or hot rodders with any amount of rubber on the road, you will readily remember and favorably recall the artwork of Tom Fritz. A SoCal born-and-raised kid of the ’60s and ’70s, he happily recalls his youth’s memories of all things motorcycle and automotive culture. Fortunately for us Tom is a gifted artist who applies brush to canvas at a level matching the builds of a Triple Crown of Rodding, America’s Most Beautiful Roadster, or a Ridler winner. This allows the rest of us to sit back and recall the great days of bygone rodding. Additionally, should you find yourself having read, or are still reading, car magazines, you might recall that Tom’s artwork has graced the covers of Street Rodder (Aug. ’96) and Hot Rod (July ’14). (Looks like you will have to add Modern Rodding to the growing list of publications that have featured his work!)

For more than two decades, after earning his bachelor’s degree in two-dimensional art from California State University, Northridge, Tom serviced major corporations, including ITT, Litton Industries, Northrop Grumman, Petersen Publishing, and the United States Army and Air Force as a designer and illustrator. Today, he paints out of his studio in Ventura County, California.

Tom is a fortunate artist who enjoys the recognition of others who appreciate and want to share his talents. He’s a member of the Automotive Fine Arts Society and the only seven-time recipient of the prestigious Peter Helck Award (Best of Show) at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. To this he has resting on his mantle several Athena Awards, two Art Fitzpatrick Awards, and the Lincoln Award of Excellence. At the Meadow Brook Concours, he has garnered several Awards of Excellence in addition to the Stanley Wanlass and Spirit of the Automobilist Awards. Tom also served on the induction committee for the Mattel Hot Wheels Hall of Fame at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Should there be any philatelists in the reading audience you may recall earlier in this decade a collection of stamps paying tribute to the muscle car. Tom was commissioned by the United States Postal Service to create five works for the commemorative “Muscle Cars” Forever stamp series issued in early 2013. This came after his equally successful 1998 Harley-Davidson Annual Report series. Tom was commissioned by Harley-Davidson in 2001 to paint an image commemorating their 100th anniversary.

For this story we zeroed in on his works as they revolve around hot rods and their early images. You will recognize that some of the topics are clearly from life’s experiences while others are dreams and imagination any of us would have liked to have experienced. Something of particular interest with Tom’s work are the titles he comes up with … right on topic and capturing the moment in words as well as paint.