A Deep Dive Into Low Brow Art with Richard Kuehl, STLPinstripes - Low Brow Artist

Ride along with Jason OldeCarrGuy Carr & John CustomCarNerd Meyer as they put this episode into gear with Low Brow Artist, Richard Kuehl, as they deep dive into the world of Low Brow art.

Low Brow Artist, Richard Kuehl, AKA STLPinstripes, has honed his craft over the last 20 years, putting his own spin on traditional pinstriping and low brow art, to become one of the more recent most sought after artists in the genre with collectors around the globe. Listen as the guys talk with Richard and get into all things Low Brow Art. Stick around because Richard tells a story that has Jason's jaw on the floor!


Speed over to our friends at RacingJunk.com

Be sure to follow GOND on social media!
GOND Website
IG: Get_Out_N_Drive
Twitter  GetOutNDrivePod
FB Get.Out.N.Drive.Podcast
YouTube https://tinyurl.com/GONDYouTube

Join our fb group to share pics of how you Get Out N Drive

Follow Jason on IG
IG @oldecarrguy
Follow Jason on fb
fb @oldecarrguy
Subscribe To the Olde Carr Guy YT Channel

Follow John on IG
IG @customcarnerd
Friend John on fb

Recording Engineer, Paul Meyer

Grab your Official Decals, Apparel and other cool shirts at GetDriveGear.com   

Subscribe to the Str8SixFan YouTube Channel.

Be sure to join the coolest place on YouTube on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 7pm CST, The CarrGuy & SixFan Show, powered by the Get Out N Drive Podcast.

#lowbrowart
#stlpinstripes
#richardkuehl
#pinstriping


Music Credit:
Licensor's Author Username:
LoopsLab
Licensee:
Get Out N Drive Podcast
Item Title:
The Rockabilly
Item URL:
https://audiojungle.net/item/the-rockabilly/25802696
Item ID:
25802696
Purchase Date:
2022-09-07 22:37:20 UTC

Transcript

Transcript 

Jason 

Make sure you stick around for the whole episode because that we're going to take a deep dive into low brow art, and I just might regret asking about a killer car. 

Announcer 

You're listening to the get out and drive podcast with John CustomCarNerd Meyer and Jason OldeCarrGuy Carr. We'll be bringing you gearheads everything you never wanted to know about cars and why they should be on the road and not in your garage. Are you ready to get out N drive? 

John 

Well, welcome back to another Fantabuloustic episode of the Get Out N Drive podcast. I am John CustomCarNerd Meyer,  

Jason 

and I'm Jason OldeCarrGuy Carr. 

John 

Today we have Richard Kuehl, world renowned. He's laughing already. World renowned lowbrow pinstripe Artist thanks for hanging out with us Richard. 

Richard 

Oh, no problem. 

John 

You don't have anything, else to do today, right? He doesn't have anything to do. 

Jason 

So, Richard. It's great to finally meet you kind of face to face. We've been. 

Richard 

Hello. Yes. 

Jason 

Liking each other's posts on Facebook and Instagram and all that stuff, and we've been following along a little bit of what you do on particularly struck by the license plate, but that's a whole other topic. I guess we just kind of want to introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about what it is that you do and what you call yourself on Instagram and all that stuff. So, people can find you. 

Richard 

OK. So on across all my socials, I'm STLpinstripes. Just mostly because I'm here in Saint Louis, and I think goofy pinstriper nicknames are kind of goofy and silly and played out. Sorry, everybody, but you know, I thought that was kind of silly. So, I'm just me pinstriping things. Mostly, it's found repurposed old junk that I pick up at swap meets and flea markets and yard sales. You know, just stripe, eyeball things, you know, random junk that I find. And then I've, you know, it's weirdos. Pinstripes, Mr. Horsepower, You know the same thing that everybody's doing for the past 60 years. I'm doing the same thing. Mostly it's a a hobby. Just started out as something to. Keep me busy. Keep me out of trouble. We have winter here in the Midwest. So sometimes you just don't want to go outside and you get tired of watching TV or something. So to stave off cabin fever, it's keeps me busy, keeps my mind occupied. And that's kind of it. 

John 

I know, Richard, that that I've seen a lot of things that you've repurposed and you've repurposed things that I have painted previously. And I couldn't sell and. And you put your spin on it and the. Thing sold like in a minute. That I I think it's I. I know you say it's because everybody's been doing the same thing for 60 years, but. I see that you're putting your own spin on it with the detail. And with all sorts of different things, you know, tell us a little about the detail and what's making it your own. 

Richard 

I I think that mostly my style is. I grew up, you know, reading comic books. And so that's kind of how I paint is how what I saw in comic books learning to draw and ink and paint and lay, you know, lay pages and panels out because that's what I did as a kid, you know, through high school I'd sit and copy comic books, you know. And just take the comic book and decide to copy that page out of the comic book. That comes from, you know, you're antisocial and don't have friends. You draw and do art. So you know that's what I how I paint. Is it kind of very similar to techniques that you use drawing comic books and things like that, the same kind? Of inking and. And line weight techniques. So that's, that's where a lot of that comes from and that's what everybody does, they, find their niche. Do what they like, do what's comfortable for them and you know, if other people like it, that's great. If they don't, it hangs on my wall, and I have something cool to stare at. 

Jason 

Well, you mentioned you know about jokingly, of course, antisocial and all that stuff. But one of the things that artists. 

Richard 

You don't know me. That ain't a joke. 

Jason 

One of the one of the things that artists tend to do is they tend to find that niche, and they instantly. Attract people who like what it is that they're doing so? I know that you're hitting some some trade shows and some swap meets and stuff like that. So are you doing any live painting while you're at these shows? 

Richard 

No, I I haven't got worked up the nerve to do that. I don't like an audience in particular. I feel really uncomfortable just doing the time lapse kind of videos that I put out there. I don't know why, but in my brain if if somebody stands over my shoulder and watches me, I might lose my mind and it just it drives me nuts to have an audience. It really does. I like to show a finished thing because the one thing that's going to drive me nuts and make me lose my mind is that if someone goes. What put a line over there? Why did you use that color or something? I'll just. I'm like, I'll lose it. So I'm not. I'm not comfortable enough to do to paint in front of people. It's just I've had many a broken down car in a parking lot and had someone try to tell me how to fix my car. And that didn't go so well. So, you know, I know how to bite my tongue and just keep fixing my car, but I don't know if I feel up to that. 

John 

It goes without saying Richard's not going to be the airbrush artist at Six Flags. He's not going to be in the little cubicle doing airbrush art for Tina with the with the sunset. So yes, I'm probably saying no. 

Richard 

Thank you. Thank you. 

John 

Have you been branching out? And I know everything you've been doing is very. Much personal. Everything you do comes from your head. Have you been doing any Commission pieces? I know that kind of goes to where people say put this color here with this color there. But do you do that? 

Richard 

I've done a. Few pieces. I have a lot of people that ask. That's the thing a lot. Of people will ask. And then as soon as you tell. Them it costs dollars, they don't care so much anymore. So I very I'm very particular about doing Commission pieces. I I'm I make sure that I sit down with somebody and go look. What do you want? I'm not going to spend 12 hours painting this thing and then you. So I don't know, it's not exactly what I thought it'd be. So like look, we need to have several conversations about what exactly you want, and then we'll paint. I'll paint this and then when it's done, maybe I can fix a few things, but. I it just. It that again, Commission things drive me nuts because. You can spend 12 hours on something and then someone goes. I don't know. I just don't. Like it? OK. What about it? Don't we like, what are we changing? What needs to be different and it stops making it fun and makes. Nerve racking and it puts a lump in my belly to think about. Oh God, is this person going to want this and it just that that makes that makes me nervous. And that makes me scared. And that makes it not fun. It makes it not a hobby. And if it's not fun, if it's not something I can relax and do. And just go hey. That you know, I can mess around with it and at the end I will pulled it out and I go, hey, that's cool. I like that. That's great. That relieves stress. That helps. That's fun. 

Jason 

And Commission artwork to some degree really is on a little bit, I shouldn't say a little bit, probably a grander scale than doing a full body restoration for somebody. You still got to have those conversations to find out the details. They want and don't want. You got to know their style. You got to know. You know how far they're willing to. Go what they're willing to. Pay in some cases so. I guess what I want to know is, you know you talked about. Comic books at a young age, but was there any one or two particular people that inspired you to kind of maybe branch off the comics and move into maybe the pinstriping and or the graphics of that sort? 

Richard 

I I always liked. I know everybody says it's rat Fink and Ed Roth. I always leaned more towards. I liked the work of Bill Campbell, you know, doing the Revelle model kits and all of that stuff. There was kind of a kitschyness about that really originally drew me in to that to everything and you know, Rat Fink and von Dutch and flying eyes and all that stuff, you know, I can't say that I was expressly exposed to one guy in particular. You just sort of absorb a lot of things. You're a kid and you go to a car show and there's a guy with a flying eye on this. And you're like, hey, that's cool. And then you notice that fifty other people have the same thing on. Their car. And they go well. What is this? Why is there flying eyes on everyone's car? You know, you see rat thinking. What does rat think? And then you learn about that. You know, just that kind of googly eyed Monster cartoon style is what really drew me in and what made you know, I like those things. I like the Mopar art of the late 60s, early 70s. All of those kind of mod disco, you know, purples and greens and orange. You know advertisements that they ran in the late 60s, early 70s for Dusters and Rd. runners and all that. That stuff is cool to me. It's kitschy. It's different and it's not the same old, same old. So I lean towards those kind of things too. And that's, you know, it's just where I kind of land in the spectrum of. Things I like. 

John 

I know you've done a lot of work on. Repurpose things and we've seen a lot of license plates and bowling pins and all sorts of. Where do you get all this stuff? 

Richard 

Flea markets and swap meets and yard sales and you know, you go around and you, you you hunt through the pile of garbage, you know. And you find things and you. Know that's neat. And and it just kind of go, I could do something with that. And that's where you land with things. Sometimes you buy something and it sits in the corner for six months because you're like, I thought that was really neat when I bought it. And now it's just kind of stupid. So you wait for inspiration to strike you and go, oh, that's cool. 

John 

So you'll kind of get something and have when you see it, you have a vision of what's going on or you just say I think this. Piece has potential. 

Richard 

I think this has potential. OK, this is neat. This is different. You know, old wood saws, there's, you know, everybody paints on old wood saws. They're neat. You hang them on the wall, they're different. It's not a rectangle and A-frame with a landscape painted on it. So. 

John 

This is not something you'll find at Branson with a waterfall and a water wheel. 

Richard 

No, no. But it's those kind of things are neat if it just, it's interesting. It hangs on the wall, and you walk by and you look. At it and. You. That's cool. And I think that's how it is for a lot of people. You just you look at. Something go hey, that's. I you know, there's wood saws. You know, any kind of old Petrolina? You know, that's the fancy thing. Old oil cans. 

John 

Right, $5 word for junk. 

Richard 

That's no that. Yes, $5 word, but you know that kind of stuff, anything that lends itself towards cars and. You know, wrenches, tools, machetes and axes, that kind of stuff looks neat. It's tough guy stuff. It hangs on the wall and it just it's different from every the, you know. The bug's life Poster hanging on your on your basement wall. 

Speaker 

Right. 

Jason 

So as I grab my cool drink here from my racing junk koozie, it reminds me that I think there's some things that people can get at racing junk that you do. Why don't you fill us in on? 

Richard 

Yeah, at racingjunk.com, they have the free classifieds. So, I have a few items there. They're exclusive to the racing junk classifieds. So, if they go there and they search for them. I'm not exactly sure how the search function works there. It's new to me, but you can find a few of my pieces there on the racing junk classifieds there is a link from my website. 

Jason 

And if you guys are looking for anything automobilia related car parts, racing purse, make sure you guys check out racingjunk.com, they're longtime sponsors of the get and drive. 

John 

Now I know you mentioned earlier your socials and things make sure that everyone gets that again. So they know where to find you and your website and everything. 

Richard 

Yeah, STL pinstripes across all of my social. So if you search that, you'll find me on Facebook and YouTube, LinkedIn, and then STL pinstripes.com is the website. Pretty simple, straightforward, easily defined. 

John 

Very cool. Well, we'll have to make sure you have some sort of scrolly. Get out and drive. Logo art work or something. That we we can get done. 

Richard 

It's like on the side of. A dump truck? That's. 

John 

Yes, just right on the side of a dump. 

Richard 

Like a dump? Yeah, that's. 

John 

Truck just a dump truck trash truck. Vintage coach. Ohh yeah. Yes, every like every other artist pieces are numbered or signed and things do. You hide your name. On your work, no. 

Richard 

Not really. I mean I don't put it out in front and center, but it's down in the corner. It's just RLK my initials and then usually put a year on it. 

John 

OK. 

Richard 

And that's, you know, that's easy enough. 

John 

Very cool. I know, Richard. You said you are very interested in lowbrow art and pinstriping and all that type of stuff, and I love the weirdos. You know, a muscle car with this giant angry monster coming out of it and everything. Where did pinstriping and lowbrow art and things like that? Where do you think that came from? Or can you give our listeners a? Little bit of. History of. 

Richard 

That, sure. So you know the stories I always read was that, you know, the Bariss’ and, you know, Roth and all these guys, they're out building cars. And the story I always heard and I like to believe that I want to believe. Is true. Is. That to hide their sanding scratches and shrunk up body work because Oh my God, they weren't. Perfect. They would have von Dutch coming in and stripe over the places where there was shrunk up, body work or sanding scratches or rock. 

John 

Or rock chips. 

Richard 

And he would have them. He would strike over those things. And that's why a lot of his stuff is kind of goofy and crazy because he's hiding mistakes under his stripes, you know. And Pinstriping goes way back. You know, goes to sign painting, sign painting goes back to state, you know painting scroll work on on stage. Coaches and things like that and stage coaches are nothing but cars with horses in front of them and it just all comes forward and how you choose to apply a a skill set to a new medium is. You know where I think a lot of that, you know, pinstriping kind of comes from it's, you know, it's horseless carriage up to the new horseless carriage. Horse carriage up to horseless carriage. 

John 

Right, right. 

Richard 

Right kind of thing. 

John 

And to me, it kind of evolved out of just as hot rodding did World War Two pinstriping nose art having to paint planes, things like that, and putting numbers on planes. All that stuff was done by hand. It certainly wasn't. Vinyl decals. It was great to see a giant. Picture of some gal riding a bomb. Yeah, and all that stuff kind of evolved out into the hot rodders and everything that evolved obviously out of World War Two yeah with everything and all of the pinstriping from airplanes came along with it. 

Richard 

Yeah, you bring that that stuff home with you like, you know, sign painting and painting, you know, numbers on planes and things like that. It it just you bring that home with you and you go you you're sitting around looking at your car and you go. I did this in the army. I did this in the Air Court. 

John 

Right. 

Richard 

I can paint numbers on my car, I can paint flames on my car and. And you know it, it just all lends itself from there. It was a once a very utilitarian thing becomes an artistic thing. 

Jason 

Well, it's funny how you mentioned. About hiding mistakes, because on my 79 Chrysler Cordoba, my dad painted that car. My dad is not a professional by no means, but the day that we were taping off the two colors. 2 tone on one door. We got that we got that little curve that goes up on the B pillar just off from the other side and it was years later that I had it pinstripe and the pinstriper when he. Came in, he says. I can. Fix that, and of course he did just by drawing the line thicker as it went around the corner on that side, he went over the other side and matched the thick line. And like I said, to the untrained eye, they would never know. We know it's there, but you know, it's one way to correct small mistakes, maybe big ones. But I can also remember as a kid walking down the front. Street of my town. And the local grocery store, you would see, you know, the news print, painted specials of the week on the on the big windows. And they would have, you know, the fancy stars and the little squiggles and this and that and. I think with technology that's out today with the, you know, digital printing, vinyl cutting all that sort of thing has kind of taken a lot of that artwork out of modern day advertising. So those people who learned to do the paintings and the pinstriping and this and that. They've just kind of gone away or that art has died off with an aging population. So as technology kind of comes into play, there's still a few people. Like yourself, who? Really want to showcase that this art is still alive? Is there something in particular that you do? That kind of keeps your mind active. Or is it just constantly? You're just constantly doing something to keep going with your art? 

Speaker 

I think just. 

Richard 

You know, practice makes perfect. Everything is practice. You know what I think is is something that was really good yesterday. I might think in a month that you know what you did yesterday is garbage compared to what you're going to do tomorrow because you just keep painting and working at it. And I always feel like what I've done is not as good as something. Maybe I've done more. So it comes from that. It comes from staying just, you know, keeping your mind sharp. Look, paying attention to everything. Cataloging everything, even if you don't realize you're doing it, you look at cars, you look at posters, other people's work, and you pull ideas from anywhere and everywhere. And what works? What doesn't work for me personally, what I think is cool, combining different things. There are so many guys. You know, you combine things like anime and comic books, and then you pull that into hot rod art and you have an anime hot rod art kind of thing going on. And there's all of that stuff out there. There's so many more sources now to pull from to make things, you know, to have inspiration for, I guess, is lack of a better word. That to catalogue and keep those ideas in the back of your mind. And you keep them back there and you don't even know they're there until you go and you've you make something and you go. Oh, that's what I do with that idea. 

John 

Do you see that your work kind of is a culmination of your love of anime? Because I see the detail that's in some of your work that I don't see in other people's work. 

Richard 

Well, and see like my work. Like a lot of people. Oh, there's a lot of detail there for me. That is how you know I look at it and they're, you know, our guys like Todd McFarlane and Rob Leifeld, who were really popular in the late 90s, early 2000s, that were drawing comic books. And I feel that that's kind of a lot of how. You know. Where I was coming into my stride as far as you know, that was my time in high school was, you know, and when I was really drawing and reading comic books and that artistic style is in my painting. And to me though it's less detail. And more of. Oh, if I do a lot of. The like more is better. So like I print. With a broad, broad strokes, when I do color and then when I go in and I do that detail work that, that, that is the black kind of detail. Build things. I feel like I'm covering mistakes or I'm adding that detail and it's not so much it's. It's almost like cheating kind of to add that detail and cause it feels easy to. To me, to put that detail in with just a fine line and some black paint and you can do it, you can accomplish a lot of depth. You can. A lot of shade and shadow with, you know, line weight and hatching and things like that. And so it feels kind of like I'm cheating a lot sometimes on things, you know, I see other guys that mix and do have different styles and I think that seems like a lot of work and what I do feels a lot easier than what. They do, you know, it's just. 

John 

Now when I look at it, it does look like a lot of work and it looks like a culmination of styles that you have because of your love for anime. And I see that detail in your work that I don't see in other people's work it. And I think it's really cool. 

Richard 

Well, I see. I think it's cheating because I'm doing it with one color instead of sitting there blending out a palette and and blending from dark grey to a really light Gray or blending from one color to another, right? 

Speaker 

Go ahead. 

John 

Uh huh. 

Richard 

I'm not working with that wet color and I'm not like it doesn't look realistic or kind of right. I'm not. I'm not doing that. Shade and shadow work. 

John 

But your rainbow affecting it. 

Richard 

Yeah, kind of. 

John 

It's it's blend. It's blended with solid colors. 

Richard 

I mean, there's that cartoon. It's more of a cartoony style of like, you know, here's red and here's dark red. So dark red instantly means shadow. Yes, you know, and that that it's, it's feels cheap to me. It's just, you know, it's that cartoon kind of, you know if there's something that's light red and there's something that's dark red then instantly that's a shadow. And that kind of thing. And then you go in and maybe if you don't forget, you forgot to shadow something or you want it to look around. You do that with lines instead of. 

Speaker 

Well that. 

John 

That's cool. I've learned a lot watching, watching your paint, and I've learned a lot watching things especially, you know, with anime, I realized that real people, unless they're odd, they don't have blue hair, you know. Or blue and black hair or or no hair. 

Richard 

Well, there's, there's those people are out there. 

John 

They are out there. I was always at work when I worked in auto restoration and I was always by myself and I was over in the corner and I was working. On this nasty. Busted tray table eating lunch on this tray table all the time. I wanted to be left alone and I'm trying to I never went up to. The lunch room. And I'd always sit and eat on this dirty, nasty table that I've drilled holes in and built cars on and all sorts of things. So Richard makes me this for Christmas. Richard made me this really cool thing and it says. Jeff off. I'm eating and it shows a whole bunch of other stuff. You know, the flying eyeball and the food and all sorts of everything. I was scared to bring it to work, to use it, so I I have brought it home since retired but brought it home and I think I'm going to pour now that it's dry. I think I'm going to pour clear resin. Over the top of it, so I can actually use it, but it it's sure as badass and it's made just from an old busted tray table part of exactly the same thing that he does to repurpose things. And like we always say oh, the hot rodders, they're the original recyclers. So Richard Keel is saving the planet. 

Richard 

Right. 

John 

I can certainly say that. 

Richard 

Keeping things out of the landfill. 

John 

Keeping things out of the landfill. 

Jason 

So for those of you guys who are actually listening to this and not watching the interview, they just held up the tray table and I'm about to hold up this old license plate from 1956 here in New Brunswick. This is something along the lines. Richard, that you. Would find maybe at a swap meet. That looks like a perfect canvas. In this case, the paint's gone around the Crest here, so that's probably a great area for you to put. Maybe a set of moon? Eyes or a rat or a the. 

Richard 

The the flying. 

Jason 

Eyeball or something? Like that? Tell us a little bit. About you know what? Inspiration comes with a specific license plate, is it? The patina on it is it maybe just. Tell us a. Little bit about how you get there. 

Richard 

Well, I I originally started painting license plates because they were cheap and plentiful and they were a small canvas, so that was kind of why I started doing those because I had a I had some laying around and I think just about everybody has a dozen or so old license plates. I just thought. It would be a neat. Thing, because everybody paints their car and some people are secret customizers or secret hot rodders where they're not going to paint something crazy on their car. They don't want that kind of attention. They don't want that. But if that's something small like their license plate, a little, a little, just pop of something, a weirdo or some flying eyes or something on your license plate. That way it's not necessarily on your car, you know, forever. You're not stuck with it. It's kind of a low key nod to have, you know, to to hot rodding and weirdos and custom everything and but it's low key, you know, cause some people they don't want that nutty. They don't want a rat Fink painted on their hood. Or they don't necessarily want pinstripes. They, outwardly, they say that stuff silly, and they don't want it on their perfectly restored car. But if it's on their license plate, well then it's just it's not part of the car so much, but it's. 

John 

It's like wearing a ratfink tie to A and in a perfectly good suit, you know, or hiding your tattoo under a sock. 

Speaker 

Yes. Yeah. 

Richard 

Yes, that kind of thing. So that's, that's where that's kind of what I had the idea for those was it was a little nod. You know, it's something you could click on your car to show and walk away, and it's just a little pop of interest to your car. It's something you can just hang up in in your office. You know, it's not a big obnoxious piece. It's something easy that if you wanted to hang it in the office. Or at home and it's something small, but yet it's there. You know what it is? It's cool and it doesn't take up an entire wall. Too, because you know, you get some things like saws or other pieces. You have to have a shelf or you have to have a wall or maybe the family thinks it's stupid and they don't know why it's hanging on the wall. But if it's low. Key then you can kind of stick it in the corner and it's. Yours and enjoy. It so that's. What I was kind of started out with those plates. 'cause they were just small and it was kind of a low key nod to hey, I'm a hot rodder kind of thing, you know, but very low key. 

Jason 

John, did you get a chance to get up and drive last week? 

John 

I did. 

Speaker 

Right. 

John 

I drove to Gateway Classic cars in O'Fallon, Illinois, to meet with Eliza. She's part of the public relations team at Gateway Classic cars. I took a tour and joined Eliza for her Facebook segment live with Eliza. 

Jason 

How can we see live with Eliza with their own John Meyer as a special guest star? 

John 

We'll be sure to put a. Link on our site. Get out and drive com and across our social media feeds. When it's available. 

Jason 

So Richard, Speaking of license plates and cars, I'm always interested to find out what type of cars our guests drive. So from what I understand, you've got a pretty special car. Tell us a little about. 

Richard 

I I have a 64 olds 98 coupe and really it's just kind of a nice little survivor car. It is not restored. It's a beater. I knock around in it, go to the grocery store, go to the swap meet. Run down the street and its a neat little car. Now the story behind it and I choose to believe this is true. At least this is what the fella who I bought it from told me, and it does have the battle scar to prove it in the in in the hood of the car and the left. Front side of the hood is a large gash in the hood. And it's about. 6 inches long, so the guy who I bought it from tells me he goes the previous owner. He had stuck an axe, got mad at the car and sunk an axe into the hood of the. Car and I'm like, OK, and he goes well and I said that's OK, whatever. And so then he tells me the real story. So apparently this guy owned the car, he knocked around in it, he drove it. And he murdered his family. With an axe we got mad at the car. He went in, he axe murdered his family. Then he sunk the axe in the hood of his car, and then he waited for the cops to show up, and apparently he had mental problems and things like that. The trunk of the car. Was filled with his notebooks of things that the voices in his head were telling him to do and that there were gremlins and monsters and demons in his head telling him to axe murder his family and do other things and so. He also could possibly believed in some of the writings the guy told me that he, you know, believed that it was the car that was telling him to do things, stuff like that. So I choose to believe that's true, because that's a really neat story, and it does have the battle scar to prove it. The guy who I bought it from said. He bought the car from a police auction online and that was in the auction. The online auction that was in there, that this was, you know, seized. It was part of this investigation and that that is it's supposedly true. I think he was. From Arizona or New Mexico or something. 

John 

I think Victoria had New Mexico license plates on it. 

Richard 

Yeah, it was New Mexico. 

John 

When you got it. 

Richard 

Plates on it when I got it. And the guy, the guy I bought it from never took those plates off of there. So it's got a little bit of a ghost story to it. So that's it's fun. I like that I choose to believe it's true. 

Jason 

Wow, I'm Sorry I asked. Yeah, but I'm not because it you know when you can find a neat story to a car, whether it's neat, gory, whatever you want to call it, every car to some degree has to have a story. Modern, old or not. And that's part of what keeps. The passion of car collecting of car enthusiasm keeps that stuff going, so I'm. Glad that you. Have that story. I'm certainly sorry for the. Yeah, circumstances around that. But nevertheless, I it's a it sounds like it's a pretty good car. And if I'm not mistaken, those are pretty big cars as well. 

Speaker 

Ohh yeah, it's. 

Richard 

Every bit of 20 feet long, it barely fits in a parking space. It is a land barge. It's huge by large and, but it's fun to knock around in. It's also one of those cars, you know, it's a 64, so it's modern enough to. Me at least. That it's like driving a regular car. It's not like getting in a Model T or a model A and you gotta adjust the spark knock and. Everything you know. The spark and everything. It's got power windows. It has power brakes, it's. It doesn't have AC, but it did originally have AC. You know heat all of those bells and whistles. To me, that just make it kind of a regular car. There's nothing it doesn't feel as antique to me as it might to others. You know, just something easy to get in and drive. It's still got the original 3. Six in it with. Hydromatic transmission 3 speed Hydramatic transmission. It runs and drives great. It's one of those cars you can get in and drive all day long and it just keeps pulls and it goes. And it's not a race car. It's just a highway cruiser. And for the ghost story that goes along with it, it's I knock on wood. It's one of the more reliable older cars I've owned. It's really is. So maybe it just it needed to be rescued like a puppy and it needed a good home. 

Jason 

And Speaking of ghost stories, the car you that you own is white. Am I? Am I not? Yeah. So there. 

Speaker 

Yes. Yeah. 

John 

You go. Everything ties, everything comes around full circle, right? Well, Richard, thanks a ton for hanging out with us today, teaching us a little bit about your art. And we'll make sure everybody can visit Richard and his artwork at stlpinstripes.com and STL pinstripes anywhere on social media, and it'll be pretty cool. You're going to be. Out at specific. Events and we'll let people know about that throughout the year and I think that would be great. And I don't believe like you said, I don't think you'll be doing artwork in person, but you certainly have. A lot of your things for sale. 

Richard 

Yes, if I get a chance, you know, flea. Market swap meets. Art shows things like that that will pop up on. The socials and you'll. Be able to see where I'm going to be in. Stalk me in real life and hunt me down. 

John 

And find me so very cool. Well, thanks for spending some time with us. We learned a lot. It's that time again, time for trade schooled. Through our what drives youth initiative and our partnership with the RPM Foundation, we strive to put an emphasis on the value of attending an automotive trade school and passing down information to the next generation of gearheads. 

Jason 

This week on trade. School John learned something new about the first Shelby Mustangs. John, tell us what you learned. 

John 

Well, I learned, and I thought I knew everything about first generation Shelby Mustangs. I did not know that Shelby put traction bars on the rear axle of these Mustangs, and he did not put them on the underneath. He put them over the top of the rear axle. Well, you know what's in the way? The floor. All they did was cut a hole in the floor and run the traction bars underneath the rear seat and put a little flap of rubber over the top of the slit, exhaust fumes, road noise, dirt and debris went right through there and they ended up updating. And actually eliminating this on the next generation of Shelby models. 

Jason 

Well, that's something I never knew that I figured traction bars were always something you ran below the springs. 

John 

Yeah, they said they used that because there was high probability of axle wrap and axle hop, and it sure did work good, but it's hard to have big giant holes in the floor and have a production model. 

Jason 

Well, in, in later years, those Mustangs would get their own factory holes in. 

John 

Well, that's from Mother Nature. 

Jason 

If you're thinking about going into the automotive trade, they get out and drive. Podcast wants to encourage you to check out the RPM foundations website and click on the opportunities tab. You'll find internships, job postings, volunteer opportunities, and summer and gap year programs now is the time to start looking for opportunities for the summer, don't wait. 

John 

And don't let the word internship scare you away from a learning opportunity. Some internships are paid, some are not. But what you gain in hands-on experience and the knowledge you take away is priceless. And that's trade schooled for this episode. Like I always say, the best way to gain knowledge and information is to learn with your mulch. 

Announcer 

Cruise on over to our website getoutndrive.com for all the info you never wanted to know about our podcast. Hit us up on our listener hotline, be the first to know what's happening, hit industry news, and grab your get out and drive merch. Connect with us on social media. Find us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Follow us on Twitter at get out and drive pod. 

Richard 

What drives you? 

John 

I'm still waiting for my 500 YouTube followers plaque on YouTube.  

Jason 

Keep waiting. 

Richard 

Is this? Show over yet?