In Pat Ganahl's book about Von Dutch, he devotes several pages to a discussion of Dutch demonstrating striping at one of the Petersen-produced Motorama (or Motor Revue) shows at the Pan Pacific auditorium, probably in 1955. Pat's sources disagreed about the length of time devoted to this demonstration, what car (or cars) he striped, and even whether or not this demonstration actually happened. Although Dutch's demo is shown briefly in the Jan '56 Car Craft, you can't see much of the car, and the picture caption says it's an antique Studebaker. Could be, I guess, but that isn't what I recall. I attended several of those Pan Pacific shows, and although I don't remember seeing Dutch actually striping, I do recall seeing the car. In my (admittedly flaky) memory, it was a '33-'34 Ford 5-window painted in a light color like yellow or white. The striping was in multiple colors, including at least red and black, and probably several others. What I remember specifically is the deck lid, which had so much striping on it that it looked like a haystack -- more even that the famous Roth striping on the deck of the McMullen roadster. At my tender mid-teen age at the time, I didn't judge it to be good or bad, or too much; I remember thinking "Wow, that's a lot of pinstriping that that guy did". There are many more old farts on this board than Pat could have interviewed, and I'm wondering if anyone a**** us also remembers the demonstration and/or the car. I'd love to see a picture of it after 50+ years, or even to have a confirmation of what I remember seeing. I never saw the car pictured in any publication, other than the tiny photo of the front fender in the 1/56 CC magazine. I do have the program from that show, by the way -- amazing what old **** we save -- as well as those for the preceding four shows, '51 through '55. There are a number of Dutch-striped cars shown in them, but there's no reference to his demonstrating it at the show. Gentlemen, start your memories!
Thanks for posting your fascinating recollection. What is the earliest occurence of actual Dutch striping in the programs. In his book PG discusses the earliest occurence of design-style striping in any magazine but your programs would tend to precede the mags.
I am very curious,too. It sure would be great if someone on here could shed more light on this. I have read tha book twice since I bought it and will probably read it a few more times this winter. It's a great mystery that I hope gets solved.
I haven't read Pat's book yet;I should have got one at Detroit last year,but I remember reading somewhere that Dutch was doing striping at one of the Pan Pacific shows(not a demo)and Tommy the Greek started doing a car and it sort of evolved into a bit of a contest.Can't remember where I read it but I know it was a long time ago.I was 11 at the time and lived 3,000 miles away but I would have given anything to see that.
Very good question, but the answers aren't very conclusive. First addressing known Von Dutch work: Chrisman's flathead dragster (later called the "25 car") is in the '52 program, but is still painted black and is not lettered or striped. The Chrisman coupe is shown in both the '53 and '54 programs, and is painted and lettered, but no striping is visible in either picture. Jack Chrisman's sedan and the Reed Bros/Neumayer tank are both shown in '54, with Dutch's striping and flying eyeball clearly visible. The '55 program shows the 25 car again, now lettered and pinstriped, and the Gl*** Slipper is shown with Von Dutch lines. Three non-Chrisman cars appear in the '52 program with pinstriped outlines around flames, scallops, and lettering/numbers: the Hubbard-Palamides Crosley sedan, the So-Cal tank, and Bill Burke's streamliner. None of these look like Von Dutch's style to me, and I wouldn't consider it "design-style striping". So the first clear evidence of Dutch's work in a show program would be in November 1954, which I think is consistent with Pat's chronology. I'd like to agree with you that the show programs would precede magazine features, but I can't. Most of the photos that appeared in the programs (of these compe***ion cars, at least) were recycled from magazine shoots or casual snapshots of Bonneville and drag stip events, and were not "hot off the press" pictures shot specifically for the program.
Recollections? Never saw Dutch in person, but in 56 in my area all the 'cool' cars got 'Dutched'! Wasnt that much custom striping, just the restorer stock stuff.The one thing tho' is all the stories of him being eccentric, the most famous, was when he got fed up when a guy kept telling him how he wanted his 40' ford coupe striped. finally, Dutch just got up on his hood, an jumped up and down on it. Don,t know if it was tru, but thats one that went around. Then an old buddy from huntington park came by to show me his first car. 53, plymouth slight rake, n; lowered was striped by some guy by the name of 'Roth' never heard of him before!
My great grandpa had a 29 ford roadster that had a ***** on the back that vondutch striped. No pix of it though sorry! He striped bunches of his cars though and i have some pix of them. Unfortunately some of them are blurry copies and the striping cant me made out very well. Interested in seeing any of them? let me know ill post them!
Regarding 50Fraud's recollection of a "Dutched" '34 Ford coupe........could that car have been the guy from Bakersfield ? Gary Guinn ?
Here's what I have from a 1960 Car Craft Magazine including the picture but there's no photos of the car. Von Dutch 1954 at the GM Motorama show. The photographer told him "to do somthing" so he stuck the brush in his ear. from the article: "Hot Rod magazine supplied a '34 tub that Von Dutch pinstriped for the entire weekend. The Phaeton ended up one solid pinstripe."
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