Black Kat Kustoms is an American clothing line and custom parts shop based in Santa Ana, California. The company specializes in custom car, hot rod, and chopper clothing. The clothing line consists of mostly T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, and beanie caps.
The company was founded in 2003 by punk legend, Mike Ness of Social Distortion and longtime hot-rodder, Don Nemarnik. Ness states in an interview that he formed Black Kat Kustoms because he "hated everything else" and wanted to design "kustom car, hot rod and chopper t-shirts, so I would have something cool to wear." [1] Ness details his long-time love for designing punk style clothing in the Another State of Mind DVD commentary. He states that his graphic arts class was the only thing that kept him in school during his high school years.
The shop portion of the business is a place for Donnie and Mike to work on their own cars and bikes as a hobby which they occasionally sell.
Michael James Ness is an American musician who is the lead guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the punk rock band Social Distortion, which was formed in 1979.
Jesse Gregory James is an American entrepreneur, automotive mechanic, and television personality. He is the founder of West Coast Choppers and former partner of Austin Speed Shop and current CEO of Jesse James Firearms Unlimited, both based in Austin, Texas. He was the focus of a show chronicling some of the custom motorcycle builds in his TV series Jesse James: Monster Garage, which ran a shortened single season in 2012 on the Discovery Channel before being canceled.
A chopper is a type of custom motorcycle which emerged in the US state of California in the late 1950s. A chopper employs modified steering angles and lengthened forks for a stretched-out appearance. They can be built from an original motorcycle which is modified ("chopped") or built from scratch. Some of the characteristic features of choppers are long front ends with extended forks often coupled with an increased rake angle, hardtail frames, very tall "ape hanger" or very short "drag" handlebars, lengthened or stretched frames, and larger than stock front wheel. To be considered a chopper a motorcycle frame must be cut and welded at some point. I.e. the name chopper. The "sissy bar", a set of tubes that connect the rear fender with the frame, and which are often extended several feet high, is a signature feature on many choppers.
George Barris was an American designer and builder of Hollywood custom cars. Barris designed and built the Hirohata Merc. Barris's company, Barris Kustom Industries, designed and built the Munster Koach and DRAG-U-LA for The Munsters; and the 1966 Batmobile for the Batman TV series and film.
Ed "Big Daddy" Roth was an American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, pinstriper and custom car designer and builder who created the hot rod icon Rat Fink and other characters. Roth was a key figure in Southern California's Kustom Kulture and hot rod movement of the late 1950s and 1960s.
Kenneth Robert Howard, also known as Dutch, Von Dutch, or J. L. Bachs, was an American motorcycle mechanic, artist, pin striper, metal fabricator, knifemaker and gunsmith.
Kustom Kulture is the artworks, vehicles, hairstyles, and fashions of those who have driven and built custom cars and motorcycles in the United States of America from the 1950s through today. It was born out of the hot rod culture of Southern California of the 1960s.
West Coast Choppers (WCC) is a brand that began selling screen-printed T-shirts and stickers with the company's Iron cross/Maltese cross logo while founder and "master marketer" Jesse James was finishing high school, packaging the accoutrements of the chopper lifestyle long before any actual West Coast Choppers customs had been ordered or sold. Even after the company did begin building custom choppers, 60% of revenue still came from sales of WCC-branded marketing tie-ins such as clothing, beverages and tools. Yearly sales of approximately 12–15 motorcycles at prices of around US$150,000 each actually lost money for the company, but attracted positive attention. Publicizing the names of celebrity clients, including Shaquille O'Neal, Kid Rock, Keanu Reeves, Ty Law of the Denver Broncos, wrestling star Bill Goldberg, actor Tyson Beckford, and NFL running back Jamal Anderson, was a central feature of the WCC marketing strategy. The other key to this strategy was the star power of Jesse James, presented mainly through television on the Discovery Channel in the Motorcycle Mania series and the 2002–2006 series Monster Garage.
Chopping and channeling is a form of automobile customization in the "kustom kulture" and among hot rodders. The procedures are often combined, but can be performed separately. While chopping takes in only a car's pillars and windows, the more involved work of sectioning a car is carried out on the entire lower body.
Kustom Amplification or Kustom Electronics is a manufacturer of guitar and bass amplifiers and PA equipment and accessories. Since 1999, Kustom has been owned by the Hanser Music Group headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Rat Fink is one of several hot rod characters created by artist Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, one of the originators of Kustom Kulture of automobile enthusiasts. Roth conceived Rat Fink as an anti-hero to Mickey Mouse. Rat Fink is usually portrayed as either green or gray, comically grotesque and depraved-looking with bulging, bloodshot eyes, an oversized mouth with sharp, narrow teeth, and wearing red overalls with the initials "R.F." on them. He is often seen driving cars or motorcycles.
Roland Sands is an American motorcycle racer and designer of custom high-performance motorcycles. In his career as a professional motorcycle racer, he has won the 1998 AMA 250GP National Champion road racer championship. Sands is a designer of custom performance motorcycles, and owner and founder of Roland Sands Design.
Jerry Covington is a custom motorcycle builder and owner of Covingtons Customs.
Edward Dean Jeffries was an American custom car designer and fabricator, as well as stuntman and stunt coordinator for motion pictures and television programs based in Los Angeles, California.
Mark Whitney Mehran is an American author, business owner, land speed racer, Hot Rod and Chopper builder and Pinstriper. Born and raised in California, Mehran attended Eaglebrook School and Cate School, and graduated from Brown University with an honors degree in English and American Literature.
Dick Dean, born Richard Dean Sawitskas [Sa-WITS-kas], was an American automobile designer and builder of custom cars. Father of Keith Dean.
Von Franco is a self-taught American artist associated with the Lowbrow art movement and Kustom Kulture. He became involved at an early age in the burgeoning hot rod and Kustom Kulture scene of Southern California. His skill at drawing hot rod and monster art, popular in Kustom Kulture, caught the attention of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, for whom Von Franco later worked. Von Franco became a builder of custom automobiles, gaining notoriety for building clones of Norm Grabowski's Kookie, Kookie II and Lightning Bug t-buckets, as well as a clone/expansion of the Golden Rod. Von Franco is also known for his distinctive pinstriping and hand-lettering techniques. He was also the guitarist in the surf band The Bomboras and played the vibraphone in The Hyperions.
Michael "Blackie" Gejeian was an American race car driver, race car builder, and hot rod enthusiast. Considered an "Industry Legend", Gejeian was the organizer of the Autorama, one of the largest custom car shows in North America, held annually in Fresno, California.
Bill Cushenbery was an American car customizer, show car builder, and model kit designer. Cushenbery was a major influence on the look of custom cars and the customizing industry in general. In addition to building his own designs, he is noted for having helped George Barris create the Batmobile car featured in the 1966–1968 Batman television series.
Gerald Douglas "Bo" Huff was an American custom car designer and an influential figure in the American Kustom Kulture and hot rod movement. He was known as the "Rockabilly King" in the American custom car scene for his promotion of Kustom Kulture lifestyle, rat rods, and custom cars, and was identified as one of the top 20th and early 21st century American custom car designers.