Best wishes and prayers for him. Definitely a gem in our world.....or any world for that matter. I'd like to get some Watson-esque flames on my '54 one day.
His paint jobs are no fluke. Look at this dude... the guy just oozes STYLE. Best wishes to the guy, I really hope he can keep on inspiring people to break free of the cookie-cutter world we live in.
Larry, Your work is good man. Timeless.......... Just flat out good- imagination and creativity is a work of art and nobody comes close to your style. Cob Moderator
The little books and hotrod magazine owe much to Larry Watson for providing some of the wildest covers from the golden age of customs. Hats off to you Larry and best wishes for a full recovery and hope to see you at Mojave. You were the very center of creativity as shown on the Clock poster.
A TRUE PIONEER you are Mr.Watson,hang in there my prayers are with you to a full recovery. You changed the paintjobs on customs forever and tons people owe you for the look of their cars, Get better soon.
Larry Watson is a top notch class act, even when not in front of a camera. I have met him with Ed Roth at Ed's last show years back. Saw him again last year at the Winfield & Watson Gathering. He had so many wanting to visit with him and took time for everyone. The Watson / Winfield bookends with the middle packed with more talent, builds, experiences than most of us would know in two or three life times. Larry-wish you the very best. Thanks for doing so much for so many. pics form '09 Winfield & Watson. Just saw on the News that should be an inspiration for Larry. Dr. W.G. "Curly" Watson is 100 years old and is still practicing medicine as a OB/GYN. So, Larry could be doing car stuff for a long time to come.
I could not imagine the world of customs without the "Watson Influence". His work is amazingly radical but extremely respected! I love his sense of style. Get well my man!! BloodyKnuckles
Wow, So sorry to hear he is ill. Larry is my all time favorite. Hands down. I have been lucky enough to spend time talking with him on multiple occasions. He is hilarious and his stories are almost as good as his paint jobs. Never met anyone who hated the Beach Boys as much as Larry. Fonzi
So many of the little book covers of the mid- to late-50s featured cars with his paint. Pure inspiration for more guys than he'll ever know. Thanks, Larry!
I was born in 69 and was handed down all of my dads magazines..........Larry was/is a leader. Good thoughts going out to him.
Not only were his cars good looking, Mr. Watson is pretty damn good looking too! Get well quick bro. Mikey www.mikeyspinstriping.com "does bad things to good cars"
Hands down the best taste/best painter ever! I remember going to the library as a kid during summer break, and taking out all those little books published in the sixties with most of his work. He was my original inspiration for doing flames and scallops. I would get in trouble in class for drawing them all day. Please get well Larry!
His work was amazing, even today they would stand out in a crowd but back then it must have blown peoples minds to see one of his paint jobs rolling the streets.. the original meaning of the term 'Shock and Awe'
I know the "canvas" is O/T but can you see a resemblance? He is my Obi-Wan! P.S. Not my best work, but its the only pics I have....
I got too meet Mr Watson a few years ago and bought poster from him of the grapevine and he signed it for me and was really down to earth. Please get will soon so we can see another creation come to life from all the that is up in your head of ideas that have not happened yet.
Growing up in So Cal in the 50's saw a lot of his work at the Drive-Ins and local shows. Get Well Larry
Watson was my hero and he still is i remember reading about him in the custom rodder and i wanted to be just like him. later i met him at temecula show and he signed some pics for me. months later where i worked part time in Norco at hot rod factory. i pulled up and there he was talking to mo boss, i almost shit my self. i tried to play it cool like he was a nobody. turned out he was getting ready to rent a spot at the shop to start spraying custom tanks for a harley dealer. the next day he came up to and watched me final blocking some parts for paint. he asked "hey kid how much they pay you"? i told him nothing i work for free so i can just learn. he got in my face all serious and said "work for me and i pay you double that". i started LOL and said you got a deal. my first pay check was a quart paint can that he painted and then striped with one shot and then clear coated over it just to see if it would lift. it didnt and he said see and those commies at the paint store told me it would. i told him if you let me keep it you dont owe me anything for helping you. he started LOL and said man i love this kid and handed it to me and that is pretty much how i got paid from then on. the only money i ever took from him was a $100 dollar bill. months later he would take over the the shop two doors down and i would move over there to hang with him and learn.he was my window to they way it was back then. as we worked on something i would ask him about Sam and he would just go on with great stories of how he would watch him and bill work together. or i would say hey Larry tell me about this car, cause he had pictures all over the walls of cars he did he would first start by telling you the paint codes and the mixtures to make that color and then the story telling would start. after work we would go sit down in his office and he would tell me more while he smoked those cigars and drank his coffee. i asked him one time why he never got into building cars like everybody else and he said there was already great builders but that he decided he was gonna be the best painter there ever was and i believe he was just that. just ask some of the greats who tried to copy his work like Barris or Jr they'll tell you they couldn't do it. if i remember correctly Jr tried coping his candy root beer over silver pearl and he painted the car like three times before he gave up and came down to watsons shop to ask him how the hell did he do it with out any stripes in it. i remember watson LOL at the end of that story. in 94 he made me go to paso to see all the customs i went every year after that until they moved to santa rosa. i used to sit in his booth at paso with him while he sold his posters and just laugh to my self cause these old guys would come up to him and shake his hand and tell him how beautiful his paint jobs where and how he was the best. he would some times look at us and wink like you see they know who the king was. one time this little old man and his wife cover they looked like they should be at a concourse show they way they were dressed i might get the story alittle wrong cause i believe this was in 95 so double check with Larry, but anyways here it goes. the old man came over and said you probably don't remember me but i'm the one that showed you how to spray clear and larry jumped up LOL and said you damn right i remember you and gave him a big hug. if i remember right it was the grape vine that was the car and the old man had a shop that was a quonset building. he told larry man i was so proud of that and i used to tell everybody that i showed that kid how to spray clear. he said that he just wanted to come over and tell how proud he was of him and that he was the best car painter he ever seen, then his wife stepped in and just started picking Larrys old cars from the grape vine to his cadillacs. i believe her favorite was the the brougham. the hole time i am sitting there thinking how fucking cool is this. i'm sure Jason Walker can tell you some stories of him also cause he would later work him also at his shop. my greatest pay check was a guitar he stripped for me and my dad for always giving him a hand when he needed it. You get better Larry we need you !!
I'm lucky enuff to be able to count Larry as a friend of Mine, I've know Him for a quite a while and He always makes time to help Me out with paint questions, I even sent Him metal flake samples before begining the flake job on My Sonic Needle. After the 1st Winfeild / Watson show Larry and I went to staples to get some pictures printed, and of coarse some coffee, hang'in out with Larry is always a blast. Please keep on sending all the prayers and well wishs, because I believe they help, as a matter of fact The word I've gotten is He is responding well to the treatments and is feeling pretty good , so make plans to come out and meet Him in person at the Winfeild / Watson gathering. Von Doc
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