Dean Jeffries was a lot of great things in the car world: Racer, designer, fabricator and builder. But his biggest impact by far would be his custom painting and pinstriping. In the late 50s, if you wanted the very best of the best in hand striping o... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
I like them all.Mr Jeffries always showed restraint in his work while achieving great artistry.That probably has something to do with his midwestern upbringing.
I like 'em too, but I'm glad he didn't show too much restraint pinstriping the rear of "The Flamer", 32 coupe. (one of my favorites).
I saw the photo of the Seaburst and it looks alot like the Fireball 500 which George Barris gets credit for. My question is: Did Jeffries design the Fireball 500 or Barris (I know Barris get credit for other peoples work) By the way, I am not trying to start up a pissing match (there's enough of them on here already). And sorry about straying from the main topic. I'm just curious. Peace RIP Mr. Jeffries
The Flamer Coupe is in Colorado almost finished being restored. The amazing Jeffries painted dash with hanging monkey's survives, but the rest of the car is being re-painted back to it's Flamer version. Von Dutch did a bunch of the striping on the Flamer. It was signed by Von Dutch and Jeffries. Look at the "Art of Von Dutch" book for photos. The lead image used in this thread is from the Petersen Archive. Man I'm so bummed Dean is gone. What a talent and cool guy. -Aaron
That is a whole mess(in a good way) of pinstriping.To me,pinstriping is like crack cocaine.When I was a high school kid in Omaha,there was a guy that used to pinstripe cars out on Dodge street.Once I got my first hit,I was looking for my next stripe candidate.And this was in the late 70s/early 80s,when it looked like hand striping was a dying art form.
Actually George Barris sprayed the paint and scallops on Ala Kart, and Jeffries did just the striping. Thats why I left that one off my list!
In the complete photo you can see that is Spence Murray kneeling down just to the right of the Dream Truck's fender. We asked Spence about that particular photo, and he explained that Dean striped it the night before Spence left to take the truck across the country for a few car shows. The striping was so fresh, it rubbed off the truck and wound up on the inside of the car cover by the time he reached the first show. Here's Spence's story (and a few others that I thought were really cool) http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=4a901c25eb18819b5c27d49b7&id=256e9ba0e1&e=2eaaffe7ce I'm not sure you can get away with a thread on Dean's striping/painting without mentioning Carol Lewis' '56 Chevy. The package tray alone makes my head spin. It's not necessarily "beautiful" in the same way as the striping on the Dream Truck or Junior's shoebox, but it was so cool. And those flames...
He really had some cool style, not only cars and striping, but personal as well...no tats, earrings, whiskers, or the forever popular "I'm bad" attitude because I wield a brush. He was the real rebel. Might be a lesson in there for wanna be car builders and pinstripers.
The little shoebox with the panel painting was a big WoW to me when I first saw it. Still pretty cool today!! Lets keep this post going for the younger guys. Thanks, Carp
I love how integrated the striping is with the rest of the modifications on the Conway shoebox, as burned out on striping as I am, I really dig it on that car!
Great post Jay. Love Dean Jeffries work, especially Carol Lewis' 56. Anyone have more pics of that or any of his other stuff?
Jeffries did the striping on Anne DeValle's Barris built '42 Ford. I think this represents a significant development in the evolution of "Kustoms".
Dean was such an amazing guy and we hit it off so quickly. I'm so sad that I was just there 6 weeks ago and now he's gone. Gave great tips/advice about pinstriping, custom building, and his true passion for automobiles and art. He never cared about the money or fame, and when asked he didn't have hard feelings against his buddies that made money of things he pioneered like the monster shirts (Roth), or the flying eyeball (Von Dutch). He actually had a bunch of his original prints from high school and the early years at the shop last time, so him and I sorted through and gawked at them, one being the "original" flying eyeball sketch he did in '50. A quote I'll never forget when asked about Barris stealing credit for his work over the years, "At the end of the day, I can go to sleep at night knowing I did the right thing and that everything I've ever produced has been 100 percent original. I've been paid back for doing the right thing by fans, friends, and the new 335i a BMW exec recently gave me. My life has been bitchin." Jon P.S. Side note for those that care: Steve Wozniak used to stop by Dean's shop every couple months and hangout and chat for days and hours on end. Dean told us he flew his private jet to LA and was coming in mid-April to hangout for two weeks to teach him how to use the new iMac and iPad he was bringing him. Even Steve knew he was special.
It's in Pueblo, Co. and has belonged to a friend of mine for at least 30 or 40 years. Story is, he got it in trade for some work he did. (It once belonged to the Zupan Brothers in Pueblo, who also owned the Bettancourt Merc, and a beautiful green mid '50's F-100 that was a magazine feature in the early books, and they also owned Junior Conway's beautiful shoebox Ford) The Jeffries striping is still on the dash of the '32, but the outside of the car has primer on it the last time I heard. The current owner has started to "restore" it back to its prime but it's still got a ways to go. It's safe and in good hands.
This is a great little article thanks. I have always loved the way Jeffries highlighted the various aspects of the car rather than just laying down a f**k off size design on the hood yet can go completely the opposite and throw some crazy in the mix like on the Flamer
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