When I decided to add a custom motorcycle department to my medieval-themed shop, the first name that came to mind was Johnny Chop. What I liked immediately about him was his reputation for being an actual craftsman and not just a builder. He already had ties to Huntington Beach, so  it seemed like a good idea to at least approach him to get his thoughts. Once we met and ironed out some details, Johnny moved his bikes to the shop and joined our Huntington Beach Bodyworks crew.

    With my love and knowledge of hotrods and his love and know-how of custom motorcycles, it seemed like the beginning of a fruitful partnership. However, less than a year later in March 2006, suddenly and unexpectedly Johnny passed away at the age of 34.
    What I remember about Johnny, besides never being without his bulldog Louie, is how genuinely respectful he was of everyone. It didn’t matter if you where the owner of a multi-million dollar company or if you swept the floors of the shop, you were always treated with kindness and respect. That’s probably what I liked the most so I’ll end there with my trip down memory lane.
    Shortly after Johnny’s passing, his mother Barbara Vasco visited our shop. After seeing one of Johnny’s chopper tanks, she asked me if I could create a memorial piece out of Johnny’s tank. To grant Johnny’s last wishes, she wanted his custom tank painted in his memory and his remains placed in it.
    Since I had planned to create a memorial for Johnny myself, it was easy to say yes. I immediately began brainstorming ideas for the memorial tank. Ms. Vasco told me she always liked the way her son looked in photographs, so we decided to have our exceptional air brush artist Kiwi Terry do a portrait of Johnny on one side of the tank and a scene of Johnny hammering out a fender on the other side with a silhouette of one of his bikes.
    A prevalent theme in Johnny’s work was an old school rose theme. They were usually gold or silver leaf, bordered with pinstripes all around which required a skilled striper to render.
    This called for Bob Iverson’s talents in one of the oldest arts of the custom auto scene, so I recruited him for the team.

Creating a masterpiece
I spent a good couple of days prepping and sculpting the tank, sculpting a little razor fin for the spine of the tank. It’s a style I’ve seen before in Johnny’s bikes. I started out as usual, by setting up the tank on a stand and then feeling it out to find the most obvious high and low spots. There were just a couple on the top, so I used my ping hammer to initially smooth them out.
    Next I broke out the grinder with some 36 grit and ground everything down. I applied the Duraglass and then went to town.
    Rich tip: This takes a little practice, but I try to start sanding when the Duraglass is hard, but just before it’s rock hard. After that, it takes a lot more work.
    Using a block and black guide coat in between sanding grits, I came in with 36 grit, then 80 grit to remove the 36 grit scratches, and then finally 150 grit. A few coats of PolyPrimer were applied and I repeated my sanding and guide coat techniques from the Duraglass stage.