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SOME GREAT INFORMATION ABOUT OUR GUEST OF HONOR FOR THE WEEK...

JERRY THIENPRASIDDHI - Celebrating 10 years of Graphic Design

Throughout the course of the past ten years, Jerry has become pretty well-rounded at all different types and styles of vehicle deco design, but his favorite is still flame jobs and racing decos. Some of his favorite past projects are the ’59 Custom Caddy (2003 Radical Wrestlers), 2004 Track Aces vehicles, Quartermile Coupe (2004 Halloween), Sinistra & Morris Cooper (2006 Secret Segments), Pit Cruiser (2006 Treasure Hunts), Surfin’ School Bus (2006 Urban 5 Pack), ’57 Buick (2007 Ultra Hots), ’69 Dodge Charger (2007 Engine Revealers), Hiway Hauler (2008 RLC), Jeepster (2008 St. Patrick’s Day), ’64 Lincoln Continental (2008 Halloween), Maelstrom (2008 Trading Card Cars), Super Tuned & ’41 Willy’s (2008 All-Stars), ’55 Chevy Panel (2009 Promo Car), Custom ’57 Chevy (2009 Treasure Hunts), Tantrum (2010 Top Tuners 5 Pack), ’69 Corvette & Ford GT (2012 Treasure Hunts), & ’69 Mercury Cougar (2012 Hometown Segment).

Jerry is currently finishing up Basics Mainline projects for 2012 and preparing to start on 2013.  His upcoming releases will be cars in the 2012 Heat Fleet and Hometown segments, the BMW Z4 M and ’71 HEMI Cuda New Models, the Ferrari 430 Scuderia and ‘70 Chevy ChevelleConvertible Treasure Hunts, and the Indy 500 100th Anniversary 5-Pack.  

Jerry was born in Bangkok, Thailand and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1978. Since the age of 8, he grew up in the South Bay, fifteen minutes from Mattel headquarters. He attended Cal Poly Pomona and graduated with a degree in Graphic Design.

In the summer of ‘97 Jerry received a phone call from a co-worker telling him that their graphics department was being eliminated from the company.  Having been his first real job after college, it was surreal and shocking to hear. While the work was mundane at times, the great group of coworkers and family atmosphere were familiar and comforting. Fortunately, during his tenure at the company, Jerry learned quite a bit from the seniors in the department and became an expert at the tools that would eventually give him confidence to move onto a new career.

Prior to the department closing, another co-worker had just left to become the manager of the new Graphics Department at Hot Wheels.  Jerry remembers seeing “e-sheets” of Nascar graphics that he had been working on and thinking “What a cool job that would be!”  After learning about the situation at his current graphics position, Jerry called to inquire about any possible opportunities in his group, but unfortunately, all of the positions were filled.  Jerry left his number just in case anything came up; it was almost a year later that he received a call asking for freelance help on some urgent projects.  While he was pretty busy freelancing for various companies at the time, he took on the job, which ended up being the best decision that he ever made in his career.

There was definitely a learning curve in designing graphics for cars.  Jerry must have spent hours trying to draw a simple scallop perfectly on the vehicle; it certainly looked easier when he saw the e-sheet a few years back.  The folks at Hot Wheels must have liked what he was doing because the next three years would bring more and more projects, and ultimately, an offer for a full-time position with Hot Wheels Graphics in 2001.

Shortly after joining Mattel as a full-time employee, Jerry met his soon-to-be wife, Elaine. She lived over an hour away and they would meet a couple of times a week, usually in Fullerton, which was sort of the midpoint between their homes. About to be married, they decided to buy a home in Fullerton, where they had spent so much time together the past few years. The family of four (husband, wife and two dogs) soon became a family of five with the birth of their first daughter, Kayla (age 4). Less than two years later, little sister Marisa (age 2), joined the family. Now, evenings and weekends are filled with princesses, fairies, and of course Barbie’s. Also, the car that Jerry started driving after college, a red ’91 Honda Civic Hatchback, has been replaced with a minivan. In their leisure time together, Jerry and his family enjoy neighborhood walks with their dogs, Buddy and Maxwell, going to Disneyland, and trips to the park. Jerry spends his free time following local sports teams, like the Lakers and Angels, tinkering with electronics and computers, and working on home improvement projects.

Phil Riehlman started working for Mattel about seventeen years ago, although for the first eighteen months he worked as a temp, designing such things as the Attack Pack line, deco projects, track sets and working with Bruce Baur on the Silhouette II and Twin Mill II. When he saw an opening for a permanent position in Male Action, he applied for the job. Six months later he transferred to the Hot Wheels® division where he worked mainly on Attack Pack and track sets.  The first Hot Wheels® model Phil designed was the VW Bus, in 1996. Although he did not design any models for the 1997 line, that year he became one of the main designers for the basic line, designing a number of the 1998 basic cars (most cars are not issued the year they were designed). 

Since then Phil has created some of the most popular cars among collectors including the’56 Ford Truck, ’70 Chevelle SS, Fiat 500C, Anglia Panel Truck, ’68 El Camino, ’41 Willys, Mini Cooper, Surfin’ School Bus, La Troca, Ford Thunderbolt, Plymouth GTX, Fright Bike, ’40 Ford Coupe, Rocket Oil Special, Volkswagen New Beetle Cup, Corvette Stingray, Swoop Coupe, Meyers Manx,’69 Dodge Charger, ’68 Chevy Nova, VW Pickup, ’49 Chevy Fleetline, Mustang Funny Car, Hummer H3T, ’69 Pontiac GTO, Karmann Ghia, ’69 Corvette, 2006 Dodge Viper Coupe,’55 Chevy Panel,’70 Dodge Hemi Challenger, ’66 Chevy Nova and the ’66 Batmobile.

Howard Rees

            As far back as Howard can remember, he was always drawing airplanes, cars, cartoon characters, etc. With this love for drawing, he decided to go to Art Center College of Design where he graduated in 1962. While going to college, he worked part time for Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, replacing Ed Newton. After college he got a job designing at the Ford Design Center in Dearborn, Michigan . Some of the cars he worked on were Mustangs and the Ford J-Car. While on vacation in California he was driving past Mattel where he decided to stop and visit a friend who was working there. It just happened that Ira Gilford, the Hot Wheels® designer at that time, had quit that very day and Howard was offered the job. Since he loved sunny California more than the weather in Detroit , he accepted the job and became the only Hot Wheels® designer at that time. He designed Hot Wheels® cars for the next two years, first finishing some of the models that were partly done by Ira Gilford. 
            Howard is the main reason that Larry Wood started working at Mattel. It seems that Howard and Larry Wood , who he had known from working at Ford, met at a party in 1969. Larry had recently moved to California and was working at Lockheed designing airplane interiors. Howard mentioned that he was working at Mattel designing cars. Larry told Howard that he had always loved drawing cars and was envious of his job at Mattel.  Howard had decided that he wanted a change anyway and asked Larry if he wanted to apply for that position because he had been talking about transferring to the Space Toys - Action Figures department. Larry got the position and stayed there forty years.
 For the next six years Howard worked on action figures and then worked freelance for the next three years. He then moved to Sutter Creek in Northern California to devote full time to fine art painting which he continues to do today. He also does workshops on different watercolor painting technique.
            Although he does all types of painting, his favorites are local gold country landscapes and small town scenes. He sells his original paintings through fine art galleries throughout the west, for anywhere from $2000 to $6000 a piece.
            All of the cars designed by Howard were originally issued in 1970 or 1971, but some of them were re-issued in later years with either the same name or under a new name. These include the Mantis which in 1973 was changed to Double Vision and in 1984 was changed to Speed Seeker. Also the Demon (Prowler & Li’l Coffin) and the Jack Rabbit Special (Sand Witch) were later changed. Cars that Howard customized and re-proportioned include the Carabo (show car), Demon (show car originally done by Darryl Starbird), Classic Nomad, Porsche 917 and the Spoilers series which he did with Ira Gilford (Light My Firebird, King Kuda, Boss Hoss, TNT-Bird and Heavy Chevy)
            Some of the concept cars that Howard designed include the Mighty Maverick, Mod Quad, Peeping Bomb, Seasider, Cockney Cab, Noodle Head, Short Order, Jack Rabbit Special and the Mantis which was done with Ira Gilford. While at Mattel, Howard also designed other items including label sheets (decals) some Sizzlers® cars (Anteater, Live Wire and Side Burn) and sets (Road Sprint set).
            Howard’s wife Janey runs his Art Workshops fulltime. He has three kids; Damon 47, is a wild life artist in Utah; his daughter, Shauna 45, is a housewife with six kids and his youngest, Ryan 31, works for Wells Fargo Bank in Glendale AZ