52 replies to this topic

[TSR]

One of the best items obtained from Bob Rule when he sold his Team Champion memorabilia was this Lancer 1968 Camaro painted by famed Dave Bloom, whom I consider as one of the best, if not THE best, of his era:





The colors on the Dave Bloom bodies are like no others. His mix and palette was simply fantastic, and his work was simply outstanding. His used of a touch of gold mixed with the silver for bumpers and grilles created an effect only seen on early 1950s Japanese tin toys, a reason why they are so popular today. The pictures from my cheap digital camera hardly reflect the true beauty of this body.











Fortunately, enough mint examples of his art have been discovered and preserved that he will never again be forgotten as one the greatest slot car painters that ever existed.

[Mark Wampler]

Whatever happened to Kovaks?

[@kc]

I did not see that body offered on the Electric Dreams website. Is it available somewhere?

[Noose]

Dave's talents were unreal. One of the unique things about his lettering (in case anyone didn't notice) is that all his "shadow effects" were on the right side of the letters unlike mine and Kovacs who did them on the left side. He just had a different view of things! His color combinations and composition, such as this one, were awesome.

[tonyp]

Hummmm. In all the ads and packaging I do the shadows are always on the right. I never noticed that yours were on the opposite side. I just checked a body to confirm. LOL.

I think Kovacs was a great painter in his own right but what set Dave and Noose apart was/is their lettering ability.

[Raymond 'Speedy' Gonzalez]

Another great body painter and letterer of this era was Ray Gardner of Champion. Ray could letter right or left handed. I remember modelers bringing plastic model airplanes into Williamsburg Raceway for Ray to letter up.

Speedy

[TSR]

Hi Raymond,

Indeed, and we have a few examples of them that Ray himself donated to the LASCM. However they were obviously inspired by Dave's work and frankly and with all due respect to my friend Ray, not quite to the same level. Ray was a very good artist and did all the illustrations for the Champion ads, and other unpublished but amazing stuff that will you will see in the book. Ray was very creative indeed, but his bodies were simply some of the many copies of Bloom's art, as there were many copies on the Left Coast of "Bob" Kovacs bodies.

I did not see that body offered on the Electric Dreams website. Is it available somewhere?

Randy,

This painted body is 40 years old and, of course, unique. If you could even FIND a NOS Lancer '68 Camaro, new in its original box, it would set you back at least 200 bucks after fierce bidding before it is even painted. That is what the market is nowadays.

Today only a few painters such as Noose or Jairus Watson could replicate the work of Dave Bloom, and that would also set you back a few more greenbacks.

[@kc]

Thanks, Dokk.

I like the great detail of the body itself. I do not want to own or recreate a piece of history like this beautiful body.

I just want a new repop in .010" Lexan, to make a nice Trans-Am car I can race.

[endbelldrive]

Dave Bloom inspired more than a couple of generations of body painters. This is the one that started it for me!

[TSR]

I just want a new repop in .010" Lexan, to make a nice Can-Am car I can race.

Randy, surely you mean "Trans-Am", right?

[endbelldrive]

Ray Gardner did do a super-clean lettering job on his and John Cukras' cars in the first anglewinder race. Scans of fuzzy black and white pics (which is what stoked the creative juices back then!!) can be found on Steve Okeefe's Independent Scratchbuilder site here and here.

Stick around... you might learn something!

[dc-65x]

Hi Bob,

That Porsche was the inspiration for Jairus to paint this one for me...



Thanks, Jairus.

MINE!

[TSR]

A very nice job at that. The "real" one that Brady drove was painted in brown tones with white center, the official Dyna-Rewind colors.

[Indiana Outlaw]

I believe that is a 1969 Camaro - turn signals in front lower pan, not in grille like '68.

[Horsepower]

I always wanted to have one of Bloom's paint jobs. He lived only a couple of miles north of me in Cicero, IL. He died and I never had a chance to meet him...

[TSR]

I believe that is a 1969 Camaro - turn signals in front lower pan, not in grille like '68.

Doug, you are probably right. Detroit iron and me are like water and fire... except for my tin toy cars!

[stoo23]

Ahhh... YES!!

Strangely, in Australia we never really had "Painters" as such (well... not in the same manner)... perhaps due to the tyranny of distance and I guess also the real lack of absolute numbers compared to you guys. Pretty much everyone painted their own bodies and quite honestly, in all of the various eras I have raced in, no one ever really came up with any US-style paint jobs.

I always thought they looked great and used to 'drool' over the 'Glossies' in the various Model Car and slot car magazines of the time.

It, quite simply, is the style and amazing quality of the lettering... as well as the often odd... but strangely alluring colour choices that are also amazing!!

I 'stumble' along, with my own very substandard lettering and paint... LOL!!

Yes, that (or in fact, THOSE), Brady bodies got me as well... Oh and of course, Lee Gilbert's Sundance body from THAT article...

May I say as a somewhat distant but long-time admirer of the various painters' work, it is fantastic to see so much great stuff from the past reappearing.

BTW... I did find this:

Camaro body on EBay

The site name is actually "OUTISIGHT VINTAGE SLOT CAR", you probably all know it anyway... LOL!

I AM intrigued though... was/is the lettering done with brushes or pens and is it on the inside or outside???

Great stuff... brings back such memories

[TSR]

I AM Intrigued though... was/is the lettering done with brushes or pens and is it on the inside or outside ???

In most cases, paint inside, lettering outside. Decals were hardly ever used.

[John Gorski]

[stoo23]

Like I was saying...

Beautiful!!

[Noose]

What made Dave's bodies so unique was the color blending, etc., and of course, the lettering.

What didn't make them super (for the general bodies he did) was that he did not care to spend the time doing the rest of the detailing. Could he? Of course but not for the price he was getting.

I did talk to Dave back then. Kinda weird. Here I was 14 painting and this was a grown man. I did ask him why he he didn't go all-out (remember I was a NAMRA scale kinda guy then) and that was his response.

[endbelldrive]

In most cases, paint inside, lettering outside. Decals were hardly ever used.

This is an unlettered Dave Bloom painted body (except db logo) on possibly a Team Certus car that came for auction in March 2004. Dokk verified it as the real deal. A duplicate car with a curled butyrate body went unbid!

Like Noose sez, look at the color blending!

[stoo23]

Yes, I agree... the 'blending' IS lovely.

In fact, that green car above reminds me of a friend's early Fender Stratocaster... a similar green stain, to an almostbBlack.

Getting a really good airbrush and 'learning' how to use it properly... I guess is just one of those things we all wish we did but have yet to actually do!!... LOL!!

[endbelldrive]

It was in the DNA of every North American kid back then. These wild fogged and hand-lettered paint jobs seem to be an offshoot of the Drag Racing, Custom Car, and Hot Rod scene back then. Pinstripers such as Von Dutch and Ed Big Daddy Roth did a lot of hand lettering... in fact, Roth's dad was a sign painter. It hit the model car scene back then too, as every kid wanted an airbrush back then.

By the way, the winner of the Best Paint category in the Second Revell Pactra Model Contest (1964) was Bryan Kovacs who looks a lot like "Bob" Kovacs... hmmm.

[TSR]

This is an unlettered Dave Bloom painted body (except db logo) on possibly a Team Certus car that came for auction in March 2004. Dokk verified it as the real deal.

Bob, that is a standard production paint job by Bloom, he did hundreds of these.

Fortunately for collectors, some survivors do come up for air from time to time.