New business creates unique, hand-crafted memorials

Advertisement

Ron Winkler's grandfather Harry never rode a motorcycle. But after his grandfather's death three years ago, Winkler, a Henderson resident, and his family found themselves without a memorial for Harry, who wanted his remains cremated and spread.

So Winkler created a memorial by doing what he does best: he hand-pinstriped and airbrushed a motorcycle gas tank.

The family displayed photographs of grandpa Harry around the tank, and a unique memorial -- and business idea -- were born.

"I airbrushed a picture of a guy fly-fishing on the tank, and I added the message, 'We miss you Grandpa Harry' across it," Winkler said. "He was a fly fisherman, and we put pictures of him fishing around it.

"He wasn't a motorcycle guy, but I decided to do a tank because that's what I do, and I could personalize it and really make it about my grandfather."

After friends and family saw the custom memorial, Winkler realized there might be a larger market for the unique urns.

"People liked the urn -- it didn't make you cry," Winkler said. "You would look at him holding all those fish, and you would laugh and enjoy the memorial. It wasn't a tearful thing."

So three years ago, Winkler, who has pinstriped for 31 years, and his friend Jim Moritz, a chemist and painter, decided to get into the urn business, and started the long process of patenting their idea and getting their company, Motorcycle Memorials, ready for production.

The urns are manufactured in Milwaukee, where Moritz lives, and the corporate offices are located in Henderson.

Winkler said in recent years, cremation has become a much more popular option, and that many of his customers purchase tank urns for their own future use as well as for family members that have already died.

"A lot of people have urns now that are kind of plain, or don't really express who the person was," Winkler said. "It used to be that you would put a person in a coffin, and that was it. Now it's all about life. It's about what you did when you were alive."

Winkler said the urns are easy to customize and can be used as double urns, which means the ashes of two people can be put into each urn.

"You can get the urn from us and then take it to your own painter to have it customized, or buy your own decals to add," Winkler said. "We've had guys that take them to the same place they had their bikes painted, and have the urns custom painted to match their bikes."

The urns are made from ABS plastic and strength tested up to 40 pounds. Rivets are welded into the backs of the tanks so they won't fall from the boards they are mounted to.

The urns come in three styles: the half-tank wall-mount, which has a place on the board for a photograph; the half-tank table or mantle-mount, which is cut to match the contour of the tank; and a full-tank with a free-standing design which can be set anywhere.

Winkler said the urns are available in "bright candy colors," including blue, candy apple red, bright pink and jet black, and are available with a flame design.

The company is selling a special version of the urns with an American flag design airbrushed across one side. Though Winkler said he may eventually sell the urns with other designs already airbrushed on, for now the flag design is the only one available with a design other than plain with script or flaming.

"All of these tanks are hand-prepped," Winkler said. "I do the striping by hand, and I can write a name on the tanks, or a message like 'We love you Uncle John.' "

Winkler and Moritz recently attended a funeral director's convention in Chicago to unveil the product.

"At the convention, we found the flag design was very popular with people looking for a memorial for past deaths," Winkler said. "Especially for fallen soldiers. Families of deceased military members really liked the flag design for an urn or just a memorial you can keep at home."

Winkler and Moritz decided to make the tank urns out of plastic instead of metal because the plastic is better for painting and allowed the urns to be durable and lightweight.

Hand-pinstriping started in the 1950s with designs painted on hot rods. Winkler said there is still a high demand for hand-pinstriping, but it's hard to find craftsmen.

Winkler has striped cars for celebrities including B.B. King and Otis Day. He started pinstriping at 12 years old.

"My father grew up in the '50s and he was always into striping, but he didn't know how to do it," he said. "I had art skills, so he bought me a Hot Rod magazine, a can of paint and a pinstriping brush."

Winkler taught himself to do the pinstriping he saw in the magazines by practicing for an hour each day in his family's basement.

"My dad always came down to check and said it was good, even when it probably wasn't that good," he said with a laugh.

Though he works full-time for a hospital in the Henderson area in addition to his pinstriping work, Winkler said creating the motorcycle urns has been very satisfying so far.

"With these you can have it home and pay your respects, but it's not a morbid way of doing it. It's kind of uplifting," he said. "It's great to be able to make people happy through my artwork. And it's great to do something meaningful for a family."

The urns retail wholesale for about $395-$750. For more information, visit www.motorcyclememorials.com.