Jon Kosmoski

It’s snowing outside as I write this, which makes me want to head back to Florida. That would be the bad news. The good news includes the fact that the Jon Kosmoski and Chris Callen books are in a UPS truck headed to our office so we can ship them to you and you and you. We’ve been offering these 2 books at a special pre-order price, and that special price (note the nearby notice) will expire this Friday, 4/20/12.

New Books
The fact that we have two new books shipping means it’s time to get working on the fall range of books from Wolfgang. First on the list would be Composite Materials book three. Written by John Wanberg, a college professor from Colorado, these two books have been well received by all the folks out there who want to fabricate parts with materials that are both lighter and stronger than steel. This latest edition will introduce you to methods and materials used by professions, and rounds out this great series of books.

The Composite Materials books have been among our most popular titles. Look for the last book in this 3 book series this fall.

Next on the list is Bean’re, Motorcycle Nomad, the life story of one very interesting and very well known character. Not your standard Wolfgang title, this one is more biography and less how-to book. Though in a sense it could be a how to book: How to chuck the mortgage and credit card statements and live free.
Speaking of living free, I don’t, which means it’s time to deal with a lot of little Monday morning surprises... so this discussion of New Books will continue next week.

Want to know what it’s really like to live on your motorcycle, just read this first person account from Bean’re, the man who’s been doing it for years and years (available this fall).

Jon Kosmoski’s NEW Kustom Painting Secrets, and Custom Bike Building Basics by Chris Callen are scheduled to ship to us later this week, which means we will be getting them out to our loyal readers next week. I’m pleased to say that we have individual back orders for both books. Krista in our office has all the envelopes labeled and ready to go – all we need now is the books themselves.

I’m writing this blog from Florida, where I’ve been busy attending a wedding for an old friend, and taking photos that will surely end up in a new Wolfgang book scheduled for the fall of this year: How To: Airbrush, Pinstripe & Goldleaf. Today I’m lucky enough to be in Plant City, north of Tampa, where the talented Mr. Dave Knoderer, owner of Letterfly Pinstriping, puts stripes and airbrush designs on everything from Ford trucks to Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Shown nearby is the Air Force emblem being placed on an Ultra, and both our Facebook pages have a shot of the more traditional pinstripe design he created on a F150 yesterday.

Though Dave from Letterfly is very capable with an airbrush, he creates a lot of his images the old-skool way, by hand with One-Shot paint and a lettering quill.

Jon Kosmoski’s ’34 Ford with the killer paint job is nearly finished, which means his NEW Kustom Painting Secrets book is almost finished as well.

Our two newest books, Custom Bike Building Basics, and Kosmoski’s NEW Kustom Painting Secrets, are nearly finished – and people are asking if they can go ahead and order them now. The answer is YES, you can order either book now, and get a healthy discount as well. Either book can be had for only $19.95 instead of $27.95, plus you get our standard free shipping to the lower 48 states.

Both books are about two or three weeks from the printer, which means they won’t actually ship to your address until sometime in March. But you will get your book, and updates regarding the shipping dates will be posted on our website.

Speaking of websites, this offer is only available at www.wolfpub.com. Just go to the Books page like you would for any of our books and the rest is easy.

Our two newest books are available at a pre-production price of only $19.95

It’s been a week of bid-ness around here. Jon Kosmoski is out of town, so there’s no progress to report on the ’34 Ford front. Jon being out of town means I can catch up on caption writing for the new book. And try to get my head around the idea of planning out the new titles for the fall of 2012.

Our distributor has a program called Q Solutions. It’s kind of like the Excel program from Hell. We have to provide what seems like hundreds of items for each new title. Everything from the title to the author’s name and home town. I have to write a short and long description of each book, and list all the reasons someone like you might want to buy each new book. If nothing else it’s one more thing to bitch about on Monday morning.

One of our titles for the fall of 2012, a close look at Bobby Sullivan’s world-class Triumph collection.

I suppose the silver lining is the fact that it forces us to finalize the list of books, and collect all the various pieces needed to get started on each one, like the cover image and the ISBN number (International Standard Book Number).

The list itself is pretty diverse this time. Everything from a typically Wolfgang title like How to Build a Café Racer, to another Composite Materials book (Handbook number 3), to a book about the infamous Bean’re, a tattoo book that focuses on the models and their tattoos, and a new Triumph book (Ultimate Triumph Collection).

The Colorful World of Tattoo Models. Caption: Our new book list for fall includes this very colorful look at some very hot tattoo models.

The phenomenon of the shrinking planet, mentioned last week, continues. This morning we uploaded the files of two of our airbrush books: Airbrush 101 and Advanced Airbrush Art, to a publisher in Europe. A German firm, Editions Michael Fishcer, is combining our two books into a single, German-language airbrushing tome. The money part of the deal is based on a per-copy royalty. To be honest, it’s not a great deal of money, but it’s money we didn’t have before, and it’s a good way to take the edge of the Monday blues.

Another example of the shrinking globe, a German firm bought the German language rights to Airbrushing 101.

The Jon Kos Paint Booth

Lately I’ve been spending way too much of my time in a certain paint booth. The paint-booth in question, is owned by Jon Kosmoski, master painter and partner to a new and unfinished Kustom Painting Secrets book. A book that’s just a little late getting to the printer.

One very fresh pinstripe done with a mix or two colors from House of Kolor’s urethane pinstriping selection.

The bad news is the fact that the book is late. The good news is the other fact, that the main painting sequence – of Jon’s ’34 Ford sedan, is nearly finished. On Sunday Jon painted the pinstripes, with a little help from some pre-cut tape custom made to match exactly the width and spacing used by Henry when the car was built.

The guy who doesn’t know how to spell “retire,” applying the final coat of clear to the sedan body.

The pinstripes in question separate the violet used on the upper body from the deep pearl blue applied to the lower half of the same body. Both paint colors are one-off mixes, created from House of Kolor’s new Shimrin2 system, and both are off the scale for pure retina-burning intensity.

Stay tuned for more information and photos of Jon’s very classy and very trick ’34 Ford sedan.

One very bright, and straight, old Ford body. Both the violet and the blue are kustom mixes from the new Shimrin2 paint system.

I made a run into Minneapolis the other day to visit Jon Kosmoski, the man who founded House of Kolor paint. I’ve talked about Jon before, how after he sold the company to Valspar he refused to even consider a conventional retirement. Preferring instead to convert what were the paint manufacturing buildings into a very nice personal shop.

Jon always seems to keep about three projects going at one time. How he manages this I’m not sure. You might say it’s easy because he’s retired, but he continues to do so many paint seminars each year that the word retired just doesn’t fit. At any rate, when I stopped by he was happy to show me two of his current projects, one with two wheels and one with four.

The two wheeler is a “softail” frame with an interesting gas tank, and all the pieces you need to build a very nice hot rod. The motor is a 121 inch V-twin from TP, there’s a six-speed transmission, two billet wheels, and a Cerriani fork assembly.

Big motor, fat rear tire, interesting sheet metal, just the ingredients needed to cook up a sexy pro street bike.

Jon’s other project, the one that is finished (in theory at least) is a much bigger project. At first glance it’s a ’33 or ’34 Ford Cabrio, but on further inspection, it’s much more than that. There aren’t very many ’34 Ford convertibles with a chopped top that tucks away under a hinged steel toneau cover.

The simplest way to explain the Ford is to explain that the body and frame were manufactured by American Speed Company. They call it the American Speed 33, but Jon put in a ’34 grille so he calls it a ’34 Ford. Needless to say the body is all steel, all new and features a host of features that Henry never dreamed of. Like curved side windows that go up and down at the press of a button, and an interior that’s been tweaked to give the driver and passenger more room than in a stock ’33 or ’34 Ford.

Crop tight to eliminate the yellow shit on the right side. Caption: Manufactured by American Speed Company and Assembled by Jon Kosmoski, this is one very special ’34 Ford. Note the chopped top and leaned-back windshield frame.

"It’s a nice package," explains Jon. "But it’s still a hell of a lot of work to assemble and paint. I built this car in seven months, in order to get it done in time for SEMA. I think that’s pretty good for me and just one helper. We had to fit everything, do all the wiring, installed the drivetrain, the air conditioning, and do the paint of course. The only thing I didn’t do is the interior, and some of the exhaust work.”

Jon showing off his very neat stainless exhaust system.

When I stopped by, Jon was fixing a few little issues that showed up after the car was assembled. Once that’s done, then it’s on to the motorcycle, and at least one more complete car project. And unlike some of us, Jon doesn’t just start projects, he always finishes them.

Even Edsel didn’t think up anything quite this trick for stowing the convertible top.

Saturday afternoon found me standing alongside a big tent where Jon Kosmoski, author of two Wolfgang paint books, did a totally kick ass demonstration on the basics of custom painting.

The occasion was the annual Wings and Wheels one-day car show and book sale in Osceola, Wisconsin (wings because there’s an air show as well) sponsored by Motorbooks, the company who published my first book twenty years ago. Despite the fact that Motorbooks is now part of a bigger company, and has moved out of their original building in Osceola, the party must go on.

Jon Kos as he’s known locally, doesn’t know the meaning of the word “retirement.” Instead of resting on his laurels after selling his company to Valspar some years ago, Jon just stepped it up a notch. Today he divides his time between doing seminars for Valspar and working seven days a week on his current project – a ’34 Ford in this case.

Jon Kosmoski, doing what he does best - share his passion for custom painting.

The best thing about Jon’s demonstration wasn’t the paint information or the diagrams on the big sheet of paper. The best thing about Jon, is his passion. His presentation was great because when he says “there’s nothing better than the satisfaction you get from taking something that’s ugly and making it beautiful” you absolutely know Jon believes that deep in his heart.

Jon is so good in front of a crowd I always think his second career choice could have been theater.

Sunday morning found me listening to another passionate man, another who could probably retire if he weren’t having a pretty good time doing what he does. Ron Covell travels the world teaching others how to take flat steel or aluminum and form a series of complex curves that just happen to match the fender lines on an old Ford or an early Indy racer.

Ron Covell, a man with two skills, fabrication and teaching.

Ron started out making bodies for race cars, today he spends most of his time teaching others how to do what he does so well. Watching Ron from the back of the room as he works to communicate with each student the principles of sheet metal fabrication, is to watch a man doing what he was meant to do. His approach is patient and carefully metered, but without any hesitation. Ron knows what the students need to take home with them, and he knows how best to convey those principles.

By Monday morning I was back at work, trying to make a dollar, and keep part of that dollar in the checkbook after everyone else is paid. It often seems that there will never be enough money in that account for that dream we all carry in our heads – retirement. After watching Jon and Ron at work though, that idea doesn’t seem so bad. In fact, I’m starting to believe that the key to not only a long life, but a happy life, is to find something you’re passionate about and do that – to the very, very best of your ability. I’ve been wrong all this time, it’s not about the money.

Ron demonstrating the finer points of hammer and dolly work.