Dr. Ru Pinstriping

Rudy Kutey is only 54, but he may be the last dinosaur of the auto industry. “Dr. Ru,” as he’s called, is the last known man to have been employed by a Big Three automaker as a pinstriper. Long a freelance striper from Southfield, Michigan, he was hired by Chrysler in recent years to perform his steady-handed art on five special editions of the Prowler (an example of which he bought for himself), which worked out to more than 2200 cars, many of which are signed and numbered in the manner of art prints. He continues to apply fine enamel-paint lines to a whole raft of classics for the Walter P. Chrysler Museum. Alas, now that the last Prowler has rolled out of the Conner Avenue plant in Detroit, Kutey is once again back on his own as a freelance striper, an occupation he has followed since quitting a good job as a plaster draw-die technician 30 years ago.