Watson's Wildest

For hot rodders and lovers of custom cars, Larry Watson needs no introduction. Purist Vette owners may not be as familiar with the legendary painter and pinstriper, who was inspired to pick up a brush by watching the work of another pinstriping master, Von Dutch. Watson would go on to pioneer a number of now-iconic custom paint effects, including panel paintjobs and lace painting.

- Drew Hardrin

Then again, the purists have likely turned the page anyway.

If you’re still with us, don’t you wish that we had found color photos of Pinky Richards’ 1957 Vette in Watson’s flamed, candy orange metal flake paint job? We sure do. It must have been spectacular.

But back in 1964, when Rod & Custom magazine featured the car in its May issue, color pages were a precious commodity. So readers had to make do with the varying gray tones in Bud Lang’s black-and-white photography and use their imagination to bring the candy and flames to life.