Pekka Wizzard Mannermaa
From Kustomrama
The beginning of Pekka Wizzz Mannermaa’s striping-graze was typical for a teenager in the seventies. Model kits inspired by the stories from hot rod magazines were the first ones to have a set of stripes, done with water colour brushes. The first set of real stripes were documented in Stockholm Hot Rod Show 1974, probably painted by Ivve Hallberg or Ingemar Becker. This led to purchasing a a set of proper brushes from MAS-company Stockholm and some serious learning from books and magazines. There was no living person to ask for hints, living in Finland and practically no ability speak Swedish. Striping was pretty common in those days on Vans and Lowriders, but old school kustoms and hot rods were really scarce. And of course, in Finland it was only in talks and dreams.
Being a keen enthusiast of cars led the young lad to a school of art and design in Helsinki, and eventually to a profession in the field of industrial design. The first real car was a 1949 Oldsmobile Fastback which was painted to look like a Pan-American race car, this was back in 1984. After the Olds, came the ’72 Boattail - Riviera, a real dream come trough. It was a super rare car to find in Finland in those days. The Riviera evolved to a kind of a factory custom with pretty unique fadeaway-painting, lowered stance and mild customizing. Today he spend his time with wife Ulla-Maija’s ’49 Pontiac Fastback. This baby has some pretty unique scallops with googie-style graphics. The Pontiac has been continuously customized and the next step is already under construction.
Pekka’s interest towards drawing led to use of airbrush in the early 80’s. This was a good combination together with the brush, helping to work with bikes and eventually with signs as well. Sign and signwriting is another craft of itself, very difficult to master. A great help was to join some of the international signwriters meetings in England in late 90’s, which gave a clue what the heck was it in general.
These international meetings give the spark to the fuel, best possible way to learn the new things in a short time. Pekka considers himself as a life long learner, always interested to see and try new things. From England the path took him to Scotland, USA and eventually to Japan to check out the craft. These trips proved that there is always someone who can do things better, faster or more creative than you do! Very refreshing indeed.
Pekka is spreading his knowledge on the basics of striping in his own booklet. He has also made a video of pinstriping, but so far it is available in Finnish only. The booklet is also translated to Swedish. Pekka arranges courses for beginners every once in a while. Wizzz's style in pinstriping is somewhat mixed, he likes to work with old school stuff but scroll-work with lowriders does not hurt either. If you want to file his style under one folder, it must be under “rhythm and composition”. He tries to keep the basic lines clear, so that the backbone of the design is easily recognised. Every line must have a clear meaning, it is no use to splash the stripes all around, they must reinforce and rhythm each other. That’s why his stripes may sometimes look surprisingly simple.
Pekka likes to add some 50’s style texts to his stripes and he has an eye to pin-up’s as well. Seems like the space age –graphics are close to his heart. At the same time he is also working with restoration stuff, nothing is more rewarding than work with an old british bike, a 30’s roadster or a Harley. You may see his signwork in restaurants and amusement parks as well.
The Wizzz. Family is travelling a lot in the summer season. He is a regular visitor on A-Bombers and other hot rod and custom meetings, laying his lines regardeless of rain or wind. The ground scraping non-bagged (so far…) poor Pontiac is so fully packed that not even a credit card is thin enough to slip in to the trunk.
The “Stripe-O-Rama” pinstriper meeting is one of his dreams come trough. Originally started as an idea with the famous custom builder Tommy Clason in Sweden, the first meeting was held in Västerås in 1997. It was eventually moved to Tampere Finland in ’99 and since then it has collected som 20 odd painters together to party with flammable fluids and slippery surfaces.
One of the original participants in S-O-R is “Tin” Nieminen, a profiled pinstriper himself and well known in the Swedish meetings. His Tiki Weekend in the coldest time of the year is a regular high point of the season and a birth place for the Arctic Pinheads. The unnofficial bunch of stripers work together to arrange different meetings and they generate lots of enery to newcomers to participate. Wizzz. Is pretty proud of this group, check them out in different meetings in Sweden!
The Grand Stripe-O-Rama is the 10:th anniversary gathering in Tampere Hot Rod & Rock Show ( www.hotrod-rockshow.com ). The biggest meeting so far is collecting stripers from USA and Europe and should give you a good picture what is going on in the branch. Write to Pekka for more info: wizzzard@netti.fi
[edit] Cars Pinstriped by Pekka Wizzard Mannermaa
Sondre Kvipt's 1934 Ford Pickup
Comments and Additional Information
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