The Detroit Autorama

The Beatnik Bandit II, now on display at the National Auto Museum, is a 1995 spin-off of the original from 35 years earlier, built with his son Dennis.

Jeremy Lockhard, a young painter out of Youngstown, Ohio, painted these large portraits of two of our heroes from this hobby. Ed "Big Daddy" Roth is portrayed wearing a typical extravagant get-up, and Gray "Yer Old Dad" Baskerville, who wrote for R&C and Hot Rod, is portrayed wearing a typical smile.

Mark Moriarty, who has a genuine feel for the character of Roth's originals, built the Futurian as a tribute car in 2005. It is also owned by Dave Bengochea now.

Ten-year-old Riva Phillips, from Deckerville, Michigan, is already a talented artist...

...Her father Chris, inherited her skill and contributed several pieces to the auction, including some unusual fish.

Yosemite Sam Radoff seems like a low-key mellow guy, but is passionate about getting huge numbers of 'stripers together and raising money to help kids. He's the one responsible for putting this event together and has plans to see it grow even bigger in 2007.

Andrew Lindoff, aka Lucky Lindy, from Saginaw, heads back to the paint table to load up his brush.

R&C contributor Jeff Norwell sketched some hot rod monsters, as Raygo" Smith observed.

Tom Shugar, from Detroit, learned to paint as a kid by stealing his dad's brushes and practicing. He stopped painting for a while, and got back into it the day before the Autorama, where he started getting his chops back practicing pulling some lines.

Not all the paint ended up on panels. Dave Shuten, who built the replica of Ed Roth's bubbletopped Mysterion, adds some Rat Fink lettering to this can.

Bill Watkins contributed a number of these machined panels. Here, Scott Menke, adds some cool 'striping to a gold background.

Gibb, from Plymouth, Michigan, does some freehand lettering.

Everybody needs a toilet seat and a clock. Who says they can't be cool?

In addition to pinstriping, Weird Wally, from Clinton Township, Michigan, does airbrush artwork and painting on cars, bikes, helmets, you name it.

For the Autorama spectators, the pinstripers were as popular as the cars. Lyle Hayman of Madison Hills, Michigan, finished this purple panel, possibly inspiring a future 'striper in the process.