A tale of two striping projects

About two years ago, Craig Shornak called to say he had a rat rod that he wanted striped. It was a 1934 Chevy two-door sedan that he had been working on. When I got to his place, Craig told me he was a machinist. A quick look around told me that he does a really fine job on everything, and I knew he’d be very precise about stripes.

Learning to read people is a big part of being a pinstriper. They can’t always express what they like or what they want, or even what they don’t like. But you can also learn a lot— even more—by just talking with them and understanding who they are and what they are into. I’ve learned that by paying attention to people on thousands of pinstriping jobs. For them to be happy in the end, you have to be able to read their mind.

Six months later, Craig called again to say he was bringing me a 1960 Buick LeSabre to stripe. As he pulled that Buick into my shop I could see that headlight, and it reminded me of a bullet. That idea drove the job. He likes a lot of stripes, and he told me to do what I wanted.