By Al Cook
Pin
Striper Extraordinaire!
One of the dilemmas I was faced with on the Killer Koupe was what to do
about the spare tire. The original version of the car had a rear deck
mounted spare with a beautiful painted ring that was accented with chrome
trim and cap. Very classy on an original, unmodified antique.
The
new iteration of the coupe, however, just didn't mesh with the old spare
tire cover. To me, the lowered version of the coupe would look too bulky
and cluttered with the spare tire bolted to the rear deck.
Leaving the spare off the coupe created the necessity to somehow fill
the holes where the spare tire bracket bolted to the rear deck. Not only
would they be unsightly but they would also allow rain to flow into the
rumble seat like there was no tomorrow.
In an earlier article, I mentioned how important it is for a man to shop at the nut and bolt department at Home Depot. At some point in our life, all men need every nut and bolt Home Depot carries. Luckily, at some point I bought some fine thread allen head bolts. I wasn't sure at the time where I was going to use them but as I searched through my nut and bolt collection I was pleasantly surprised to find these buried treasures.
With these allen head bolts, I plugged the holes where the bracket used to be. Now I only had to deal with the unsightly bolts rather than unsightly holes.
At
the recent CANATS, I watched Ron Gibbs (artist, muralist and pin striper
extrodinaire) work his magic on a number of vehicles. He was truly poetry
in motion.
I mentioned to Ron that I was in need of some pin stripe work when he
was available. Unfortunately, I left the CANATS early and we were not
able to hook up. A quick call after I got home and Ron was at my house
by the end of the week. After we bench raced for a while, Ron prepped
the rear end by removing all wax and polish.
We never really talked about what the pin stripe design would look like. I know Ron well enough to be confident he could create something on the rear deck that I not only liked but also hid the small indentations that 67 years of having the spare tire bracket attached had caused.
After matching the original Tacoma Cream pin stripe, Ron went to work. I stood back and watched a master at work while clicking off some pictures. The following pictures trace the steps that Ron went through to create what we eventually called "Tiki Man".
Kookie Killer logo by Jeff Norwell