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!"
