Hot Rods Von Franco Does Garry Carter

My long time friend and HAMB member Garry Carter had his 30 Model A coupe striped by the legendary Von Franco this past weekend. With Garry's permission I am sharing the email and pictures he sent me.



"After 9 months of semi-pestering him about pin-striping my car, Von Franco's artistic temperament was such that he agreed to a specific time and place. So yesterday (Sunday) morning, I drove the coupe up to VF's house in South Austin and met him there at 10:30 AM.

He'd already told me that it wouldn't be an "up and back" deal -- he needed time to study my car, determine what was best for it, and then get his karma and that of the car attuned. Only then would he be ready to work, and the process would take at least 24 hours. So ... after arriving at his place and spending an hour or so talking in general terms about what I had in mind, my brother-in-law Bill Sanford (who lives in Austin) picked me up. Went back over to VF's place about noon today -- and he'd just finished up. In fact the paint on the dash hadn't dried yet. Spent another hour or so talking with him about my car, the stripes, and such. A friend of his named Paul (Dreddybear on the HAMB) had just gotten his Model A project running and stopped by Franco's place while I was there; met him and got to check his car out. It's been the subject of a protracted thread on the HAMB so it was good to meet Paul and see his car in person.

Left about 1:30 PM for a pleasant drive home, but the story is the stripes. And I couldn't be happier! The stripes were done with a definite hot-rod vibe; VF spent a considerable amount of time telling me about his relationship with Tommy the Greek, Ed Roth, and Von Dutch -- all of whom influenced his work. Told me he had not striped a car in an awfully long time but enjoyed doing mine, and had lots of nice things to say about the overall build as well. Richard: you can tell NegativeMatt that these are hot rod stripes -- not street rod stripes! It's all pretty retro and the pictures don't do justice to his work -- I think he's definitely given me an example of his "best work." Colors are a very creamy off-white (it almost looks gold at times, with maroon (of course) and some black on the dash designs where maroon wouldn't work.

Nice design on the deck lid that's repeated in smaller versions on the center of the dash and on the headlight buckets. There's actually 3 separate designs on the dash -- on in the center that mimic's decklid and headlights, with a second one on the glove box door, and a third on the left side of the instrument cluster. You'll have to see them in person to fully appreciate them ... but I'm one happy guy at this point.

Garry"

 

I don't think it gets better than that. Timeless..

 

Pics?

OK, didnt show up the first time.

Very cool! Nice job VF!

 

looks great.....any pics of the man at work?

skull

 

Very, very sweet. A lot of cars wear stripes, but not all of them with style. Nice work.

 

Awesome work!

 

that dude is a pretty good artist, could probably make a living at it...

 

those lines are pretty tasty.

 

nice work i like the lines

 

Sounds like a pretty damn good day - looks badass

 

I'd expect nowt else from Franco , very tasteful & timeless.

 

this guy just sums it up,

 

That looks great, please show us the whole car.

 

tasty.

 

All I have are some pictures Garry sent me before he had it striped.

 

Always enjoyed his work.

 

hahaha..looks great garry!!! those stripes look good over that cleared primer...haha

 

One sweet assed car, made even sweeter by some sweet licks........... congratulations to your friend, and hats off to Franco< well done!

 

Absolutely beautiful. Superb talent!

 

Nice lines VF, the car looks great!!

 

I like the term "Hot Rod Stripes". I always tell people I do work that will look good today as well as years from now. I always use the example of a guy spraying magenta graphics on a aqua car in 1987 and thinking about how bitchin it was, today you would want to puke looking at it. Nice Work and it makes the car look better, exactley what good striping does. Franco Rules!!!

 

Von Franco Rules as does the striping!

 

That looks great! Excellent car and perfect striping for it. Congrats.

 

Beautiful work on one sweet coupe!

 

Tasty!

inside... FB

 

I expected a much sexier thread, but the striping is awesome, as expected!

 

great pics! im always in when comes to paint

 

Nice! Very nice!!

 

Thats some nice stripes, the best I have seen.