Most HAMBers are surely familiar with the name Von Dutch. His contributions to early hot rodding and customs were primarily pinstriping. Later in life he was involved in gun smithing and knife making but it's the pinstriping for which he is best remembered - at least among us. As a Von Dutch aficionado, are you likely to be interested in these items? What's going on here? As I understand it, after his passing his daughters licensed the Von Dutch name to a manufacturer of high-end chic women's clothing. The manufacturer doesn't seem to expect their customers to know or care about Von Dutch himself. They just like the name. They even use the original Von Dutch logo. And they list some stuff for men, too, if you're up for a $100 T-shirt or $400 hoodie. For a summary of Von Dutch see Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Howard (His real name was Kenny Howard) For the whole Von Dutch story see Pat Ganahl's biography of him For more on the clothing see http/www.vondutch.com
One of my most prized possessions is the Von Dutch Beeplefleetzer. He built this when he worked for Bruckers movieworld cars of the stars and planes of fame museum in Buena park Calif. It was hooked to a photo eye and was intended to scare people as they got off the ride the "fun tube"
This is not new news. 10 -15 years ago there was a lot of chat about the subject here. Actually longer ago than that. When Paris Hilton et al used to sport the hats.
Lol about 20 years ago I remember asking hose bags in the bar wearing those hats if they knew who Von Dutch was. none had a clue only answer I got was whatever dish rag celebrity was wearing a truckers cap that week. when I would tell them he was a hot rod pin striper who lived in a van in the 50’s snd 60’s I would get them staring off into the sunset . well kind of sad his name got sullied like that , but from what I heard he left his x wife and daughters in a spot moneywise , hope fully they made money off this and not just the marketers
Sorry, I still call them farmers hats. And always with a seed corn company name on them. All I have is an energy drink with the name Von Dutch on it. Did see a teenager with a Von Dutch shirt on at a farm sale. She didn`t have a clue who he was.
i remember reading a couple things about him: he "wrote" a little story on the back of his shop truck to amuse people in traffic, and he didn't think a flame job was right if the flames overlapped...
As a side note, I heard that Pat was doing a book about Dutch. It took me a while to catch up to Pat to share a typical Dutch story I was involved in, in 1977. Pat said that the book was in final editing at the publisher and I was too late, but wanted to hear the story anyway. I told him the story and he said , "did you hear any other story about him? Because as wild as they seem, they're all true!" No clothing line, or anything else manufactured, could capture Dutch. An incredibly talented and skilled wild man in the flesh, and I am glad (sort of) to have met and dealt with him.
I can relate. An attractive but immature hipster chick coworker showed up back in the 90s somewhere wearing a Von Dutch trucker cap. I asked if she knew who that was. She had no idea - it was just the thing to wear and cost a lot so...
She sold the naming rights, forget how much it was 3 or 4 million. There was some back and forth stuff in the courts as I recall.
I read a story a *long* time ago--Dutch had painted a guys early hot rod, flames, stripes etc. Just really simple stuff. He also painted a tiny lady bug on the drivers side A pillar. The guy came to pick up his car and noticed the lady bug. He told Dutch "I didn't tell you to put a lady bug here"---Dutch didnt say a word, went and got a ball-peen and smacked the lady bug, caving in the A pillar. Dutch says-- "There, the lady bug's gone, now get the fk outta here"-----
There's a Merc for sale on FB now, a yellow one that the guy claims was striped by Von Dutch. Says the striping was suthenticated by Dutch's son?? Didn't think he had a son....sounds fishy to me.
VANDENPLAS, I had the same thing happen to me. I was going to work taking the subway uptown to 66th St. I saw a kid with a Von Dutch T shirt on and asked him if he knew who Von Dutch was. He said that he was an artist famous for painting flowers. The kid probably associated Dutch and tulips and assumed he painted flowers.
I know that he lived in the area, but I never heard that he did those signs, but it could very well be....
There is a documentary on one of the streaming platforms about the Von Dutch clothing line and a curse. I tried to watch it, could not get past the 15 minute mark as it was just a bunch of douchebags with flavour savours and tight pants talking complete asinine garbage , it was like trying to watch jersey shore or any of those trailer trash reality shows . Just horrible . I would of rather stuffed pine cones up my ass then watch the complete program.
https://images.app.goo.gl/4eTBP7TNiBLRetfX8 Just a random from minder binder's.. But if you look you can see the paint work trough out..
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