(Funny Car)
(lettering, pinstripe, airbrushing, gold leaf)
(Dan the Sign Man)
I got interested in race cars at early age my dad Art Delaney ran the Masten
Street armory where they always had the clutch artists Autorama all the race
cars and the vans and the show cars and whatever and as a young kid I was
allowed to take the day off before the show when they were moving in the cars
and I got hooked on the paint jobs and just being around him and that grew into
a love affair but it did for many years before I even went to a racetrack but uh
they used to have an old sign painter they're just doing show cards for you
know food courts and things of that nature now this is back in the 60s as a
it progressed I got more interested in the race cars and what they looked like
more than the mechanical end of it and ended up going to nigra drag strip
Easter Sunday 1968 with my dad's cousin Don Brown and it was just what I needed
it was the shot in the arm I was fascinated by the paint the lettering of
course the performance of the cars great races that are still out there Jimmy Oddy
Jimmy Zakia, Dickie Oldfield they were heroes of the day back then and
what an influence and just to walk around being near those guys and see
their cars and you forget how young they were back then you know so my interest
in that went home started building model cars drawing race cars got through
school knew what I wanted to do in 1975 the day after graduation from high
school I was letter and race carriers and paint signs and that's what I've
done all for my adult life so it's been a wonderful trip love hand lettering of
course we have a commercial shop here as well you know we do fleets of vans and
commercial signage and things of that nature but it's nothing like sitting out
a milk crate and picking up a quill and laying down gold leaf and striping and
airbrushing and I could do it all day long till they bury me of course you
know not having a lot of money you know I'd save it up and go buy a magazine and
it would you know all the funny cars of the day
in there you know and you know the Green Elephant Jim Dunn and of course the
Snake you know and the Mongoose cars like that and back then all the grills
and all the tail lights and all the lettering was hand done out of you know
kirby's or at circus or carter's or you know Steve Stanford
lettered a lot of cars Kenny Youngblood Nat Quick of course
these were my influences of the day and I emulated what they did and taught myself
how to sign paint I have no formal training it was just passion for what I
wanted to do and I pick up these magazines and they have you know six or
seven features of race cards in them and I always draw them and I build the
models and it's just something I always wanted to do and fell in love with it
and don't never be rich and live in a fancy neighborhood but it it is what it
is and I don't mind putting the key in the door every day it's it's just a
wonderful career afforded me and it's all done with passion you know there's
there's not much else to be said that anybody who hangs their name on their
door you know that's usually why they do it and like I said what you're going to
see here it's it's why I'm in the trade and there's nothing better than getting
paint on your fingers and dirt on your knees and crawling around a hot rod all
day long just making it look cool the way this project came about was uh my
dear friend Henry Korelec unfortunately who's deceased his son's involved with
this car and you know for years he's always said you know geez I can't wait
to get you to do something for me and whatever and Henry and I were pretty
tight and we both had Street roadsters when we raced and you know you always
called me double D and things of that nature and I spent a lot of time in Ohio
through the 70s 80s and 90s and so talking with Brian he introduced me to
Steve Crook who owns this car along with Mark Stipich and Brian himself and you
know we just got BS'in about things and the way things have gone most of these
cars and our letter vinyl and you know they do have some
appearance to them if a good sign painter you know who does vinyl letters um and try
to make them right some of them are wrapped and you know it is the way of
the future unfortunately but old school is old school when you got a 72 Vega you
need to make it look like it did in 72 so I just you know took it upon myself
and we chatted a couple times but we did a quick napkin sketch of what it should
look like and he loved it and just made a trip to Ohio to see my dear friend
Frank Mazi and we sat there and thumb nailed it out on the car two weeks later
was painted and delivered to my shop and there you have it.
(time lapse video)
(Feelin' Groovy 72 Chevy Vega)
(drag racing compilation to techno music)
what
you
(Dan the Sign Man race car lettering, pinstripe, airbrush, gold leaf work)
yeah
you
we spent hours gold leafing it hand lettering it with correct letter styles
from the 70s that were popular through that era of sign painters you know like
I said Kenny Youngblood Nat Quick Glen Weisgerber these are the guys that you
know made these cars but they were they would they were definitely the stars
back in the day the drivers are definitely cool but boy you opened up
that magazine you know as the Blue Max or the Snake and the Mongoose or the
Custom Body car or the Green Elephant any of those cars you just you knew it
from looking at it in the sign artists and the painters you know out of Kirby
shop and at Circus they're the ones that you know put the needle in my arm and it
broke off and I'm very happy with that the car that you see here is all hand
lettered all time period correct methods that we use within reason the commercial
end of things we've adapted to that only for the sake of business it is a
business and it is a living these are few and far between these days ten years
ago the shop was packed it's not that we've fallen off the face of the earth
there's just nobody doing building racecars and paint them like they used
to be a lot of wraps are going on out there and there's not as much influence
as the cars as there used to be but boy we had had a great heyday so did some of
the other paint shops and sign painters and you know all proud to be in a sign
trade like I said this was a lot of fun at 56 there's not a lot of guys that
still hand letter and pinstripe to this caliber of nostalgia unfortunately it's
an art that's starting to die and hopefully some some young kid will get a
kick out of it like I didn't and move forward with it I be you know
glad to have them here teaching them but it has its place you know so does the
vinyl and so does the wraps and so does the commercial end of things because like I
said it is a living but when you can get a project like this and sit on a milk
crate for a couple of days and enjoy what you do more than anything and then
to see the customers reaction and then obviously to see other people's reaction
somewhat of an ego trip but it's very satisfying and you know it's some
something I always want to do so there's never a dull day walking in the door
yeah that's crazy that's the shit Wow that's the not all the body I dig oh
shit oh shit and I love it that's cool good shit
so with Jenny mine oh that's awesome
but very oh holy shit look at that a pound of that okay huh yeah good Oh baby
nice yeah I just set the hatches on there so you could kind of see what it
looks like you know gorgeous that's going to have to rewrite and easy like
it you got a seat outside it's not even this color now it's green it bitching
outside it is a cool color it's a very cool color I'm glad you put some color
on the stripes in that because it you know if it had all been just the one
color I think it would have just kind of went maybe that letter is from Hoffa
yeah Jesus Christ I like that I can make it real concentrated you don't have to
off you don't have overspray over getting FL rough stuff
this week's going so bitching that's the door
watch my mouth it's alright dude we've all heard it
see this is how it used to be in here only day there were no quoting jobs and
you know what I mean there's like London shop we just let it
shit all day long and that's true domes car I always just thought the are and
with just the fucking who is saying she on the door cart page make the lettering
on the driver side better because that's the one the rice game if you make a
mistake do it out of the passenger side so they always tell people even when I
fly so because you never look at that one fresh stuff oh the fuck heard around
the world was he was loving John models car years and years when they did the
rig back door just the next morning was just I'm laying and stuff like that they
went like this and he accepted here next to cigarette and and thinner and I went
today
and that's that folklore has it when he was painting a letter in your car he'd
always put one of your competitors name in the paint scheme somewhere just you
know hit like ghosts in underneath something you know like Fred Anderson
and vans all would be