After I made the below post, I just couldn't resist posting photos of Earl Bruce's "Dutched" Mercedes 300SL Gullwing. Even when I was a little kid, I thought this was one of the koolest paintjobs I had seen. I still think that, and if you look at a lot of the flamejobs that Robert Pradke and Indian Larry collaborated on for Larry's bikes, you can see Von Dutch coming through as the inspiration in them, directly from this car.
I dunno, you just have to admire somebody who goes through life doing exactly what he chooses to do, and doesn't really give a fuck what you think about it.
Here's a rare photo of the Gullwing taken by Peterson's photographer Al Hall, in 1956, at some indoor show. You can see the additional pinstriping, and yellow tips that Von Dutch added to the flames after the initial flamejob, and the kool nerf bar Dutch fabricated for it.
Excellent stuff, the mojo's back !! Never, ever seen the close up detail on the Merc, wow !!
ReplyDeletethe best part is it was painted on a mercedes. not some hot rod or custom car. some rich fucker said flame my ride. i have always loved this car......
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Bruce was actually a "rich fucker", I think he was just a pretty good hustler, knew the right people, and had the talent to turn a good buck....you know what I mean?
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