These were found in a thread over on the OMB.com site. Copied them to share here, thought you guys might like this. Enjoy.....Roger
With that motor it probably did run on nitro. That looks like a gas (tether?) plane motor and they did run on nitro or a form of nitro. Mr Howard was an interesting character to say the least. he was a striper out of necessity, he had to support his other passions and striping was the way he did it.
He wad deep into guns and knives and yes he was an engraver as I recall. Funny story he used to blow into the ol' Man's shop about once or twice a year when the ol' man had stripping work lined out for him, they would drink a bottle of vino and he would leave him a bottle and lock him in the shop to stripe overnight. One time he got bored and literally striped everything in the shop, the benches the tool boxes a motor cycle that was not scheduled to be striped. Another time he got interested using the machines and made himself a new knife out of a file (actually two) and a lock for a bolt action rifle he was building from apiece of Molly he found under the bench. Completely forgot about striping all together and had to work around the Ol' Man the following day. LOL Quite the character. He was as equally talented as a machinist as he was a striper.
He didn't think much of painting and pin striping. He thought of it as something to make money at, but was only temporary, and would be gone in a few years. His real passion was for his knives, guns and motorcycles. Those he felt would last, and that part of his creativity would live long after he was gone.
His engraving skills surpassed anything that you could possibly imagine. Yes, his guns were heavily engraved.
I remember an article from the time, he did indeed run the skates on nitro, and the pogo stick as well.
I think the engine on the skate was an Arden, I know it was a .60. (60/100 of a cu. in.) They actually run on a mixture, Methanol/Castor oil, with a percentage of Nitro. (large engines like this generally used no more than 20%, the little ones up to 50%!) Dutch liked BMW stuff, (Isettas, BMW motorcycles, etc. His creations were on display at 'Cars of the Stars' for a long time. ('70s) He and Roth did a Volkswagen sedan that was grafted in the middle, front end on each end. Two steering wheels, each facing the front, with the bucket seats opposite. Looked inside, could NOT tell which was the 'real operating half'! I was clever...crawled underneath, found the engine. It was in the rear...front...Oh, never mind! Jake Jacobs' "J-Kamp" roadster was parked right next to the VW. Dutch was at Mooneyes last time I went, he was wrinkled and haggard. He got in an argument with somebody, passed me at the front door, loudly proclaiming someone to be a 'Communist-fascist', and some other stuff. I recognized him, and wanted for the life of me to talk to him, but thought better of it... I had met him in 1956 at the San Jose Autorama, he had a tiny 'booth', and was striping some cars...Real cool guy, but he talked in 'riddles'. ( the "Dutch Mystique") I had NO problem with that, the guy predated the Beatniks, for Barris' sake!
There is a good book on Von Dutch written by Pat Ganahl. Von Dutch, The Art, The Myth, The Legend. It has many pictures of his knives and guns. Also has lots of stories of his life.
I met VonDutch in 1984 - he was doing a personality appearance at an event. By that time he had lost much of his eyesight and could no longer stripe or work on knives and guns. He had become a rather surly old man - sad. He was a legend.
An interesting story about VonDutch and guns,, Apperently he and another buddy (Charlie Fish) were jacking around enough to be thrown in jail overnight to teach them a lesson. Later that evening Dutch picked the lock and went down to the armory and dis-assembled every gun in the room and then went back to the cell and locked himself back in till morning. Had to reassemble them before they could leave.
My son lives in New York City and he saw someone wearing a Von Dutch logo T shirt. He asked if they knew who Von Dutch was and there reply was , Some real famous clothing designer ! LOL yea right! he said its cool. LOL.
I, too, have met women wearing VonDutch clothing who have no idea who he was. I've heard his daughters sold rights to the name and I see lots of VonDutch stuff on eBay - especially ball caps. Expensive. But I found a VonDutch belt buckle. Wear it all the time.
I would say, "Now there is a man with too much time on his hands." But from what I understand from people who actually knew him, not knew him like a little kid who met him in passing a time or two, he was a perpetual motion machine. I doubt that his mind ever stopped whirring.
My friend "Boots" Jessie Olson passed away this past year, my truck has been striped by him for 17 or 18 years, him and Von Dutch were friends when they were both young, closest I'll ever get.