Showing posts with label Von Dutch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Von Dutch. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Saturday, September 20, 2025
MT .... Not many people are instantly recognizable from just their initials
The Wynn's Spit Fire was front wheel drive, 4 wheel steer, 305 with 4 valves per cylinder, with Hurst/Airheart brakes
Sunday, April 20, 2025
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Friday, December 20, 2024
the stars and stripes Captain America helmet worn by Peter Fonda during the movie was up for auction recently... it was taken from the movie set in 1969 by the film's Assistant Director and has been part of his collection ever since
the paint wasn't meant to last longer than the movie production and so the fragile material flakes when handled. So much of the original paint has flaked off that it looks awful, and it failed to get a single bid over the minimum bid of $25,000.
The distinctive flight helmet worn by Tom Cruise as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the 1986 movie "Top Gun" sold for $406,250 in 2021
The most expensive movie helmet ever sold was Darth Vader's mask and helmet from "Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)" which fetched USD $1,152,000 in September 2019
but the record for most expensive headware at auction, is now the Wizard of Oz witch of the East hat, it sold for USD $2,930,000 two weeks ago in December 2024
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
For Sale: The 1959 Moto Guzzi Falcone built by Von Dutch
customized by Von Dutch in the early 1970s. It won the Best Street Custom award at the 1971 Cycle World Magazine Show.
Friday, March 22, 2024
What happened to the Shaggy Dog hot rod? It was a '27 T on A rails with a deuce grill that Von Dutch striped... yes, I wonder about stuff like this.
That's Annette sitting in the car. So, famous Disney movie, Annette used the car on screen, and supposedly, Von Dutch striped it. That's a rare and historically significant hot rod!
I don't know what to make of the license plates on this car, or on the Mustang and station wagon in the Ugly Dachshund movie I posted last week, they aren't California plates
Stuntman, Carey Loftin was the real driver of the hot rod hiding underneath. Metal was cut away under the dashboard and right through the hood on the right side so he would be able to see the road. For night shooting a series of lights on the right hand side of the road was used so Carey could follow the road. Loftin's steering wheel was synchronized with the steering wheel Sam used so it looked like Sam was driving. A special bucket seat was made for Sammy to sit in and hair covered mittens were laced to the steering wheel for Sam to slide in his paws. He also followed the rules of safety and wore a seat belt that was hidden under all his shaggy fur. Assistant Director Arthur Vitarelli, " The dog would look over the top of the windshield and out the side. It looked like he was really driving." https://norlinreelhistory.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-shaggy-dog.html
the front and back hu caps are different. That's odd. I've never seen a car that I can remember that had different hub caps front to back
and why change the license plate info on the movie poster?
The car was first used in the "Spin & Marty" serials on the Mickey Mouse club!
In the Sept '59 issue of "Hot Rod" magazine is a letter in post entry from George Ausburn, Long Beach, Ca.
He wrote that when he took his kids to the movie "Shaggy Dog" he discovered that the model T roadster was his old race car. He describes the dash as 36 Dodge, louvered hood, radius rods and the license plate light fabrication, he did on the car when he owned it. He was a member of the "Road Runners". He said he began building it in 1940 and finished it after the war. Ran 114 at the lakes
The exhaust tips exit out the back of the frame, under the tail lights.
rewatching the movie to get some photos of the hot rod turned up this scene where the cops have no option but to drive the hot rod, and a hell of a door ding shows
Friday, November 10, 2023
Phil Sauer owned this 51 Merc built by Dean Jeffries and striped by Von Dutch in the mid 50's and had a custom surfboard rack built for it. Photos from July 1957
the car was stuck in storage in San Diego, for 40 years, until it was pulled out in 2007
Thursday, August 24, 2023
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa (never even heard of it) went bankrupt, and is auctioning everything off in the Parham collection (most of the museum is his stuff)
a headlining piece in the art collection is the Von Dutch helmet, which shows the history of all the brands of Von Dutch’s bikes that he owned. Later the baby bottle nipple was added as a comment on the California helmet law.
John and Jill Parham, the founders of J&P Cycles, initially established the museum in Sturgis, where it lived the first 12 years of its life.
In 2001, the couple moved the museum to Anamosa, which was also the home of J&P Cycles.
In 2017 John died, and the attendance since Covid dropped off so much they haven't been able to kept he museum going
Monday, April 03, 2023
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Sunday, April 02, 2023
Can you believe Von Dutch pinstriped a Fiat 500?
Eric bought the Fiat in October of 1960, and it had already been pinstriped by Von Dutch by then.
Thursday, March 23, 2023
I just got this letter from Alex, about getting Von Dutch to paint a helmet and motorcycle gas tank (It's a hoot!)
Dear Car Guy:
I saw your blog about the Blue Velvet Firebird and Von Dutch and wanted to tell you the story of my encounter with Von Dutch.
It was mid 1973, I was a 24-year-old second lieutenant pilot training student at Williams Air Force Base in Chandler, AZ. I had a motorcycle fetish (which I eventually outgrew), but couldn’t afford much of a bike, but I found a used Honda 450 that I could afford and because of that I thought it was pretty cool. I put headers and front forks on it, but it had an ugly orange factory paint job that I just couldn’t stand. I went to the local Honda dealer and asked them who I could get to paint my bike. Actually, the only parts to paint were the tank and the two covers over wiring on either side below the seat – the fenders where chrome (which I also hated, but new fenders weren’t in the budget). I wanted my helmet painted to match too. They directed me to the bed of the Salt River where they said there was a guy who did “pretty good paint and pinstriping”.
I followed their directions and eventually found a run-down garage populated by this “old guy” (remember I was only 24) and I asked him if he did bike paint (the first clue was the compressor and multiple paint guns around the place). He said he did and I outlined the project. He told me to get lost. I came back a couple of days later with a case of beer and offered to pay him whatever he asked to do the bike. He took the beer and told me to get lost. I had to go back three or four times before he finally accepted the project (at a rate around twice what I’d offered him and with the added requirement that, whenever I came over I had to bring beer in payment for interrupting his important work (although I never saw him move from the chair he was sitting in when I arrived).
I naturally expected him to ask what type of paint job I was looking for, but he didn’t, so I said I wanted something like red, white and blue or some other quirky thing. He looked me up and down and said “who’s going to paint this bike, you or me?’ I acknowledged that he was going to do it. He nodded and the paint scheme negotiations were over. I paid him 50%, left the parts with him and left.
Several weeks later I figured he would have the job done, so I dropped by only to find him sitting right where I left him – the bike parts hadn’t moved. I asked when he thought he’d get the bike done and he said something like “when I want to” and told me to get lost. I figured I was out both my money and my bike parts, but over the next couple of months I kept going back on the theory that if I made a sufficient pain in the ass of myself, he’d do the paint job just to get rid of me. During one of these visits I brought up design again and he grudgingly agreed to let me pick the basic color. I chose maroon.
After several months of buying him beer and begging for a completed job, I arrived one day to find the parts perfectly painted, with shadow chevrons and wonderful orange pinstripes. My full head helmet matched. I paid him the remainder of his money, gathered my parts and was preparing to leave when I finally asked him his name and he said he was Von Dutch. I’d never heard of him.
I finally sold the bike after a near accident that started my weaning from the motorcycle disease. The guy who bought it paid me 50% of the price and I gave him the bike with the agreement that he’d return on the next payday with the rest of the money whereupon I’d sign over the title. I never saw him again.
That was my encounter with Von Dutch. I still miss that bike --- well after a few beers anyway.
Alex Dade
I saw your blog about the Blue Velvet Firebird and Von Dutch and wanted to tell you the story of my encounter with Von Dutch.
It was mid 1973, I was a 24-year-old second lieutenant pilot training student at Williams Air Force Base in Chandler, AZ. I had a motorcycle fetish (which I eventually outgrew), but couldn’t afford much of a bike, but I found a used Honda 450 that I could afford and because of that I thought it was pretty cool. I put headers and front forks on it, but it had an ugly orange factory paint job that I just couldn’t stand. I went to the local Honda dealer and asked them who I could get to paint my bike. Actually, the only parts to paint were the tank and the two covers over wiring on either side below the seat – the fenders where chrome (which I also hated, but new fenders weren’t in the budget). I wanted my helmet painted to match too. They directed me to the bed of the Salt River where they said there was a guy who did “pretty good paint and pinstriping”.
I followed their directions and eventually found a run-down garage populated by this “old guy” (remember I was only 24) and I asked him if he did bike paint (the first clue was the compressor and multiple paint guns around the place). He said he did and I outlined the project. He told me to get lost. I came back a couple of days later with a case of beer and offered to pay him whatever he asked to do the bike. He took the beer and told me to get lost. I had to go back three or four times before he finally accepted the project (at a rate around twice what I’d offered him and with the added requirement that, whenever I came over I had to bring beer in payment for interrupting his important work (although I never saw him move from the chair he was sitting in when I arrived).
I naturally expected him to ask what type of paint job I was looking for, but he didn’t, so I said I wanted something like red, white and blue or some other quirky thing. He looked me up and down and said “who’s going to paint this bike, you or me?’ I acknowledged that he was going to do it. He nodded and the paint scheme negotiations were over. I paid him 50%, left the parts with him and left.
Several weeks later I figured he would have the job done, so I dropped by only to find him sitting right where I left him – the bike parts hadn’t moved. I asked when he thought he’d get the bike done and he said something like “when I want to” and told me to get lost. I figured I was out both my money and my bike parts, but over the next couple of months I kept going back on the theory that if I made a sufficient pain in the ass of myself, he’d do the paint job just to get rid of me. During one of these visits I brought up design again and he grudgingly agreed to let me pick the basic color. I chose maroon.
After several months of buying him beer and begging for a completed job, I arrived one day to find the parts perfectly painted, with shadow chevrons and wonderful orange pinstripes. My full head helmet matched. I paid him the remainder of his money, gathered my parts and was preparing to leave when I finally asked him his name and he said he was Von Dutch. I’d never heard of him.
I finally sold the bike after a near accident that started my weaning from the motorcycle disease. The guy who bought it paid me 50% of the price and I gave him the bike with the agreement that he’d return on the next payday with the rest of the money whereupon I’d sign over the title. I never saw him again.
That was my encounter with Von Dutch. I still miss that bike --- well after a few beers anyway.
Alex Dade
Thursday, November 04, 2021
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Did you know Elvis bought a 1946 Solar Midget race car from Von Dutch, took it back to Graceland, ran it into a tree, and then it was ignored and hidden until 2017, when Cofer Classics restored it?
http://cofersclassics.com/about.html
In November 1944 Solar Aircraft held its annual Craftsmanship Contest which usually produced a number of small inventions. Elmer Ross, a member of the Research Department submitted a midget race car that he had built and was racing in the Southwest. In October, 1945 approval was given for the production of twelve pilot kits to test the manufacturing process. Four of the kits were made of aluminum, four of stainless steel, and four of auto body steel. The pilot kits were completed in 1945 and all twelve were sold prior to production to enthusiasts in the San Diego area. Approximately 100 of these kits were made in 1946 and sold through a distributor. Most of the cars were powered by a Ford V8-60, with some running with Drake or Offenhauser engines. The entire production period lasted six months and there were only two changes to the body kit...elimination of the stainless steel wheels and replacement of the handmade wire grill with a cast aluminum unit.
The production of the Solar midget race car was stopped for several reasons. The introduction of the Kurtis Kraft Midgets by Frank Curtis with their tube frames and torsion bar suspension were light years beyond other midget cars built at that time including the Solar midget. America was on the verge of space exploration and Solar executives were ready to get back into the business they really knew... aircraft components. The Solar midget played its part in helping to keep Solar alive during the early post World War II years. Today an original Solar midget is a rare find.”
http://www.midgetmadness.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16465
If you want to buy one of the Solar midgets, they still are out there, and still come up for sale https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/04/ever-wanted-1946-solar-aircraft-midget.html
Thursday, February 25, 2021
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Saturday, December 05, 2020
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