Actually, we've convinced Dave to tell us everything about Custom Motorcycle Painting. With help from Paul Stoll, a trainer for PPG, Dave explains the best way to use the new products and pigments from PPG, how to set up a shop, and how to adjust that new HVLP spray gun.

The best part of the book though is the four, start-to-finish, painting sequences, which include two baggers, one total custom and one flame-painting how-to.

Advanced Custom Motorcycle Painting goes to the printer later in June, and we should have early-release copies ready to ship about 30 days later.

The new Dave Perewitz how-to book should be out by late July.

On the Road Again
Every year there's a book publisher and seller's convention called BEA – Book Expo America – and it's pretty much a must-do deal for our little publishing company. So on May 28th I flew into L.A. and made my way to the depths of downtown, and the hotel located a few blocks from the Convention Center.

In between meetings with our distributor I had a chance to walk the aisles and see how a hundred other publishers, both large and small, design, print and sell their books. The convention center is like a huge think tank and provides an opportunity to learn from other publishers where they print, how they promote, and the best way to sell on the internet.

My evenings were pretty much open and I managed to do a fair amount of time exploring the concrete canyons of LA. Among my discoveries: a bar where I was not only the oldest patron but also the whitest, a neat little Irish bar with a four-piece jazz band, and a lot of people on the sidewalk looking for “just a couple of bucks so I can get something to eat.” I tend to be a soft-touch when it comes to panhandlers, and I just kept a few loose dollar bills in my pocket each time I went out. Yea, maybe they should be looking for a job, but in the meantime it costs so damned much to stay in LA that an extra buck here or there doesn’t even qualify as pocket change anymore.

George Barris
I brought home a few treasures from my trip. The best of which is a real Barris Crest, given to me by George himself. I was lucky enough to spend a few hours with George and his son and daughter, admiring the shop and discussing the success of our recently re-published Kustom Techniques of the '50s books.

The crest was originally meant as a way of telling a real Barris car from an imposter.

At the age of 80, George Barris is still rockin and rolling. Each weekend there's a car show where George is a featured guest and/or judge. And between the shows he's working on some new DVDs and organizing his archives of film. You don't realize how many famous cars George worked on until you look at the size of the archives and start reading the labels on the end of the many, many boxes.

George and family backed by the original Batmobile.

Before leaving L.A. I did a photo shoot for next year's Classic Triumph calendar. With help from Randy Baxter of Baxter Cycle fame, and Greg Hult, owner of some very nice old Turnips, we photographed six bikes. Most of these were done on or near the beach and pier at Seal Beach, a nifty little beach community south of downtown. Greg actually obtained a permit from the city to photograph pretty much anywhere we wanted. I was shocked. Normally we just figure it's better to ask for forgiveness after the fact. Bobby Sullivan called the method, 'click and run.'

Just one of Greg's treasures, parked on the Seal Beach pier.

From Los Angeles I drove north to Monterey and the shop of Bruce Terry. The best part of spending time with Bruce is the fabrication sequences that we always do, but it's really more fun to just walk through the shop looking over his current projects. Like the Ferrari with the new hand-fabricated rear body section. A few of us have talent, and some are blessed with an artistic eye, and then there are people like Bruce who combine both to create large motorized sculptures.

If you’re lucky enough to own a Ferrari and unlucky enough to have an accident, you need Bruce Terry, a metal man of awesome talent.

The next stop on the road trip took me to visit a friend in Livermore, California, which just happens to be right down the street from the Arlen Ness shop in Dublin. Arlen gave me a tour of the shop and then turned me loose on one of the new Victory Baggers. Arlen and I have had a number of discussions regarding the tendency of Harley Baggers to wobble and gyrate at high speeds, and he's fond of saying, “The new Vision is rock solid at 100 miles per hour.” I set out to experience this for myself, but it was nearly 4:00 PM and absolutely no chance of going more than about 30 mph on the nearby freeway. The ride was fun none-the-less and I look forward to a more extended cruise in Sturgis, where you can actually go more than 30 on the freeway, even at 4:00 PM.


The road trip didn’t end there, but I think I’m out of time, so we will save one more significant visit for the next blog.

Yours truly on one of Arlen’s Customized Victory Visions

Our customers often buy more than one book on a particular topic. Two paint books or two Chopper books or a bike-building book along with a motorcycle Wiring book. We’ve decided to make that selection easier by offering the two most recent sheet metal fabrication books at a discount. If you buy the new Rob Roehl book, Sheet Metal Fabrication Basics, with the earlier Advanced Sheet Metal Fabrication book, you can save ten bucks. The price for the two books combined is $39.95 instead of $49.90 if you bought them both at full price. Shipping remains $5.50 for the entire order. The two books are listed together on the Books part of our web site, so check it out. Even if you already have one of the books, the combination makes it easy to use the other book as a gift to a worthy friend.

New Books
In the new books department we offer you How to Paint Tractors & Trucks. 144 pages of shop set up, paint and gun selection, and three start to finish paint jobs. This is not a custom painting book and is instead aimed at the beginning painter. So whether your first paint job is going to be a tractor or a hot rod, this might be just the book you need.

Tractors and Trucks is aimed at the first-time painter.

The other new book is another old George Barris book: Kustom Techniques of the 50s - Grilles, Soops, Fins and Frenching. This is the second book in the four-book series we are reprinting. Like the first title, this is George at his best, describing both the how to sequences seen in the book, and the feature cars he photographed for magazines of the fifties. And like the first book, this one has some great side bars written by men who knew and worked with George and Sam. It’s a 1950s car-crazy narrative – pretty good stuff if I do say so myself. Grilles, Scoops, Fins and Frenching should be in our warehouse by the first of June.

A George Barris Classic

New Tech Article

I am sometimes guilty of not adding new tech articles to the web page on a regular basis. The newest tech article is an especially good one though – a top chop sequence done on a Model A and borrowed from our own Chop Tops book. You will find some good sheet metal fabrication sequences by Rob Roehl on the site as well.

We borrowed a Top Chopping sequence for this month’s tech article.

Will Summer Never Arrive
I would like to say it’s great to get back on the Bagger after a long winter, but the weather just has not cooperated. Instead of springtime temperatures in the 70 and even 80s, it’s been dipping into the 40s at night, and often only hits the 50s during the day. The rides have thus been short hops of a local nature. Our little parking lot is filled with cars each day, no Yamaha (Rick’s ride) and no Bagger with custom paint (Jacki’s Harley). Eventually it will warm up – it’s just gotta. I have been to a couple of my favorite haunts in Prescott, Wisconsin, but I’m ashamed to say Mary and I arrived there on four wheels, not two.

Summer Events
Summer in Minnesota includes not just warm weather, but a wealth of motorcycle and hot rod events. This year, in addition to attending the Antique Motorcycle meet, and Back to the 50s, both at the St. Paul fairgrounds, we will be attending out first tractor show to promote the new painting book. What the tractor shows lack in big block Chevys and custom Harley-Davidsons, they more than make up for with Genuine American Machinery, assembled by some very genuine American characters. They say change is good for the soul, if that’s true mine should be in good shape (except for those things I did with Sally back-in-the-day).

Jay Bird
Between the transmission and the rearend, on most hot rods, is the drive shaft. And I didn’t have one, at least not one that actually fit correctly between the old cast iron Torqueflite and the nine-inch Ford rearend. Thanks to Universal Driveline in White Bear Lake, Minnesota however, the tranny is now connected to the rearend. Next on the major projects list are those nasty voids in the floor where the new floor-pan was never finished. I have extracted a promise though from a certain friend and fabricator to help with the sheet metal work early this summer.

Timothy Remus

Wolfgang Publications, helping build dreams

The biggest group to sign on so far is Fastenal. Based in Minnesota, Fastenal has over 2500 stores spread throughout the country, and each store has access to our books through the main Fastenal warehouse. Next time you need fasteners or hardware, stop by the local Fastenal store and pick up a Wolfgang book at the same time.

Smaller, though no less important, is the Missisippi Welders Supply Company, with 10 stores spread throughout southeastern Minnesota and Wisconsin. When you need a great deal on a new TIG welder or a bottle of Oxygen, stop and see the very knowledgeable staff at any of the Mississippi Welders Supply stores.

Out newest dealer, with over 2500 outlets.

The closest Harley-Davidson dealer to us is St. Paul Harley-Davidson. Lance, the parts manager there, is a big believer in Wolfgang books. If you stop by the original St. Paul store, or the new mega-Harley-plex in Eden Prairie, be sure to check out the books near the parts counter.

Most of our motorcycle books deal with customizing and the use of aftermarket parts, so it’s not surprising that we have bookracks in two, sizable aftermarket shops. Arlen and Cory Ness added a rack to their flagship store in Dublin, California, and that rack moves a number of Wolfgang titles each month.

Tucked away in little Rock, Arkansas is Rodney’s House, a large and very successful shop with a full service department in back. I have to thank Rodney, and his partner Donna, for installing the first Wolfgang bookrack and for helping me get the whole program up and running.

Because of the vast number of dealers, I’ve missed a few here. To find that dealer near you take a look at the Dealer List, Just click on the Dealer button at the top left of the home page.

For anyone who wants to become a Wolfgang dealer, please contact Rick Thompson at his email address: rick@wolfpub.com.

Wolfgang books available in both St. Paul H-D stores.

The new Keith Ball book, How to Build a Bonneville Salt Flats Motorcycle, is now in stock. As I said in an earlier blog, this new book is a great read. For anyone planning to go to Bonneville, or fascinated with Bonneville or simply a fan of Keith’s writing, this book is a must-have. We all tend to think of racing at Bonneville as a great adventure and a hell of a lot of fun. And it is, but after reading Keith’s book you will realize there’s a lot of hard work and late nights involved as well. Because of Keith’s writing style and skill, this book is like a good novel - the book you pick up and can’t put down.

In stock, Keith Ball’s inside look at Bonneville.

One More at the Printer
We’ve been sending a book to the printer at the rate of about one per month, and for April that book is How to Paint Tractors & Trucks. Done with help from the local Valspar paint reps, the book documents two start-to-finish paint jobs, one on a neat old Massey-Harris tractor, and one on a 1955 Chevy pickup truck. If your restoration dreams include tractors and old trucks, look for the newest paint book from Wolfgang to be available in about three weeks.

It’s not just about motorcycles and hot rods anymore.

On the Road Again
I often write my blogs from a motel room, and this one is no exception. Only this time the trip is (mostly) pleasure and the location is Memphis, Tennessee, home to Beale St. and more funky blues joints than you can imagine. After a twelve-plus hour road trip yesterday with Mary, and our friends Bill and Mary Jo Myers we managed to hit BB King’s bar about 7:30 PM. Damn, that first cold beer sure did taste good. Today the rest of the group is visiting Elvis while I hang back to write this and attend to other little chores. Tomorrow we plan to tour Sun Records and then head back down to Beale Street. By Monday I plan to be back in the office, at least physically.

Beale Street, great music music. . .

. . .and great joints.

The J Bird
The Henry project is moving along, slowly as always. I recently make a new set of improved lowering blocks from donated aluminum stock given me by my friend Crazy John. And the drive shaft is out getting shortened so it will fit correctly between the old cast iron Torqueflite tranny and the Ford nine-inch rear end. Once the drive shaft is in, the entire drivetrain will be in place. Next up is more sheet metal work on the inside, and installation of a steering column.

Jammin’ Jammin’. We be Jammin’ down the road.

Slammed, I want it slammed and in the weeds.