Kustom Hoodies

Rat rod and Hot rod outlaw's

The god of v8

While he had been making hot rod parts for several years prior, Bill Von Esser opened his speed shop at 3307 West Irving Park Road in Chicago back in 1947. He expanded his reach beyond the local scene through ads in national hot rod magazines that had people sending away for his first catalog in 1948. While he stocked go fast goodies from many manufacturers, his house machined parts were without question his biggest sellers. From high-performance heads for your flatty to custom Offy throttle bodies, Von Esser's parts were highly desirable, something that has only increased decades later.

Lowbrow kustom kulture art

Just a killer example of custom work done with pride

Chevrolet Impala with scroll pinstriping

american traditional classy flying eyeball

Lettering flying eye

Purple flaming skull

Post-war America was hot rod and kustom crazy and in the early '50s, Lee Plastics of Detroit stepped up to deliver something the masses very much wanted – Custom crafted taillights! Utilizing precision vacuum formed plastics, Lee developed an extensive line of direct bolt on taillight replacements for just about every popular make and model of American car. Lee Plastics kept this up throughout the '50s and '60s, but sadly closed up shop and didn't make it into the '70s. Today, Lee Plastics unique taillight lens designs remain highly sought after by hot rodders to run on their cars or just sit on a shelf as a collector's item and can fetch pretty high dollars.

If you've been around the Southern California hot rod scene for a while, you're probably familiar with Rocket Muffler, the Burbank shop that spent several decades doing custom exhaust work for drag, dry lake, and street racers alike. Their business cards advertised "Racket by Rocket" which was probably a hint to the kind of work they did in squeezing out just a little more horsepower out of V8 engines in exchange for a little noise. In addition to sponsoring numerous local SoCal racers in the '50s and '60s, they also kept a sign out front of their shop on West Magnolia Boulevard offering free welding repairs on kid's toys, wagons, and bikes. Talk about community service!

Logo and pinstriping

One of the most influential customs of all times is this 1951 Mercury leadslead, named after its original owner Bob Hirohata and built by Barris Kustoms with pinstriping by Von Dutch. The car was on display in Washington on the National Mall in 2017 because of its historical significance.

Logo and pinstriping

Monster chilling

a shovel machine with a lizard on it. made for custom culture lovers in the world

Sun Electric Corporation was founded in 1931 in Chicago, Illinois, focusing on manufacturing electrical test equipment for automotive use. After the war, hot rodders were increasingly souping up their rides and a need to monitor their engines became apparent. Sun applied their history with precision testing equipment to aftermarket automotive gauges, producing some of the best gauges of all time that allowed racers to keep an eye on their engine at all times. From tachometers to oil pressure and everything in between, Sun made a gauge for it, and these original units that came out decades ago remain the holy grail of instrumentation to this very day with most of them still working like new.

Another Satansbrand Side Show Freak design, this time the lovely Juanita the Siamese Spider Woman. You gotta keep more than your eye on this girl, she talks dirty whilst her mouth is full....... ;) Coolest thing about this design, it is made up from modified bits of Free vector art and old bits and bobs off other things I've done

Skull illustration

Old school lettering with pinstriping design

O.G.

THE TONGUE

2 Tone

Usually found loitering behind the convenience store.

Here it is, boys and girls! A new mascot for our favorite holiday! Ring in St. Paddy's the proper way with a Leprechaun Fink!

Zombie monster on wheels

Inspired by kustom kulture, bikers, and motorcycle with skull for the main object

A quirky smiley face

Von Dutch

SKULL

Pinstriped design of an owl, moon phases and number of weeks in a year.

Outlaw's Garage. Socially unaccepted Hot Rod. Original design for light apparel. By Hit the Road Designs.

Pinstripe tiger design

She she has, and causes, a lot of bones!