If you have opened a car magazine that deals with hot rods, muscle cars, or kustoms over the last couple of decades, it is a virtual guarantee that your eyes have feasted on the work of Steve Stanford. He is virtually without peer when it comes to the quantity, quality, and range of his work. His pencils and air brush strokes have created some of the most well known shapes in the modern hot rodding world and yet he has not walled himself in, placed himself on a pedestal, or forgotten why he’s so good at doing what he does in the first place. He still loves the cars and that’s what makes this video profile of him so great.
I can think of no greater compliment to someone’s character and ability than having your peers speak highly of you. While Stanford is in the video, the words uttered by Foose, Strope, Santini, are especially important. Those men are all artists in their own right so they understand the legacy that Stanford has created likely better than most. Those are guys that deal in shapes, colors, and details as well so they get the value of those three elements which Standford’s renderings and designs have never lacked for.
We should all be so lucky in life as to find a singular thing that we are exceptionally talented at and use that talent to make a living. Steve Stanford clearly works hard. He clearly understands that his creations and those things that he is creating for his customers are very important to them and he gets that because he is a car guy himself. Without a genuine love for the iron that he is birthing from his fertile mind, it would all be lost.
This is a GREAT look at Steve Stanford and the people who know him the best. It is always great to hear that people you admire are the people you should be admiring. Well done, sir!
PRESS PLAY BELOW FOR A SPECTACULAR LOOK AT STEVE STANFORD –
Foose, Strope, Santini but you forgot Barris…or maybe youe didn’t…..
That guy is other-worldly in how much talent he has and how far he’s developed it. Nice video.
You will not find a more down-to-earth, nicest, approachable, genuine and regular “car guy” than Steve. I have had the pleasure of Steve do some lettering work for me.
I have had the pleasure of some interaction with Steve Stanford on his Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/Stevestanforddesigns?fref=ts . Having been a fan of his work for longer than I knew who he was, I have been genuinely surprised and delighted to find him to be a humble, funny, and friendly while having an astounding and wide ranging amount of knowledge about virtually everything relating to cars. The fact that someone of his caliber and talent takes the time to interact with people that enjoy his work (and occasionally make a pest of themselves trying to pick his brain and asking tons of questions – guilty as charged) is supremely cool. The regard that many of the biggest names in the business have for him is a very good reflection of the man himself.
“A lot of it is innate,
But you either have it or you dont,
If you got it,
Now what are you going to do with it ?,
Its almost irresponsible to let it wither and die and not progress your art”
These words of wisdom will remain with me forever.