Viewer Mail

So, a while back I got an e-mail from Chris Morris,
He bought both my DVD's "How to Paint Your Motorcycle at Home" & "Build a Fiberglass Body at Home", along with his e-mail he sent some pics of the gas tank he painted for his Chopper! A great job I think! I'm gonna attach his e-mail just for giggles.
If any of you guys out there bought one of my DVD's and built or painted something I'd love to see it, maybe it will make it onto the blog (I only have so much space though)
FRITZ


"I now have both your videos. I have to say that they are both fantastic. Thanks so very much for putting them out there. Thanks also for the primer recommendation from a couple of months ago. I have been using U-Pol Reface with decent results. It's just a bear to get thru a gun as it needs a 2.5 tip. So, I may go shopping again. We'll see.
By any chance, do you have any painter type friends in the NYC/North NJ area that you could put me in touch with to help me out with striping and lettering? It's what I struggle with the most. Any help would be appreciated. Take a look at my site. Let me know what you think. I feel it's pretty obvious that I need help in the striping area. I am also attaching a pic of my latest tank. Let me know what you think.
Thanks in advance. Let me know when the next vid is coming out and what it will be."

- Christopher Morris

P.S. for Pin striping guys that I know of in the NY, NJ area look up these guys

Gary "The Local Brush" Merrick Long Island
Alex in wonderland Wantagh Long Island
Johnny Ace Suffolk Long Island
Joe Sullpy Northern NJ (around the GW bridge)
Allen Johnson NJ

Voo Doo Chili!!

Back in 1996 a few guys were working on choppers in the lower east side of New York City. A bunch of no names building choppers in an era of pink softails with billet parts galore. Paul Cox, Indian Larry, myself (Fritz Schenck) and Steg Von Heintz out of Psycho Cycles. Kind of a Chopper artists community if you will. One of the most famous bikes to come out of the shop was Indian Larry's "Voodoo Chili".
After a hard life in the streets of NYC Larry broke the bike down and built it up again into the "Grease Monkey". Ah but what became of the old tank & frame? No one knew. Well it was around, in hiding, out of the light, in good hands. I wasn't going to post or say a word about this bike, but with current events in the east coast chopper world, and my own life, I figured what the hell! Now if you are one of the few that know who owns what's left of "Voodoo Chili" keep yer trap shut, I promised not to tell, consider yourself one of the inner circle, and you should do the same. Let's just say its kinda "in the family". I gotta say its kind of odd to "restore" a paint job I did so many years ago, I don't know if it just makes me feel old, or like I have made it in the industry. It's also odd to restore a paint job that I did for a friend that has passed on. Another bike that resurfaced was my own ride a purple FLST called the "Skirt Chaser" still in the paint job I laid out years ago. it looks a little different then when I built it, but this fella e-mails me and wants me to "authenticate" that the bike was built by me and was in fact mine.

Funny how things turn out, and my body shop teacher said I'd never make it in the auto body field, LOL.


Larry burning the chili


Voo Doo Chili back in the day


Voo Doo Chili in my spare bedroom today.



Clearly visible are the war wounds of the lower east side of NYC



The name says it all



Ratfink hand painted by Andrea a friend of Larry's



seat post tube painted by Andrea


My old soft tail "Skirt Chaser" sporting a lot of billet I would never put on it.



It was featured in "Iron Horse" magazine if you have a copy you can see it with its original rear fender, headlight etc. etc.

How Cool is that?

Now I have only lived in the Kansas City area for the last 3 years, and I still don't know my way around, and I sure don't know a bunch about the history of the area. While out and about for my day job, I was sent to get some rear axle parts for a job in the shop, and the rear end shop I went to seems to be located on what was once the grounds of an old Ford motor company plant! I love old history, and I really dig when you can find it still hanging around in the forms of old signs, bill boards on the sides of buildings, and foot prints in cement type of things. These smoke stacks have the "FORD" laid out in them in brick, and can still be seen from the highway. How cool is that? The fella in the rear end shop told me that the plant was built in 1912, and he had no idea when it was shut down. Imagine how many of those old T's & A's that were built there are still around, or built into "Hot Rods"! Crazy huh?