It wasn't just the influence of the hot rod culture, it WAS the hot rod culture; at Ascot on a given Saturday you'd have sprinters painted by Dean Jeffries, Stan Betz, Molly, pinstriping by Von Dutch. Even without the multiple lacquer coats and the pearl it's not that hard to achieve a distinctive look (see avatar); Yellow gelcoat from TQ Fiberglass, a couple of cans of Rustoleum, some striping tape and a nice set of numbers. If you get too close you can see the ridges, but it gets noticed. I'm not fast (yet) but I'm gonna look good while I get this figured out...