Martin,
Brian "Bob" Kovacs (who passed away last year) was the West Coast top slot car body painter. Inspired by "von Dutch," Bob Kovacs painted cars, bikes, skateboards, tool boxes, and... slot car bodies. Lots of them. He painted the production bodies for the International Engineering RTR cars such as the famous "Tijuana Taxi" as an example.
When the pro racing seriously began in 1967, he became the #1 painter for virtually all the SoCal and NorCal pro racers, painting thousands of bodies in a period of six years or so.
The body you have is pretty standard fare for Kovacs, likely for a retailer to sell more product. The more intricate ones he painted can be amazing in their fine detail.
The corresponding painter on the East Coast was the late Dave Bloom.
Each had their own style, and the work of each is unmistakable, like that of all great artists.
Here is an example of his style, the slot car box of the late Gene Husting, an important figure in the history of pro racing in the United States:
This is one of his great bodies, painted for Bruce Paschal, the "Godfather" of American professional racing. Check the fine detail.
Fortunately, many of his bodies survived, and all the bodies for "production" bear the "Kustoms by Kovacs" label, such as the one you found.
