Pinstriping as a Craft

The craft is performed by the pinstriper (liner), who applies the pinstripes freehand using a special brush, the so-called sword striper. The paint used is usually synthetic resin enamel from specialised companies such as OneShot or House of Kolor. The best-known manufacturer of sword stripers is the American company Mack, which also maintains a large pinstriping gallery. An alternative tool is the Beugler wheel, which rolls the paint onto the surface via a small wheel. Until about the mid-1950s, many vehicle manufacturers employed permanent professional liners (often women); then lining generally began to become unpopular – except on bicycles, where it partly persisted into the early 1990s. Nowadays, decorative lines are applied as adhesive tape from the factory.

The craft is performed by the pinstriper (liner), who applies the pinstripes freehand using a special brush, the so-called sword striper. The paint used is usually synthetic resin enamel from specialised companies such as OneShot or House of Kolor. The best-known manufacturer of sword stripers is the American company Mack, which also maintains a large pinstriping gallery. An alternative tool is the Beugler wheel, which rolls the paint onto the surface via a small wheel. Until about the mid-1950s, many vehicle manufacturers employed permanent professional liners (often women); then lining generally began to become unpopular – except on bicycles, where it partly persisted into the early 1990s. Nowadays, decorative lines are applied as adhesive tape from the factory.

Pinstriping as an Art Form

Pinstriping is a special form of custom painting and belongs to the large family of art forms known in the USA as Lowbrow Art. Its origin is primarily in the Hot Rod and Custom Car scene that emerged around 1940, which is considered the only proletarian art form since peasant painting. A sub-type of this art form is the so-called "Nose Art", the paintings on airplanes starting from World War II. Further influences of Lowbrow Art are folklore from Mexico – especially the Day of the Dead, Lucha Libre wrestling and Christian-religious motifs –, Oceania (Tikis), American trivial myths, traditional Western tattooing and comics. Since Lowbrow Art always demands craftsmanship perfection, with a few exceptions (e.g. Rat Rods), a pinstriper is judged not only by the originality of their motifs but also and especially by the execution. There are currently about a hundred professional stripers in the USA and a large number of amateurs. The second-largest pinstriping nation is Finland with about 200 practitioners. Great Britain follows in third place. Pinstripers occasionally meet for – often private – Panel Jams, where, unlike at car shows, panel paintings (panels) and striped objects are shown and created. Often, several stripers work together on one panel in jam sessions.

History of Pinstriping

Lining is one of the oldest crafts. Even the ancient Romans decorated their chariots with decorative lines. However, until the middle of the last century, it hardly developed at all. The lines, as they had for eons, always neatly followed the contours of the object they surrounded, from the book cover to the bicycle frame. Then, around 1953, strange, bizarre line tangles suddenly appeared on the modified cars of young men in Southern California. First only on the glove box lids, two years later they grew around the grilles, behind the wheel arches, over boot lids, C-pillars and door catches. Freestyle Pinstriping was born. The invention of freestyle lining is generally attributed to Von Dutch (Kenneth Howard, 1929–1992). Tommy the Greek (Tommy Hrones, 1906–2002) was Von Dutch's pioneer, famous for his mastery and his teardrops. However, his striping remained classic despite all its complexity and lacked the bizarre hectic nature of Von Dutch. These two and Ed Roth (1932–2001), who started as a pinstriper and later achieved immortal fame in the custom car world with his rolling sculptures, were the best-known pinstripers of this first golden age. From about 1965 to 1985, interest in pinstriping almost died out. The custom car wave was replaced by the pop wave with the arrival of the Beatles. (Roth: Guys wuz buyin´ guitars instead of cars). Material possessions like an artistically crafted custom car were cancelled among the emerging ideals of the hippies, considered uncool. In the 1970s, various new custom styles emerged – vans, pro street, lowriders, off-roaders, billet – which were either completely undecorated or decorated with airbrush, often in mural form. Airbrush began to establish itself as the dominant form of decoration on car bodywork, and it still holds this position today. For purely abstract motifs, a style similar to pinstriping was added around 1990: the Tribal. However, it is almost never painted, but only glued on, printed, or tattooed. Stylistically based on the art of various indigenous peoples – mainly the Māori and the Celts – it can still be found today on cars, on the arms of their drivers, and above the lower back (tramp stamp). However, in the early 1990s, people began to rediscover the early custom styles. These people – often rockabillies who were already retro-enthusiasts – no longer sprayed their old cars in glossy pastel or neon tones, but in matt primer, and instead of hi-tech billet add-on parts, value was placed on authentic, old accessories: flathead engines, steel rims, cheater slicks. Pinstriping also became popular again in this context.

Styles of Pinstriping

Freestyle Pinstriping

Usually, but by no means necessarily, such a pinstriping is symmetrical and consists of a multitude of equally thin lines of one or more colours, resulting in a mostly abstract, ornamental motif of parallels, tips, angles, and curves.

A sub-type of pinstriping is the so-called "Scrollwork", which consists exclusively of artistic flourishes. Mixed forms among themselves and also with airbrush motifs are also known.

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