Art & Inspiration Lettering the Koopmeiners & Sons 55 chevy gasser

Nice work, Ryan

 

Very nice work, Ryan!

now will the car go faster?

and what about a retro-look for the skilled artist...I am thinking a flat-top haircut.

 

Thanks for all the kind words guys.

Bob, I believe the beautiful paint is so Eric won't feel so bad when he loses to me at the Meltdown Drags! Hahaha

The 1971 James Taylor haircut isn't retro enough for ya?

 

Most excellent!

 

I would love to see a old master in the detroit area do this

 

The turned finish on the silver really stands out! Is that true silver leaf or aluminum or some other alloy? You've made a major improvement to the looks of this car. Those simple, restrained white highlights on that 8-ball make it absolutely POP right off the panel!

 

It is real silver and copper leaf. The other car I did for Eric was done in real Gold and variegated leaf.

 

1964 and earlier on this site, unless similar body styling

 

Terrific job

 

Seen it in person, Ryan is a very talented young man.

May have to have you do the next project!

 

Looks awesome

 

I have been impressed with your talent since you were screwing together that Henry J a few years ago. You have the skills to make this your livelyhood if that is what you want. Keep after it and you will never have to get a "real" job.

Or a haircut...


Nice work, -Abone.

 

Sweet work! I wish I had the artistic ability to do that kind of work!

 

Car looks bad ass....and the man got talent!!!

 

Great Job Ryan!
You have some great talent.

Here is the car when Fred Zalewski & Sytowski raced it. Eric and I had the honor to meet and talk with Fred about the car last fall and we took these pictures of his photos:

 

Really nice work and cool to see it all laid out in the steps it takes to get there.

 

great job!

 

Looks cool but why run around on the streets with it on the car........Guess im lost here i guess i need to have my blowen sbc coupe done...To run the strrets to race................

 

That is some nice work. Good job!

 

It is pretty much a strip car only.

 

That's just damn gorgeous!!! You coulda' entered it in "Friday Art Show".

 

I've never actually seen this car run on the street. I believe now it has 5.13 gears. It also has a Hemi 4 speed crash box so you can't down shift it, and very high compression etc. It is all strip. I think Eric hasn't taken the full exhaust off for tuning reasons. Easier to tune when you can hear the quiet stuff.

 

Very impressive work, I love seeing young dudes like yourself crankin out the old school style work. Rock on my man! ~sololobo~

 

Von Hartmann - That is awesome!
I love how great your detail is on that skull.
I am curious - did you seal the leaf? If so what did you use?
I have done leaf work, just not on cars yet, stuff that stays inside.
I know lots of guys like to clear over their leaf on cars.
You really have the skill, my man - stay with this - your work is top notch!

 

I just use 1-shot clear coat. I had a hard time getting straight answers on how this was done, when I was learning how to do it. It is surprisingly difficult to find somebody who knows how to leaf and is experienced enough to give advice and info. I've mostly learned from general information from other painters, my own research on the products, and personal trial and error.

You have to clear coat real copper and silver leaf because they will tarnish. They will also fingerprint very very easily. So when applying silver or copper leaf, try hard not to touch it. I clear coat gold too. It is too soft and if it is not coated it will mark up and burnish from people or whatever rubbing against it. This will really take a toll in a short time.

 

Thanks a bunch. I'm certainly going to make a go of it and I'm hoping it pans out like you say.

 

Paul, thanks for the pictures. I know Eric has a really good one of it launching, but I don't know if he has it on the computer to post.

 

First of all….I want to THANK RYAN!!! Von- Hartman is the man for lettering and pinstriping….he has done both for me. I will also add this….he is NOT a poser, he loves Hot Rods, and Drag Cars..that being said when you leave your vehicle with him, you have no worries about nicks scratches or the like. You will notice he is alone out there…no one is allowed the opportunity to create problems….EXTREMELY important to me…and both my 55’s have been there for Tattoo’s!!! Both returned without incident!
Thanks again Ryan…. for Nailing it…the pictures do not do it justice…that is for sure….it looks like painted jewelry…..BEAUTIFUL!!! If you need “The Best Lettering” around done drop Ryan a note….I get a one pinstripe line for everyone guy I send his way…LOL JK.
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For anyone interested in the story on the Gold 55&#8230;.here it is. I met a guy named Charlie, about 18 years ago&#8230;.I was with Truckin Tom and we were at a drive in Golden McDonalds car show Northern Illinois one we had never been at. At this time I had a flat black 55 gasser long before guys were re-doing them so often. Glass tilt, nasty roller 292, hemi 4spd, and 9 inch with 4:56, American mags. We drove it down there and met Charlie&#8230;he oogled over the car&#8230;.loved it and loved that some young guys built them old school. My Dad Dave Koopmeiners and Mike Marinoff had huge influence on 55 chevy&#8217;s and old school high winding small blocks. So we were invited back to Charlies, saw the now Gold 55 for the first time when it was Red. At this time it was in pretty decent shape&#8230;paint was not bad, no lettering. He liked that our 55&#8217;s were so similar. We stayed in touch on and off&#8230;I moved around a lot and lost his number.
In about 2002 &#8211; 2003 somehow he located me&#8230;.and called me. We spoke for a long time and he mentioned he still had all his neat stuff. 55&#8217;s and 56, and a Hemi mopar, numerous other cars. I at this time I had a 56 chevy x-gasser I was running on the street. And had just purchased another 55 x-gasser. As luck would have it, I moved to within 30 minutes of Charlie and started stopping by to show him my 56. He was never home. Over 3-4 months I stopped several times. Never seeing him. One day I stopped and someone was cutting the grass. I asked where Charlie was and was sad to learn he had passed away. I turned to get into my car and the relative asked who I was. When I told him, he knew me as &#8220; the kid that liked gassers&#8221;. And he smiled and said come here&#8230;he opened the garage door and there was the blown 56 chevy and the red 55. He indicated that the 56 was sold and all the other cars were gone&#8230;..BUT they wanted cars to go to collectors or Hot Rodders. Not ebayers. I was very uncomfortable with the whole thing. He asked for my phone number and I left. The next morning, I was called by another relative and told that they wanted me to have the car&#8230;.if I wanted it&#8230; meet him in one hour to strike up a deal. I went. They told me they had many offers from people who they felt were wheeler dealers or looking to turn a buck. Long story short, they felt this was a perfect home for this 55&#8230;.and it was mine&#8230;along with 30 Olds Pontiac centersections, posi&#8217;s and spools, axles, hemi parts, and 2 extra DZ 302 cranks, one brand new. Slicks, and piles of other parts.
So we stripped the car, engine at that time was a DZ 302, which I went through. Since it was never bored and had so many number matching parts, I sold it and used the funds to create another 301 with non-special factory parts. The existing hemi 4 speed was in terrible shape, ear broken off trans synchros shot, gears beat to death&#8230;..Rear slicks nearly had holes in them so worn, clutch and pressure plate where running on rivets&#8230;.flywheel all gouged up. Axles were Henry&#8217;s but splines were twisted and studs were damaged&#8230;.thank god there were extras. Gone was the 327 and Dana 60 the car ran back in the day&#8230;&#8230;but I would not find this out till much later.
We took the body and frame to my buddy&#8217;s shop and he and I stripped it to bare metal. This body is FANTASTIC&#8230;a few pin holes of rust repair and that was all&#8230;trunk wheel tub repair from a hasty alteration and some point&#8230;now solid and welded. Front fenders are steel and NOS&#8230;..not even a pencil dot of mud in them. Floors were perfect other than a rear end explosion that put a hole in it.
We stripped, repaired, blocked sanded and painted the car in 8 of the worst 18 hour days of my life, Steve and his Dad helped, my Dad helped and several others stopped by to give a few hours to make this happen. No corners were cut, when stuff was drying we just worked on other parts, it is amazing what you can do when you can hang all parts on a giant roller and paint, block then repaint easily&#8230;.not like a home garage situation.
Car was then assembled and I built the 301 for it using a Mike Marinoff Isky Roller Cam one of his special concoction grinds&#8230;(my other 55 has one of 2 made for him in it) Trans and rear end rebuilt. 13-1 comp, old school roller cam, and crane heads. Car has run 11.7 and is all steel. No fiber glass&#8230;.engine built in my shop with less than $2,000 in the entire engine including carbs, intake and headers!!! Turning 9,000 rpm&#8217;s each summer, and other than 1 bent pushrod&#8230;.is still running strong.
This car was finished in 2004 if I recall&#8230;.before there was a lot of gassers running around. It was built for street use originally and has a full exhaust in it. But in 2005 the trans, rearend and axles have been changed for racing. Then in 2007 or so I met a guy that new the car, when it was obtained no one recalled it. And honestly at this time Vintage or Nostalgia cars were a much smaller circle. So we had no clue about the history until it was done. We learned it was the Zalewski & Sytkowski 55 chevy. Ran a 327, then later 283, 301,, etc.
I would also like to add&#8230;.that myself personally and a lot of the guys in the &#8216;Fugitives Drag Race Club&#8217; who put on the Meltdown Drags Cater to what a gasser actually was in the mid or early 60s&#8217;. These cars were double duty cars, driven to work and school then raced on the weekends. Things may have been different in California in Hot Rod heaven. But out here in the Midwest they had full interiors, exhaust, and slicks were bolted on at the track and the car was run in gas class&#8230;&#8230;LATER in the 60&#8217;s things changed and aluminum interiors and things came into play ( not to say some older guys with $$ had full drag cars) but the AVERAGE / MAJORITY of guys did NOT have $$ for this. There was no money. I recall being told&#8230; &#8230;..&#8221; I don&#8217;t have many pictures since I didn&#8217;t have $$ for a camera&#8221; Developing film or gas money&#8230;.that is the reality of it. We have a lot more disposable income&#8230;Excluding the shops SW&C&#8230;.Ohio G, Big john&#8230;pay attention to old pics&#8230;.mis-matched gauges, stock valve covers, stock intakes&#8230;.we choose to favor the typical &#8220;Moon tank, ladder bars, new mag wheels of the big boys. But in reality the majority were a lot of guys running with what they could afford&#8230;.which was 3 speeds, and OPEN REAR ends&#8230;yes guys spools and posi&#8217;s were like forbidden fruit to the 18 year old making .50 an hour part time. It is also interesting to see what a B/G or C/G record holder time was in 1961 or 1962&#8230;and Big Block Chevy was not available in quantity until 66-67&#8230;so to have on in your 55-57 was not likely until 68 or MUCH LATER&#8230;.not to say there was not 1-2 guys that did it in 66. But with them first coming out in 65 and having issues unlikely. I saw a comment here about a lettered car on the street and not getting it. Well&#8230;.this car does NOT drive on the street, but there were cars like it that did!!
Pics coming...