Star Towing's Rotator...

Star Towing in Monroe Michigan gave me a call when they got a new rotator this winter. I've been lettering trucks for them since 2001, and have enjoyed working with them all of these years. This one is the largest truck in their fleet.

 

 

 

More later,
Kurt

Hammer's Towing...

This truck was an absolute monster. It took five full 8 hour days to letter. Everything is hand painted...

Pulling Tractor...

U of M cart...

This was for a customer in Ann Arbor...


I started with a dark blue nose, then painted the yellow. The customer was very happy.

Some classy pinstripes...

Dundee Cabela's truck show...

This was part of my display at the Dundee Cabela's truck show in 2014

 

This was my display at the Dundee Cabela's truck show in 2013

 

 

Breast Cancer Awarness truck...

A customer of mine wanted to put together a pretty special truck. He has a fleet of about 30 trucks and this one carries a message with it.

A body shop painted the fenders, and the rest of it is vinyl that I did.

Sexy Pheasant Farm...

These murals are hand painted and the lettering is vinyl.

Fire Engine...

I am so glad I was able to work on this truck. The Fire Chief in Ottawa Lake Michigan wanted to do something special in honor of the fallen firefighters from 9/11. We agreed on a layout and I started work.

The first time I saw the truck in a parade was in August 2002, and it was very humbling. There was all kinds of commotion and excitement around because of the parade... until this truck came past. You could have heard a pin drop on that busy road, the only noise was the low rumble of the fire engine.

The Fire Chief talked to the treasurer of Ottawa Lake and deferred his own pay for the year to pay for the mural and lettering. (Ottawa Lake is a rural community in south eastern Michigan with a volunteer fire department.)

Bad Astro III (my work van...)

I decided that my black van was way to nice to "waste" as a shop truck. I had put over 20,000 miles on it in the first year I owned it, so I started looking for a new van for me, and my wife would get the black one...

 

Kind of plain off the truck from Tennessee, this is a retired Knoxville Tennessee city truck. The only option was air conditioning...

All done and ready to make some money... :)

 I've driven this van with the vinyl flames for a little over a year. I noticed a lot of people would "feel" the flames to see if they were paint... so I decided to give them what they were looking for.

 

Masked and some color laid down...

 She's all done again.

 I like my "Hot Wheels."

I decided to update the lettering on the glass...

 

 

More later,
Kurt



Bad Astro II (this is my wife's vehicle)

So the yellow flamed Astro was ready to be replaced. I looked for 6 months and finally found our next vehicle. This is what I found on the dealerships website. I traveled to Pennsylvania to get this little van.

 I removed the old man stripes, and installed larger rims, tires and a 4 inch lift.

This is my son Eli and I watching Gary Wills pinstripe the hood of this van... Gary took me under his wing at the age of 19 and taught me everything I know about pinstriping. He had been battling cancer for about 4 years, and the treatment was no longer working. The last time we went to Tennessee to visit, I asked him to stripe the hood of the new van. He was very happy to do so. Gary passed away one month after this photo was taken. I am so thankful for our friendship, and the last visits we made. When I get rid of this van, I'll pull the hood off and hang it proudly in my shop.

 I finished the work that Gary started on the rest of the van.

This van is an All Wheel Drive vehicle, so with the lift, and large tires, we made a trip to The Silver Lake Sand Dunes. We all had a great time playing in the sand. We had the only van on the dunes.