90's artwork

[ridgey_didge]

I came across this in a file of papers for a car I no longer own.



You don't see a letterhead like that every day.

The business no longer exists so far as I can tell.

Cheers
David

[NosFEratu]

  OMG - I can tell you the story behind that artwork that very few people know!  And I have to correct you David it is 1980's artwork - circa 1985/86 actually! 

Ralph Severyn was a member of the United Street Machiners of Melbourne in the 1980's.  He used to sell his artwork under the name of Ralfus Designs.  Back in the 80’s, Ralfus did all the art work for SMASA Show n Shines and the Two State Runs and we’d catch up when we went to Melb or he brought his HD to SA.  Our club didn’t have any artwork for t-shirts etc and Ralfus offered to donate artwork for our club logo etc – at the time this was a huge thing cos his artwork was quite pricey and in demand.  Anyway, all the guys were real impressed by Ralph’s offer and super excited when he let slip that he’d taken the liberty to stylise one of the member’s cars for it. Well you could have knocked them all over with a feather when it turned out to be an FE and, you guessed it - there was only one FE in the club!

End of story - the guys snubbed Ralph and rejected his free artwork.  So he deliberately stuck it up ‘em by using it on his business cards and advertising (and obviously on-selling it to Powersound).  I ended up with a massive board mounted replica of his business card (600mm by 400mm). 

It was all quite embarrassing for me but I still have the business card and have a laugh when I look at it.  It looks nothing like NosFEratu (except that it’s an FE) but I know it’s my FE!   

And you could've knocked me over with a feather tonight when I saw this thread! 



I had a bit of a play a while back, scanned it and tried to block out the pick up - not a real good job but it's ok! 

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

That's a Ralfus, he did a lot of drawings for Show and Shine Posters back in the day.

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

Took a while to dig up the image   

[NosFEratu]

Hey, it took me a while to get over the shock, take some very quick photos of the business card, upload them and write a the la la!  But I still obviously beat you to the the post button! 

[DN2168]

Great to hear a bit of history about the artwork kathi, we are truely blessed to in the presence of one so famous. (see Keith,now that's sucky  )

[ridgey_didge]

And I wasn't going to bother sharing it on the basis that I didn't think it was likely to be of any particular interest.  But then again, why would I be surprised that someone would know the actual history of the artwork - the members of this forum really know their stuff!!!  Thanks for that info.

It seems that something has fallen off the bonnet between the original and the letterhead.

As to the contents of the invoice - that must be the last time I paid anyone to repair a radio/cassette player.

Keep up the good work everyone.

Cheers
David

[Ed]

very cool story.

I used to try emulate the Ralfus' style of drawings. I had books full of drawings, most of them were given away at some stage however after becoming disillusioned when I was told it wasn't art... bla bla.. will see if I can find the surviving pics.

Cheers

Ed

[NosFEratu]

First of all - yeah thanks for that Dean! 

It was embarrassing enough the first time around- you gotta rememeber that membership in ACES was quite small, had three of the top Show Cars in SA (and probably Aust). The blower was a Ralfus joke due to mine being the only stocky in the club – but he knew I had a Norman Supercharger in the shed! 

I’ve been tempted to post the artwork previously as a point of interest for everyone but felt quite funny about it given the history behind it’s existence (and I still do). 

Ralph had artwork everywhere in the 80’s and early 90’s for car shows, car clubs and businesses (remember the Crane Cams Crow?).  If anyone’s interested he’s still working from Maroondah Highway at Chirnside Park – just add a 9 to the front of the number on the “business card”.

And Ed, it’d be good to see your “Edus Designs” if you can find any of them! 

Kathi

[GOA350]

I also know of Ralfus and of his work. He did all the car club banners, shows (whether they were hot rod or streetmachine) and designs for clubs and organisers in Melbourne in the mid 80's. Those were the good old days, when you could go street racing in Dandenong, do a burnout and not get into trouble...............AAAAAHHHHHHHH