J & J Auto Painting

Joe Crisafulli's 1956 Oldsmobile. Joe bought the Olds in December of 1956. He restyled and painted it during the summer of 1957, while running J & J Auto Painting.

The first "mild" version of the Jerry DeVito's 1957 Ford, The Maze featured custom body work and paint by Wirth's Body Shop, and a scallop paint job by Joe Crisafulli of J & J Auto Painting. Photo courtesy of Car Craft Magazine.

The first version of the Maze at the 1957 San Jose Rod & Custom Show. The signs reads "Body & Paint Work by Wirth Body Shop" and "Scallops by J & J Auto Painting San Jose". Photo courtesy of Joe Crisafulli.

A San Jose Rod & Wheelers group shot in front of Tony Alvez' 1950 Cadillac. The photo was taken at Fred Spitilary's Flying 'A' gas station, where Joe had given the car a custom paint job on the lube rack. Photo courtesy of www.rodandwheelers.net.

Joe Crisafulli's 1951 Oldsmobile of San Jose, California. Joe, a founding member of the San Jose Rod and Wheelers car club restyled and painted the car himself late in 1959, while running J & J Auto Painting out of his dad's garage.

J & J Auto Painting of San Jose, California was a short lived auto painting company run and operated by San Jose Rod & Wheelers member Joe Crisafulli. J & J was short for Joseph John.

In December of 1956, while working as an apprentice painter at a GMC truck shop, Joe bought a 1956 Oldsmobile. He was 20 years old at the time, and had saved for a long time just for the down payment. The truck shop let him use the torches at the shop to weld the hole in the hood after he had shaved it. He was not allowed to use the paint booth, so he gave the car a shiny black paint job with gold scallops in the family garage, on a cool summer night in 1957. The garage was a garage with a dirt floor and no doors. Joe had a compressor in the shop that was made out of a refrigerator pump and a hot water heater tank. He did the body work in the garage, but painted elsewhere. Like Tony Alvez' 1950 Cadillac, that he painted on the lube rack in Fred Spitilary's Flying 'A' gas station. Tony won an award at the Oakland Roadster Show with the Cadillac after Joe had painted it. While running J & J Auto Painting, Joe also painted scallops on the first version of Jerry DeVito's 1957 Ford, The Maze.

Joe had two Binks 19 with 66 SE and 66 SD air caps that he painted with. The SE was a low air consumption cap that worked fine with the refer pump. The Binks were great for Lacquer, low orange peel. Joe did 75% of all his early custom jobs with the Binks. He also had a Devilibiss JGA. A great production gun that used over 13cf of air, so it was good for doing trucks and trailers at Flyers. Most of the flames and scallops were laid using the Binks.

J & J Auto Painting never made it past Joe's dad's garage. Around 1958, Joe started to work for Flyer Tabata at Flyers Body Shop. Joe had worked for Flyer before becoming an apprentice painter at the GMC truck shop. After about a year the shop was closed down, but Flyer told Joe he would call him when he opened up another shop. Late in 1959 Joe restyled and painted his own 1951 Oldsmobile at J & J Auto Painting.

Cars Restyled and Painted by J & J Auto Painting

Tony Alvez' 1950 Cadillac Convertible
Joe Crisafulli's 1951 Oldsmobile
Joe Crisafulli's 1956 Oldsmobile
Jerry DeVito's 1957 Ford - The Maze