We really wanted something unique on our Unique Cobra….. We saw some “interesting” art on Cobra’s. Since we will have the red team stripes on the exterior of the car, we settled to do the Art on the underside of the hood. We chose this area for the art for 2 key reasons:
1) The art is protected from the sun, people fingers, etc. most of the time and when we’re not with the car.
2) We all know as soon as a Cobra parks, the hood is opened for all to gaze at the engine…. So, the hood underside is a good place for the display artwork….. just think of the underside of the hood as a canvas!
When trying to determine “who” can do the work, you basically have 3 options… 1) do yourself (yeah right?!?... not me), 2) you know someone and have confidence in their ability, or 3) you go to an expert who has proven themselves. We went with option 3 as 1 or 2 wasn’t applicable to us. Two top airbrush artist came to mind immediately, Nub’s of American Chopper fame, www.nubgrafix.com/, and Mike Lavallee of Killer Paint fame and many TV car shows such as Rides, Hot Rod, OverHaulin’, Payback, Miami Ink and Monster Garage, www.killerpaint.com/ . You may also heard/know Mike as the inventor of “True Fire” effects… check out his web site…. Impressive!!
I contacted both of them with my ideas, pictures, and questions and got a response from both. But after much communications, via email and phone with Nick and Mike (of Killer Paint) I went with Killer Paint. See attached pictures for some themes I sent them. Mike will use his wild imagination….. and create as he paints…. So you’ll have to wait to see the outcome just like I have to. Mike and Nick also promised to send pictures of Mike and his team during the process….. which I’ll share with everyone.
I’ve asked Unique to cause the hood to open as vertical as possible because of the planned artwork. Alan will prep the hood and prime it. I’m making a shipping container. Once the hood is fitted and primed, we’ll ship mid to end of July to Killer paint. Mike will do his thing and ship back to Unique. Alan will them mask off the artwork and paint the hood with the rest of the car.
The cobra head in the attached picture is the perfect “pissed-off cobra head” . I stressed with Nick and Mike I want something that when people see “IT” (i.e., the artwork)…. It’s a eye popping, holly s#!t, that’s great, can’t take your eyes off it, take pictures of, magazine cover quality piece of airbrush artwork!!!
I also plan to incorporate some LED lighting in the engine bay that will project some soft/warm lighting to the art for dusk/night shows.
Stay tuned….. more to come