More Information about Von
Dutch
Inside Von Dutch's Truck
In the early 1950s, pinstriping on cars was all
but non-existent. Pinstripes hadn't appeared on an American production
car in about 20 years. And the last time they were seen, they were
usually slavishly following the contours of the car's body.
And then along came Von Dutch. Working from a shop
in Southern California, Von Dutch almost single-handedly revived
the art. His freestyle pinstriping method had lines shooting out
in all directions, with sharp angles, evoking a feeling of frenzy
and speed. His smooth lines could suddenly erupt into a sharp point,
making intricate "spider web" designs and images like
faces and animals. By 1958, pinstriping had become a bona fide craze.
Von Dutch's designs were so popular, that people would bring their
cars from all over the country just to be "dutched."
At one point, Von Dutch's daily driver was a slightly
customized '56 Ford. By 1971 or 1972, Von Dutch had wrecked the
truck a few times, and there wasn't much left of the body. Something
had to be done with it.
There happened to be a cab from a '47 Kenworth
semi laying around. So, with his love for resurrecting the obsolete
and building something unbelievable, he took the body off the Kenworth
and somehow fit it onto the Ford frame. The truck was reborn as
a "Kenford," also known as the "Raunchy Utility Vehicle."
The passenger's seat is little more than a piece
of plywood on a hinge. In front of the passenger's seat is one of
the Kenford's more intriguing features -- a brass-topped tube with
"Tube Le Dump" engraved on it. This tube is a beer can
ejector designed by Dutch for a '66 Olds Toronado he used to drive.
The tube leads to the road below, so Von Dutch could get rid of
empties without having to toss them out the window while driving.
Inside the engine compartment are some very Von
Dutch touches, including louvers pressed into a piece of sheet metal
that can't be seen except if you open the hood and look down towards
the ground. On that same plate is pinstriping running underneath
a wiring harness. There's also a handy little work light mounted
next to the firewall.
"He liked models of efficiency," says
Bob Burns, a long-time friend of Von Dutch's who would own the truck
shortly before Von Dutch's death, "He thought he could make
something better than you could buy, so why not make your own truck?"
Shortly after Von Dutch's death, artist Robert
Williams commented on him in an article in Street Rodder, saying:
"I can't overemphasize the influence he had on young blue-collar
America. He was a spiritual God -- he seemed to add a soul to nuts
and bolts, a spirit to machinery as it were, that no mere engineer
could do. And when he put striping brush to sheet metal -- well,
it gave the vehicle a karma all its own; it came alive!"
