Judith's house and then headed home. I had a bunch of work to do before I could go out west for the Moon party and the Brush off. I got a call from one of my regulars to letter a race car. This is a 1964 Thunderbolt. A car built by Ford, strictly as a race car. There weren't many of these made. Only a couple hundred.This one has 120 miles on it...1/4 mile at a time. It belongs to Pete Ricart,of the local Ford dealer. I was to reproduce the first paint job the car had when it was new.

The first day

AHH Perfect!.. Now ,to get ready for California!!

2010-11-03T21:42:00.006-04:00
For the last 9 years I've had a chopper I built shortly after Ed Roth passed away. I built it as a tribute to him and the Rat Fink. It is a vintage chopper I bought that belonged to another friend of mine who had also passed away. It was origonally built in 1975 from a Harley Sportster. It has an aftermarket Amen frame & Columbus springer front end. You can see some of the things I have made or added to the bike. The streached coffin tank, R.F. tail light. and of coures the Rat Fink paint job. I rode this bike for several years, but due to a case of carpel tunnel, I can't ride it without my arms and hands going numb. Not being able to ride It, I've decided to sell the finkchopper

The origonal iron head motor has been replaced with a 1992 sportster motor. I got tired of the thing breaking down on me. It's a lot easier to work on and has never caused me any trouble since.. I will more than likely put this on ebay sometime in the next few weeks. If you are interested in the bike contact me. I'm not asking a lot for her..

614-271-0563

HELLO BLOG WATCHERS

2010-10-24T22:35:00.012-04:00
There isn't a lot to report since last time as far as cool striping goes.But that dosn't mean I haven't been been busy. The following pics are from a couple of wagons I did for my good customer, Mr. Green. He always has something unusual for me to work on. This time it was a horse drawn oil tanker, and a school bus/ wagon. Both very rare anymore.

I took a short trip to Utah. Took the chop, basicly because I had to. (more on that later). It was fun to drive it again like that. I forgot how much attention it gets. Loaded up on fink stuff, and had a confab with the godmother of Fink. This is the only time these 2 vans have been togeather.

Been working on another van for Tom from California. The Deathstar is still at the upholstery shop, so we started on this project.
Been to a couple van shows, The last was Last Chance. The old van still garners a trophy now and then....
The boy had his wheels powder coated and had me stripe them. They turned out quite well, if I dont say so myself..
Here is what I have been doing for the last month... I had an altercation with a UPS truck about a month ago and was forced to aquire another work van. This will be the new Rat Fink van. As for the old one.......................................
Still gives me the heebe jeebies. I'll post progress on the new van as I go along.

2010-08-03T23:00:00.021-04:00
I got this far and it was time to hit the road again. Back to the 50's is one of the best shows I've ever done. This year was no different. I arrived Thurs. to set up and was lining up work right away.

No, your not seeing things. This guy is twisted. He builds half sized, to scale ,vintage cars. All of metal, fully functioning and street legal! and of course he's about 6-4.

absolutely,amazing!
It was a busy weekend ,and when I finished I headed right home. I only had little more that a week to get a lot done on the Eagle.
This is the panel that I made to go on the underside of the hood. I lettered the panel with pertinent info, sort of a show sign.

I've never liked the white through the center of the van. I have always believed that Greg intended to paint this something else. So I will do just that.

I think the blue looks a lot better than the white. Now to buff it. Then pinstriping around all the new panels.
Here she is in the show at the nationals. I can't help it, I just love this van! This year's Van Nats was in New York. Again there were some of the countries best customs. Here are a few of them you gotta love a van with recliners in it!
Very cool chevy
and I love the early dodges. This tandem is very cool!

Our club is doing the nationals next year. hopefully we can do even better . More to come
We are ready to head home.... Yes, that is the radiator from the Eagle. I don't want to talk about it...............

It's been a long hot summer

2010-07-15T22:03:00.029-04:00
Since the last post I have been going a hundred miles an hour.Our club held their van event in May. The weather sucked ,as usual. The wind was terrible especially sat night. Blew everything away.

We moved the show inside because of the rain. It is nice to have somewhere to get inside. We had a Halloween theme for the weekend and it went over well. The kids loved it !
and of course , the who can build the largest fire competition.

A short 2 weeks and I'm off to Utah ,for the Rat Fink Reunion. Got there the weekend before and it still wasn't enough time to do everything I was suppose to do. Got to go to another Park in Utah.
There is a small one north of Manti. The pass over the mountains was still closed by snow so we couldn't go all the way through. It was still worth the trip! We were on the way to Provo. Since I was there last year there has been 3 new In-n-Out burgers built near there. and when kenny got there, we went back to the other!! woooho!The reunion started on Thursday. We painted, striped, and printed shirts. We had a great time. The reunion just gets better every year.
Franks

Attendance was up. The car show on Saturday was a success as usual. A lot of cars from all over,to help celebrate Ed Roth's memory. I love this event. I haven't missed a reunion for 20 years, long before Ed left us.

this is one of the cars I striped. they liked it so well they brought it back next day to have more done!
The remake of the dragula was a trip!

Here are some of the awards ,and auction pieces we painted that weekend. lots of cool stuff!
One of the coolest things of the weekend was this Rat Fink cake made by the lady who runs the local bakery.

Alas, the week went to fast. I had to get home. To much work to do to dally. Little more than a week and I had to get to Back to the Fifties.but before I do I need to get some work done on the Flying Eagle. The motor work I started needs to be finished in about 2 weeks or I wont make it to the Nationals. These pics show the serpentine belt system that I am installing. Boy this will look good.

It is looking good but before I can take it out, I must rewire the entire motor to hide all the wires. hook up the water/ radiator, power steering,and so on. as well as finishing the paint work. Not to mention the interior.
well , next time i'll finish this and get you up to date.

whats goin on. part 2

2010-05-03T00:37:00.021-04:00

Last month was my annual trip to florida for the spring show in Daytona. I arrived on wednesday at the Jim Bags house to get my trailer and the show stuff that I left there in November. We went to the track the next day to set up for the show. The wind seems to get worse every year. It was all we could do to get it up even with two of us.

The show was a little down this year. the economy I guess.

this was early on sat. the weather was cold and rainy also.not the best weather for a show.

After the show I had several jobs to do for a couple of my regulars.
My friend Wayne from Melbourne had me do some more work on his bus and a 39 Nash. then It was off to St Cloud. Stayed with Lou and Agnes. And I got to do this cool Dodge challenger

It's been a long busy spring. since i've been back the phone has been ringing out of my pocket. here's a sample.

More stuff for Mr. Green

Between all that I have been working on the Flying Eagle. The Engine compartment was in need of attention among other things. I'll keep you up on that as it goes. It is getting a serpetine belt system as well as a vintage air system. Got all the dash out and the engine compartment apart.

Had to redo the glass in the little door between the front and rear compartment. Thanks Chris for the glass. I think I nailed the butterfly!

The new hood with the louvers punched in it. wait till you see what I did to the underside.......<>

painting the engine bay to match the outside candy orange. more to come!

Whats goin on -- pt 1

2010-03-30T17:06:00.012-04:00

I have been getting people asking me why I haven't been posting. Well it's been a crazy 2 months. With my Dad passing away, finishing the Deathstar, the council meeting in Wisconsin, doing the spring show in Florida,planing my clubs van-in,working on next years nationals,getting the van ready to show in Detroit , going to Detroit, and the weather screwing it all up. There hasn't been enough hours in the day to do much else. Like house work! As I mentioned the Deathstar is painted and buffed. It is now at the upholstery shop having the interior redone. Looks like it will be 90% different. People won't recognize it. I decided a while ago that I wouldn't post any pictures of it till it was completely finished. I still need to do the hand painting on it. Stripes, lettering, and more stripes. I'm supposed get it back by the end of May. It's gona take me a week to do all I need to do yet, It will debut at this years National Truck-in in July. At that point I will post all the pictures of the process from start to finish. Somewhere around 200 photos......well maybe not all . In the mean time here is a small sample of what we've been up to. This is a small section of the driver side. This may be the best thing I've ever done.

Some of the work I've done recently includes this Coke cooler I did for the owner of a local body shop.

This motorcycle was finished in time for the Easyrider show. He won something. cant remember what.

Here's another bike I just finished up As I mentioned we went to the Auto-Rama in Detroit. I was a participant in the pinstripers jam and auction again. It was fun to see all the guys again. There were over 100 stripers there. Wendel, Mark, Scal,Shane,and the fabulous Flash, were on hand. And of course this would be Ray"El Vago"Smith ,and his bride, Jan. Ray received a special lifetime award that weekend. Well deserved!!

This is some of the art that was done for the auction.

And of course the auction

FINALLY

2010-02-12T20:33:00.016-05:00
Yes , It's been a while. so I'll finish this story. We left Vegas that Thursday morning. The sun was out and it looked like a smooth trip home. You can see the in-n-out score on the back window. lol Going north on 15 toward Utah and route 70,and the scenery turned beautiful again.We got into Utah and there was one last chance for a..... We decided to take a short (?) side trip through Zion National Park since it was on the way. Again it was worth the effort.

This place is as gorgeous as any park. We could have spent twice as much time there but we had to get moving. We made it to 70 and had a Mexican dinner with Debbie. Then hit the road for a two day trip back home.. the farther up the mountains we got the colder it became...freezing fog??

We made it through the canyon in Colorado before it snowed and the rest was easy. What a welcome sight!

Now ...how to get this in the garage.

GETTING THE DODGE OUT OF HELL

2010-01-17T23:34:00.027-05:00

We got up early to get back to L.A. When we got to N. Hollywood, I remembered we were close to George Barris' Shop. I figured the "Boys" would get a charge of stopping to see him. We arrived to find George At his desk working away. He welcomed us and let us loose to wonder the studio.
There's George back there yakin' away on the phone. This would be "Kitt" from the show ,Nightrider. The original "Batmobile" And the Munster coach.
There is so much car history in this place. This is the car James Dean died in. A repro for the movies.

George has been doing vehicles for the movies,and T.V., as well as personal vehicles for the Hollywood crowd,and don't forget the show cars. and he has records of everyone of them. I could have stayed there all day, but we have places to go.. And this would be Georges daily driver. Cool! oh yea.. this was just down the street...

We made it to Tom's to get the DODGE. Now to get out of Hell! lol Next stop ..Las Vegas... Well, there was one in Barstow Driving across the desert, we stopped at a rest area, NO BRAKES! We limped it to the next exit,to get some brake fluid. stumbled onto the worlds only water fall urinal?? yes that's right! what an experience. We managed to get there O.K.

Stayed at the Rio. It was a great place. This was the first trip to Vegas for the Boys, and we hit the town ready to Gamble. Went down town to the Horseshoe and I showed them how to play the crap table. Hung out on Freemont street then went sight seein'. Later we went to the Venician. they had some cool Christmas decorations. Ended up at Emeril's steak house for dinner..WOW THAT WAS GOOD!! This is a water fall pool with cranberrys floating in it. neet!

Ready for a night on the town?? The next day we hit the World buffetWe packed up the vans and got ready to hit the road. We put the Dodge on the tow bar.

now for the next 2000 miles!

Mooneyes christmas party and beyond

2010-01-05T22:27:00.029-05:00

Early Saturday morning we got up and headed to Irwindale raceway in the rain. The weather was not going to cooperate. We found Ilene and the rest of the crew. They were in the usual place beside Jimmy and Dena. Just like old times.We helped them both set up the covers and get out all the stuff. It rained off and on all day, but we were able to get out and look around.

This thing was a monster. Engine is a diesel, and that crank??

I came up with the Idea for a Rat Fink Christmas design and painted it on a can for the party.Ilene ended up making a shirt out of it and had them there.
With the weather like it was, we tore down early and headed to our other destination, the 13th annual Brush Off. This is an invite only gathering, of mainly pinstripers and custom painters. As usual there was a great dinner. All the artists brought a panel or piece of art for the exchange. Check these out.

This is the coolest wagon ever. Too bad it wasn't in the exchange. OUTRAGEOUS! We had a great time , as usual. I always enjoy hangin with other stripers. The next day the boys and I headed north. Wanted to go up in the Sequoia National park and see the trees! We got lost,trying to get into the southern entrance to the park. It isn't open in the winter so we wandered around trying to find our way out. out in BFE,calif. Hey! Shut the door, he dosn't look happy. Where's the ATM???

We found this great place to eat, and they had to spoil it with that banner!! O-H......

Spent the night in Visalia, Ca. Just outside the southern entrance to the park We couldnt get into the park without tire chains,so we made a trip to the store to find some. We got up early Monday and drove to a spot just outside the park to watch the sunrise. The sunlit peaks in this picture was our destination. We spent the next several hours driving up into these mountians. stopping every 200 yards to look. It was beautiful!!
This is Moro rock. there is a trail that takes you out on the top where you can see nearly the entire park. We couldn't get there , closed for the winter. Here we go!

At one time you could drive through here , but you can see where people hit the top with their rv's. Now the road goes around. We still Have a long way to go. Another shot of Moro rock. We're about halfway up the mountain.

It's getting colder! This was worth the trip! This is where we took that last picture. We are getting up there!

Then we find snow and wildlife! Then we enter the Giant forest

We really didn't want to leave...but tomorrow we need to be south of L.A. to get the Dodge out of hell!!

Trip West cont'.........

2009-12-30T14:45:00.021-05:00
After leaving Dallas I headed to Utah. I had a few days till the party, so I wanted to hit Manti. The trip was smooth and my route took me through some beautiful terrain. The shortest route took me through Moab,Utah, past Arches park. I would have stopped in the park except it was getting late. The closer I got the colder it became. But the roads were clear. Arrived late in the evening and went to see Ilene.(Roth). Had a good visit and got some things for the Moon show. That night a cool front came through.. Got down to 26 below and dumped 10 inches of the white death. Damn that's cold! The truck wouldn't start. Got a jump but decided to stay. Stayed a couple days till the streets cleared off. Headed out on Wednesday. Before I left, Debb and I went to the local diner for some breakfast. We were in Ephraim, Utah. About as remote a place as you will find. Most of you know me to be a big Ohio State Buckeyes fan...Well half way through breakfast this comes and sits in front of me. UUGGGGH!! Hows that song go? I DON'T GIVE A DAMN FOR THE WHOLE STATE OF................. O Well, I headed south toward Arizona and Nevada .Just before I left Utah, I hit St George. Guess what was there..... Let the burger fest begin!!.....I drove to Primm ,Nevada, on the California border, and stayed at Whiskey Pete's that night. Not before a stop on Sahara Blvd, in Vegas( might there be an In-N-Out there?). It was still cold ,but a lot better than 25 below. Friday I drove into the L.A. valley. Went to see my buddy Jimmy C. Found him at his studio, getting ready for the Mooneyes show.
This would be Barstow , California.... Damn .To early, they are still closed!! And, the one in Victorville, Damn!! I was greeted by Buster the wonder dawg. Hi Buster! Got there just before lunch. As fate would have it ,Kenny is working at a movie studio just up the street from Jimmy's, so we called him and we went to lunch... Guess where....... Now that's some trick photography! Nice Van! Went back to Jimmy's and got out the can I've been working on for the party. Had a few finishing touches to do on it. Then we got a visit from the contingent from Japan.. Nash comes over every year for this gig, and brings some of the stripers from Japan with him. I've met all but one before. From the left is Dirty K, Yours truly, Jimmy C, Mr. G, And Ghost. The American hot rod scene is big in Japan. Anything to do with it is a big deal to them.There is a Mooneyes store in Tokyo. They hold a big show there the week before the one here. These 3 stripers are but a few of the guys that come over for it. They are really great artists too. I am Lucky enough to have some of their artwork hangin in my house. Good to see you guys again!!
I have to show you this bike that Jimmy had in his shop. He had a customer bring it to him, and told him to cover it with stripes....Wow, what a beautiful job. Must have taken a week!

Jimmy and Dena put me up for the night, again.. Thank you both! It's always fun to stay with them. Next day we went back to the shop.I helped jimmy get some stuff ready for the show... Kenny called and wanted to take us to the Fatburger for lunch. Not being one to turn down a burger, especially a Fatburger, we were on our way.

I was to pick up the "boys" that evening in Ontario, which is on the other side of the valley, so I had to leave shortly thereafter. Picked them up later that evening. They were hungry from being on a plane for 6 hours,and guess what they wanted....... Tomorrow we go to the show!

Heading west.........again

2009-12-22T22:22:00.017-05:00

Every year for as long as I care to remember, I have gone west a couple weeks after the Turkey Rod Run to go to the Mooneyes show/ Christmas party, what was once the Rat Fink Reunion. But before I could go I had a couple things to finish. Last summer ,Jim Bags truck got rear ended. He needed the stripes and the Pepe replaced on the rear

Stripes are finished

And now Pepe... It was beautiful and warm. Too bad I have to leave

I left to head west on Friday. It was raining. It continued to rain till I got to Louisiana. Then it started to snow. I expect that in Ohio, but New Orleans?? Spent the night there. It got down to 28 above. Next morning , got back on the road and headed into Texas. My route took me through Dallas. So there were 2 places I wanted to stop. First was Kincaids Hamburgers. When my bud Kenny was working the movie studio in Dallas his favorite burger place was Kincaids, so I couldn't resist calling him...

Payback for all those calls I get , when he goes to the In-N-Out burger....OOO! It was good too! They make a fantastic burger!! The other place, was one I had been to once before.

Anyone of my generation will recognise the school book depository in Dealey Plaza. The murder of president Kennedy was an event that scarred us all. The debate around the who, and why has never gone away. Even tho nearly all the principals involved are all gone. My first exposure to the doubts about the events of that day were from my Grandmother. She never believed the excepted explanations from the Warren commission. After many books and documentaries and a few experiences ,I don't believe it either. This is the column where Mr. Zapruter took the famous movie of the assassination. It was creepy to stand there. What strikes me about the plaza is how small it is. I've seen pictures of this area for years and it looks like this big open space.But in reality it is dinky. To stand behind the fence at the so called "Grassy Knoll" is chilling. If I wanted to shoot someone coming down the street, This is the place I would pick . Even though its hard to tell from a picture, from this fence to the x on the street is maybe 30-40 yards..Any marksman could hit this shot with ease. It is also a good place to hide. There is and was a parking lot right behind the fence and would allow for an easy getaway. Many witnesses said a shot came from there. There have been many theories through the years.Even though the warren report claims Oswald was the lone gunman. The Senate assassination investigation of the late 70s concluded there was a probability that there was a conspiracy. I've heard many theories including the CIA or powerful industrial interests were behind it. To me that is a stretch. These use the motive of something that Kennedy was GOING to do (get out of Vietnam) as to why they wanted to get rid of him. It's more likely it was something he did. I have always been bothered by somethings that don't add up. Oswald was suppose to have shot 3 times from the 6th floor window. There were 3 shells found there by the police. The gun was found on the complete opposite side of the 6th floor. It had a live round in the chamber, ready to be fired. The rifle had a telescopic scope on it. Now put yourself in the shooters place. The Kennedy car has passed the front of the building. your lining up for your first shot. You shoot and miss. Then manually load another shell into the chamber. Remember it is a bolt action rifle. Your second shot hits Kennedy in the throat. You then reload another shell, and shoot again, hitting Kennedy in the head. You are looking through a scope. You have to see that you hit him in the head. WHY THEN DO YOU LOAD ANOTHER SHELL INTO THE GUN, THEN GET UP AND RUN ??? Also, it doesn't make sense that your first shot is the worst and the last the best.The first shot gives you the most time to line it up. Very suspicious. This past month I saw a documentary on the history channel about the assassination. I haven't seen this one before. It was all the original newscasts from that weekend all put together. It was quiet enlightening. At the police headquarters, there were no efforts to control who came and went in the hallways. It was crammed with news reporters as well as anyone else who wanted to wander in. When police wanted to move Oswald, they had to fight their way through a sea of bodies. They were shouting questions at Oswald and trying to get to him. Oswald seemed to be self assured, defiant, even arrogant. But there was one thing that I have never noticed before. There was an effort to have a news conference where they would make Oswald available to the press. Oswald came in and several reporters started asking questions. At one point a reporter asked"Did you shoot the president?" Oswald answered "No, I've not been charged with that". Then the reported said, " You have now", and Oswald reacted as if he had been hit with a ball bat. He was visibly shaken. His whole demeanor changed at that point. He was escorted out, and he shouted that he was "a Patsy". I believe he knew he was being set up. There is a lot of evidence that has come about in the last 30 years. Including acoustic evidence that suggests there was 2 even 3 shooters that day. But the one thing that convinces me that Oswald wasn't the lone shooter is an experience that happened to me. In the early 80's. My club rented a stable / party grounds for our annual event. The place was owned by Dr. Donald Plotnick, a local podiatrist. Doc wasn't exactly a model citizen. After one of our events several of us and doc were sitting around talking. He told us a story that sent chills down my spine. Doc had done time in the 60,s. He didn't tell us why but he told us that when he was in prison, his cell mate for a time was Jimmy Hoffa. He told us that the FBI had come to his farm shortly after Hoffa's disappearance and drained his lake ,because there was a rumor Hoffa's body was there. He also told us that Hoffa had told him that he knew who killed Kennedy. He never said who. I have no proof that any of this is true. I suppose that some of it can be confirmed but I don't have the resources to do it. My belief has always been that the mob had Kennedy killed. They would have had the resources to pull it off. They also would have had the guts to do it. The Kennedy brothers had been going after organized crime ever sine Kennedy had been elected and the mob didn't like it. Hoffa was mobbed up. He hated the Kennedy's. If the mob did do it, he would know about it. About the same time as Hoffa's disappearance, the senate was about to reopen the Kennedy investigation. I believe Hoffa's disappearance was to keep him from testifying in that investigation. Sorry to have run on about this, but it all came back having visited this place. 50 years hasn't dimished the emotional affect. Well its time to get back on the road. Man, that burger was good. More later.

HITTIN' THE ROAD!

2009-12-21T21:46:00.018-05:00

I've always wanted to take this picture......only in Kentucky! The day after Ohio State Put another beatin' on Michigan, I headed south to Florida for another edition of the Turkey Rod Run. This was my 18th year at this show,and as usual,it was a success. The weather was a little cool. There was a cold front that followed me from Ohio, but that didn't stop the hot rodders from comin' out. Jim Bag was there to help me all weekend,and we had the normal dinner trips with our friends from Fla, Don, Kathy, Bonnie and Joe. This beautiful 59 wagon was my first victim
It is a repeat. I keep adding to it each year. Love those fenderless cars!!

The best one of the weekend was this sedan delivery.

Took me most of the day ,but it was a super car and it was a pleasure to work on it.

Jason, A local striper, stopped to see me again, Hi Jason! It was a long day.. this will do it for this year!

The following week found me in St Cloud, Striping another car for one of my regular customers. A very nice Camaro convertible. These are the other cars I've done for them over the years.

Back at it!!!

2009-12-07T17:55:00.009-05:00

Since my last post, I have been working on the Deathstar, Alot!.. I,ve decided not to post anymore photos of the van, till it is finished. Maybe a close up shot or two. but till the van comes out next summer, I'm keeping it under wraps. Soooo, what else have I been doing? Till a few weeks ago, not much. November brings the end of football season (bummer) and another birthday (another bummer). The van club had the last meeting of this year at my place, and we had a Halloween, football & birthday (3 of us) party rolled into one. I got to show off my newly tilled patio, and my new grand daughter. The "boys" built a bonfire up the hill to signal the space station,

and we cooked and ate till the we hours...oh yea, & the Buckeyes beat Penn State!

The Following week was spent getting ready to head out of town for the Turkey run,in Florida.As you may know, I do this show every year,and then hang out for a while working and soaking up the warm weather. Before I went, Vance and I spent a lot of time working on the van,since this years trip will be an extended one. One thing both of us didn't like is the height if the new seats in the van so we cut down the bases and lowered the seats 2 inches. Wow, what a difference.

The best investment I ever made was getting Vance that Tig welder. He is getting real good at it. Also a quick update on the van hood.. He has it mounted to the van.It fits pretty good after some "tweaking". He now has the Idea to make the scoops functional.

now would you call that a hood ornament?? I had a couple things to finish at Sams' before the Michigan game. This sweet little rod got a small graphic and I outlined it and added a couple custom touches. Now that the Michigan Game Is History, it is time to head to the turkey run.. More to come!!!! oh yes....another shot of my grandaughter Vada!

Never enough time

2009-10-05T22:36:00.012-04:00

Last week I received a call from Mr. Green. An old customer of mine that restores old horse drawn vehicles. He had another job for me, lettering a couple wagons. I went and took measurements,so I could make patterns . That was Friday..... Then I remember I was to go to Fast Eddies moon pie run in Indiana. Left early Sat. to go to the show. Took some stuff to give to Ilene, and drove 3 1/2 hours.. The whole thing was a blurrrrrr! El Vago (Ray Smith) showed up. Hadn't seen him in ages.. It was fun to paint with him again!
There were a lot of stripers there this year . Most of the regulars, Scal, Wendel, Shane,Web, and a lot of guys I can't remember their names....sorry. The weather was crappy,and we ended up inside. There were fewer cars than last year but, I think the weather caused that.

Ray brought his newest hat.. He's always good for a great laugh. A tribute to "Swine Flew" I didn't get a lot pf pictures. Was busy having to much fun. Hey Wendell!, can I have your autograph??? Ray is demonstrating a cool brush he acquired. He got a stash of mack striping brushes from an old sign painters kit. These were made in the 1920's. Wow, the difference is unbelievable. Ray cut loose of one for me....THANKS RAY. I will put it to good use.

Afterwords,we all went to Applebee's and had a great time. Wish we could do this more often... Back to the real world.... Went to Mr Green's first thing Monday.and did the wagons... it went like this...

These wagons were not for anyone in particular so he wanted me to make up some name and town for the bakery wagon. I came up with these..

Another successful day.......now back to that van.

WHAT NEXT ??

2009-09-21T00:05:00.013-04:00

The last post was awhile ago. Never fear,I'm still here! Besides being super busy. I have been trying to catch up on some long ignored projects.
I have a customer with a mustang that wants a panel painted with a fink in the car. Got it started but have been waiting for the paint to dry.LOL. This should be finished soon. Did this Lincoln and the olds 442 recently ,also..It was hot that day!!

The saga of the Death star is revving up. the last post had us putting a coat of black down as a base coat. Laying out the graphic panels has been a long process also. They have to be just right. the van is to have the same Star Wars theme as before, but we had to try to include the story of the 3 newest movies. Actually that was a problem. Condensing 6 movies into one vans' worth of scenes was a daunting task. My plan is to strip off all the side stories and concentrate on the main theme of the Star Wars series. That is, the life of Darth Vader/Aniken Skywalker. We see him in movie 1 as a little boy, He progresses to a young adult, who becomes a Jedi knight ,goes bad and is eventually redeemed by his son. The original paint had many murals all over the van depicting scenes from the origional 3 Star Wars movies. The problem was they didn't really show off any of the custom work that had been done to the van. In fact , the murals did much to hide the real shape of the van and you didn't notice all the custom bodywork. What I am striving to do is accentuate the shape of the van.Bring out the bodylines with panels and color along with other details,while working murals into those shapes, to tell a story.

After a year of sketching on paper , it's time to draw on the van with tape. They never transfer without some modification. then after looking at them for a while , it comes off and I do it again,till it looks just right. this was the first draft, it's changed already.... stay tuned....

MAKING A CAREER OUT OF THIS VAN???

2009-09-07T22:23:00.009-04:00

Getting this van ready to paint has been a long drawn out process. Besides stripping the paint off, there are a few places where the body needed repair. The gullwing door hinges are stressed and the metal is fatigued beyond welding. We welded a brace to the surface to strengthen the surrounding metal.

The old paint is finally off. Time for primer and block sanding....YUK.

Primer!!!! finally one color!!

And then..................BLOCK SANDING!!! I FEEL LIKE MY ARMS ARE GOING TO FALL OFF!
TOM! ... What did you hit!!! Well, it will soon be a base color, and then the fun begins!!!

C&A Harley show.

2009-09-07T21:35:00.005-04:00

Last month I did a show at the local Harley dealer. I've done this show the last several years. It'sbeen a good one. Here are a few of the bikes I did that weekend.

It was hot that weekend but I had a bay in the building to work out of. I want to thank Adonna for her hospitality. Hope to be there next year!!!

The Deathstar saga continues

2009-08-03T23:32:00.012-04:00

The last month or so has been busy. I haven't posted anything on the progress of the tandem van I am working on. Progress was slowed by the fact that the shop I am working out of moved in May. Couple that with the problem stripping the old paint off,and I haven't made a lot of headway. That is about to change. Sam has the van ready for primer. It will get primed and blocked this week, and the fun begins. I will have a little more time this month and plan to have most, if not all the spray work and murals done by the time the footballs fly again.

There were at least 3 paint jobs on this van.With the amount of filler in the van we couldn't use chemicals to strip it, so we ended up taking off the top clear coat this way.....on the entire van. As you can see it was on there pretty thick.
After sanding and blocking the pass.side, we pulled it out of the building to turn it around. Even though the building is 60 feet wide ,it wasn't enough. It's like turnin' the Queen Mary around. After wrestling it back inside, we proceeded to sand the rest of the paint off. Care must be taken not to sand low spots in the surface. with all the bondo in it, it's easy to do. Block sanding is about the only way to do it right. Man my arms are sore!!
Then we find things like this. This is the front driver side fender with a stress crack . We found several of these. Small but they must be welded up ..
A couple days like this and I could strangle Tom...lol Stay tuned gang. I'll have more as we get primer on it............later Say goodbye Yoda............

2009-07-19T18:37:00.032-04:00

At one time or another , we all have said," I'd love to go back and do it all over , knowing what I know now". That would be nice but we know that isn't going to happen. RIGHT? ..... Well, I might just get the chance.., sort of. My first attempt to build a custom van was to say the least, crude. Ever since I sold it,I have wanted it back. But alas, it went to the crusher,after it was sold about 4 times. 30 years of sellers remorse has given me the desire to reproduce that van, but eliminating the mistakes I made and doing it right . The van was an early model Dodge,that I cut in half and shortened. It was a real cute truck, but I really didn't know what I was doing, or have the proper tools. Over the years I have refined it in my head. Adding ideas, changing things,and making it a little more contemporary. I definitely remember the things I screwed up. I haven't got a lot of pictures of that van,but here are the ones I can find.
My Father-in-law was trying to teach me to weld. I took out the tired slant 6 and, replaced it with a small block V8. Here ,I'm welding the motor mounts. These are pitiful photos. Maybe 4th generation copies.
No ,this is not a trick photo. The chain hoist goes through a hole in the roof that became a sun roof.
This shot in primer shows off how short it was. I still get jazzed looking at this picture. I went to my first van-in, in this van in 1975 , still in primer. The camper van was my mom's. Behind it ,is the last car I owned. A 73 gremlin. It went shortly after I started driving the van I took this picture the day I brought home this Chevy van. It was to become the Barnstormer.. I still have it.

There are a lot of things that I want to change. The porthole is of the day, but will go, as will the side pipes. Larger wheels and tires. These are 14's I think. Move the gas filler,and put it behind a door. I want to seal up the rear doors. Solid with no windows. I love that look. Tunneled tail lights..gotta have tunneled tail lights .I did that with the Flamin' Banana. This is the Flamin' Banana. a 68 Dodge van that I built in the early 80's. My first chopped van. (that's my brother) Here it is almost finished at the 13th Nats. in 1985 I've had several early Dodges over the years. I had a beater van (it would make a great rat van today.) that I got so I wouldn't have to drive the Barnstormer every day. Had a lot of fun with this van.. And believe it or not it was a trophy winner.(that's C.B. not me..)

These are the pics I have of the new van. It doesn't look like a lot to the untrained eye, but for a 40 year old van this is in great shape.

Look at the floor. The floor under the driver is one of the first places these vans rotted out. This van still has the factory paint on the floor . It will be nice to work on an early without having to fix a bunch of rot.Tom has the van now. Currently I am working on one of his vans. The sooner I get his done ,the sooner I can get this home. I'm excited!! Stay tuned. I will post more on this project.

2009-07-16T23:48:00.020-04:00
I came home to a mess. A storm came through here a couple days before, and busted up a lot of my trees.

Along with some repair jobs to do ,I needed to work on the chopped Astro, to get ready for the Nationals.

The Nats were in Pennsylvania this year. Got there early and got set up. Even then the time went so fast. Had a Nats board meeting to attend, and then show classification on Thurs,and then the show on Fri.

I got drafted into Judging the early dodges class.

Always one of my favorite vans. I've had several early Dodges through the years. The show was very good this year. Over 140 vans .

this van won best of show this year.. an excelent job!!! Owned by Donnie Noone, one of our board members..

BACK TO THE FIFTIES

2009-07-14T22:34:00.020-04:00

A short 2 weeks after the reunion, it was time to go to Minnesota, for Back to the 50's. Last year this was the largest car show in the country, with nearly 12,000 vehicles. This years show was just as big. Before I could go, there were a couple things that I needed to get done.

A stripe job for Sam I Am, and a new sign for the booth.. Before I could even get out of Ohio , another incident with tires!!! stuck in front of the Clark County Fairgrounds. no spare for the trailer...

After a visit from road service I was on the way
Seems this state gets bigger every year..... dam toll roads!

The show kept me busy. A lot of cool cars .

There is a cute story behind this one.. a Texas couple, involving Lupins and goats.. it was a hit with everyone...

Kenny, this one's for you!! And my last visit was from a celebrity,, Doc, from the Cars movie... had to keep shooing the kids away. lol.

Another sucessfull show...got to hurry home.. got to get ready for the Van Nats....

REUNION OF FINKSTERS

2009-06-24T22:44:00.023-04:00

Arrived in Manti on Sunday ready to go to work. I was the first one there,and got right to work.

there were a number of projects to finish for the show and auction. I made Ilene a Rat Fink version of the corn hole game. I call Pie Hole. Judith made some pie shaped bean bags. It was a hit.
next day was spent painting. I re cleared Rusty's tailgate. He in turn resealed the leak in my van's rear end.
LOOK! I FOUND MAGOO!!! Here Magoo is showing his magical technique...

Gary from Las Vegas, brought his latest project,the Bubble Ray Vette...way cool We did a screen printing demo/ seminar on Friday.. It was a huge success. there were several other things going on friday. We all had a blast painting togeather. Jeff De Grandis was there again.(here he is Moe!!).I'm not sure who is crazier, Him or Kenny.... Late fri.nite, we went to Ephraim to get an ice cream

How do the girls of Ephriam have fun on a friday???

HEY MAGOO.. YOUR RIDES HERE!!!! Saturday brought the car show and parade. there was a big turnout. Each artist gave out his award,and there was an auction of the other art we painted over the weekend. All the procedes go to the city to improve the park. There is a new restroom that has been built by what we've raised over the past few years.GOOD JOB GUYS,AND GALLS!!!..After a visit to Freds for a milk shake, we went back to Ilene's and painted some more. Kenny got out the airbrush and whipped out some cool, old skool, airbrush fink shirts. After a fabulous potluck dinner we spent the rest of the evening painting on various things,and yuckin it up with everyone.... STUPID CAR! Then a trip to Funk Funk, and Fink. The week went so fast. It was a great time. we're already making plans for next year. don't miss it!!!

GOIN WEST

2009-06-15T00:08:00.008-04:00

It's That time of year again. Time for the Rat Fink reunion. The last couple years I have driven out to Utah instead of flying. With all the stuff I needed to take I decided to do it again. Judith my vanning friend from Florida, just happened to be in the area and decided to go along. It was nice to have a rider for the long trip.Makes it easier having a back up driver. Judith being the consummate traveler had us going to a number of sights along the way. Took an extra day, but it was cool to see all the Americana. Stopped in Abilene, Kansas so Judith could do some geocaching. We were in a cemetery and found a memorial to all the service men and women that came from the area. found a number back to the civil war.and their most famous service man Dwight Eisenhower. very cool.

down the road in Victoria, there is the "Cathedral of the plains" A beautiful structure from stone built in 1910, by the parishioners. Beautiful!.you find the wildest vehicles in the most out of the way places..

On westward, after a stop at Judiths brother in Eagle Colorado. we went on through the canyon where the highway follows the Colorado river, to me this is the best part of the ride..

The trip took us to the Arches park. I have never been there before. what an absolutely beautiful place! We did more hiking the next 2 days than I ever have.

Sunday found us on the way to the Rat Fink Reunion. I'll get to that next post.......

SPRING BACK

2009-06-03T01:27:00.011-04:00

Yes, it's been a long time since I last posted. The good news is there is a lot to put up. May always means van-in time. My club puts on its annual event every year at the fairgrounds in Mt Vernon Ohio.The week before we got together to print shirts,dash plaques, and trophies.

Did the shirts first, then the metal. Turned out pretty nice if I don't say so myself...a The next week was the event and we had a great turnout. before that I had a couple vans to work on.Our van-in was a success again this year, attendance was up and the weather was better than normal. The show was great! The judges were busy. the food was good. Mike learned how to pull a wheelie with the golf cart...
and as usual some people should have stayed in bed..lol
I'll have more tomorrow.

the latest

2009-04-28T22:02:00.010-04:00

Well, I don't know where to start. The last week or so has been busy. Thats normal for this time of year. The tandem van has made some progress.

Because of the amount of bodywork on this van we have to strip it by sanding it ,instead of using a chemical stripper. Slow going but it must be stripped. Meanwhile the striping brushes have been at full speed

I also finished another can. This one is destined to go to Canada

There are always the jobs that make for even more fun, this one was one such project. This truck was built special for a BBQ cook off held in Mt. Vernon. It was an old cement truck with the mixer removed,and a complete kitchen and cooker/smoker built in its place. Then decorated with monsters

This past weekend we managed to finish the first fibreglass hood skin for the astro van. After pulling the pieces apart We took apart an Astro hood to get the inner structure to have the mounting plates for the hinges and latch striker

I've also been working on some new t-shirts for my enterprize. Making screens. and printing shirts. check these out

This coming week will be my clubs annual van-in. hopefully I'll have some cool stuff to show you from then. later!!

TAX DAY APPROACHES

2009-04-12T21:23:00.009-04:00

This week brings April 15. Man, where does the time go. One thing I had to do was get the leaking tire/ wheel fixed. Took the van to the son, and he pulled the tire off and switched it.
It's hard to see, but the bubbles are coming through the metal.. further examination shows a hairline crack. Vance is going to weld it for me but I won't use this on the van again.. We had a club outing to the junk yard, Saturday.
Hey ,I saw it first!! Found a bunch of stuff,some I needed some I didn't. I LOVE goin junkin'. Another load of van booty.. Been out workin' in the garage/ studio painting away. Got this panel done for Gary, from vegas...The flamed can is next..Got several stripe jobs lined up for this week. The weather is warming up and its time to hit the streets again. Stay tuned . a lot of fun things coming up this week.

DAYTONA SPRING SHOW

2009-04-05T23:06:00.013-04:00

This past week I was in Florida to do the show at the Daytona speedway. Before the show I did a trike for a customer of mine from Columbus, who is now a snow bird in Fla. He painted it himself and needed me to finish it off.

When I arrived at the track to set up, the weather wasn't cooperating. The wind was as bad as I have ever seen it. Gale force winds made it almost impossible to set up my tarp. If Jim Bag hadn't been there ,I would have been blown into the next county.

Note the wind lifting my cover..It was like that all weekend... after all was set up Jim and I went to the Holiday House for a fabulous meal. (That was for you Kenny)

Working in the wind sucks, to be blunt. Very tiring. I was fairly busy on Saturday. Note that the center poles aren't touching the ground... at least it was warm... while I was slaving away I got a visit from a pinstriper buddy from California. Mr. lyle Fisk. I met him several years ago at the Brush off in L.A.. A major player In the southern California custom scene, Lyle has pulled up stakes and moved to Florida. I was surprised to see him. I guess the so.Cal area isn't as rich with opportunity as it once was. Good luck Lyle, come back and see me again! Lets trade panels..I'd love to have a piece of your work!!! The weather man was predicting a thunder storm for sat. night and rain for sunday. With the wind as it was I was concerned that my cover wouldn't be there, if I left it up. Notice that the wind had knocked out the center legs of my cover.. We went to dinner with Don ,Kathy Bonnie, and Joe then came back to pack it all away. Then headed back to Jim Bag's.. It was actually nice to take the day off on Sunday. I had some work lined up to do the next couple days. I went to Melbourne on Monday to do several jobs for my good customer Wayne Mann. He had me do stripes on his motor home and PT Cruiser to match After I was done I ended up at Lew and Agnes' for a day. Here I am parked at the Skoko ranch. Agnes' sister was there so I got the special quarters out back, LOL. Actually It was very nice. The weather was warm and the nights cool. Loved it!! We went to the favorite mexican place and I had some fun hanging with Lew & Ag.. I had a low tire when I left there. Went by Lew's work to check it. Couldn't find anything wrong, so I headed to Judith's . She was expecting me and she was going to do some sewing for me. WE went to the IKEA store in Orlando found some material,and after some BBQ at Sonney's. went back to her place. She was kind enough to sew up some curtian panels for the house. Isn't that material cool??? Thanks Judith!! Woke up thurs to a flat.. Took the tire to the tire shop. The mechanic tested it for leaks ,and this one is bizzare.... there was an air leak coming through the metal at the center of the wheel. You couldnt see a crack or hole.. just bubbles coming out of solid metal.. He put a tube in it so I could get home. Luckily I have a couple spare matching wheels. Does it get any more bizzare? Left Fri morning . The trip home was uneventfull.When I got home I had a surprise waiting. Those of you that have been following the Flying Eagle saga know, I have been missing some of the accessory decorations from the interior. One thing that has been missing was the ship figurehead that was in the corner above the wine barrels. Before I left I found a figurheadon Ebay, that looked exactly like this one. I was able to get it and it was waiting on me when I got home.

This has got to be just like the origional, you can't imagine how excited I was to find this. I'm only a couple brass lamps away from finding everything that was missing.. Next to get it mounted! Well its back to work this week. Stay tuned gang .