Welcome! My name is Rich Compton, I’m a native of beautiful southern Colorado.

I’ve been hooked on Hot Rods and race cars since my dad took my brother and me to the local midget auto races back in the late 40’s. I built my first car, a 1939 Chevy coupe, complete with scallops and pinstriping in 1957. That was followed by a 1934 Ford coupe and then a 1934 Chevy coupe.

I picked up my first striping brush in 1958 and began perfecting my art by striping anything I could get my hands on for the next several years. My parents had the most unique hot water heater, furnace and lawn mower on the block! My friends all had striping on their cars; some were very cool cars and others were just “transportation” but all had unique designs pinstriped by Rich. Lots of kids in the local high school for several years were wearing pinstriped “cool shades” also.

During the ‘60s, I spent two years with Uncle Sam & the U.S. Army. My engineering and art skills influenced my being stationed at the Army Pictorial Center in New York. My “duty” was doing animation artwork used in conjunction with training films. It was a tough duty but someone had to do it.

I sporadically continued pinstriping until seriously renewing my passion in 2005; I have been doing cars, motorcycles and just about anything every since. Wanting to explore the possibilities of combining “pinstiping” with items of a more unusual nature, I began pinstriping unique items such as the gear clocks you see on this site along with other clocks, art panels, bottle openers, sun glasses, recently Vintage Car headlight bezels using gear clocks in place of the original headlight and a variety of other items you will see in my photos. These items have met with great success at various car shows in Colorado, Kansas, Ohio, Texas and on E-Bay.

All this culminated in being awarded the prestigious “Von Dutch Award” at the 2017 Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona. Which came to me as a total surprise but one I am very proud of. I am honored to be listed among the many great pinstripers who have won this award over the years.

I plan to keep adding unique items and hope you will check this site often.

Additionally fueling the fire for Hot Rods is my first “ground up build” since the early 60’s; my 1957 Chevy Stepside, flames and all. It took five long years and I virtually did everything myself except the upholstery. Also, I recently completed a 1938 Ford Tudor Deluxe. With the hard work done, now the fun of driving and showing! Check out the photo of the ’57 in the photos page.

Thanks for visiting, please visit often to checkout what’s new.

Rich