Kenny Howard

As the son of a sign painter, Howard learned to letter and pinstripe professionally by the age of 10. While attending Compton High School, Howard excelled in track and field and was referred to as "the fastest man in LA." Family members gave him the nickname "Dutch" because he was "as stubborn as a Dutchman," he added the "Von" prefix later as an artistic signature.

Howard started earning money in the 1950s by pin-striping along with fellow striper Dean Jeffries. Von Dutch has been a major influence in the customizing of vehicles from the 1950s to today. Some of his famous works include the flying eyeball logo and the custom Kenford truck, along with numerous custom motorcycles and many award-winning custom cars. Among many custom car and motorcycle enthusiasts, he is thought of as one of the fathers of Kustom Kulture.

His most lasting work is the creation of the special "pearlescent" color used to paint movie star Marilyn Monroe's car, known as Candy-Apple Red. Many automobile, motorcycle, bicycle and ATV manufacturers still offer a Candy-Apple Red on their vehicles today.

An avid gunsmith and knife maker, Von Dutch made numerous art knives and embellished firearms. Most of these were adaptations of existing items to which he added his artistic flair. In 1958, Von Dutch designed and produced the "Mare's Leg", a cut-down Winchester rifle for the television series Wanted: Dead or Alive.

Von Dutch completed pin striping the well-known "Blue Velvet" Pontiac Firebird in 1979, which is complete with two perfectly parallel pin stripes extending 16+1⁄2 feet (5.0 m) down each side of the vehicle. These pin stripes were completed by hand and attained a level of perfection that gave rise to the legend of Von Dutch as a pin striper.