Speaking of sign painter Howard Pinchefsky who hand lettered all the Junie Donlavey #90 cars, he passed in 2008. His cars were always gorgeous. No need for decals or "wraps" when Howard was in the building. 

H.M. Pinchefsky, sign maker, dies

Ellen Robertson Aug 17, 2008

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Howard M. Pinchefsky was one of the few artists around who still hand-lettered signs and worked in gold leaf.

Supporting his right hand, which held his brush, with his left, "he did fine hand-lettering," said a first cousin, Herbert Pinchefsky. "He had to please the customer. Some customers wanted no one else to do the letters, especially in gold leaf. Gold leaf today is getting to be a lost art."

He was especially known for doing gold-leaf lettering on ambulance, fire and rescue squad vehicles.

Mr. Pinchefsky, who closed his Eagle Signs business in Hanover Business Park and moved from Ashland to Mechanicsville in 2006, will be remembered Sunday at a graveside service. It will be held at 2 p.m. in Sir Moses Montefiore Cemetery in Richmond.

A private man beset by health problems, he drove himself two weeks ago to a Mechanicsville hospital,, where he died of heart problems on Thursday. He was 77.

Born to Russian immigrant parents who came to the United States via Canada, he was a Richmond native and a member of the John Marshall High School band. He still met regularly with a group of fellow band members.

"I don't think there was anything he couldn't paint," said Betty Pinchefsky, his cousin by marriage. "When I first met him, he was 16 or 17 and was doing a poster for Sadie Hawkins Day. His male and female in the poster looked just like Lil' Abner and Daisy Mae from the comic strip."

He volunteered with the Navy during the Korean War and spent part of the war on a ship in Korean waters.

When he returned to Richmond, he did window displays for Miller & Rhoads department store. During the late 1960s or early 1970s, he went into business for himself.

A racing fan, Mr. Pinchefsky also followed the NASCAR circuit, painting numbers and names on race cars. At one time his shop was inside the facilities of Sprint Cup Series car owner and former driver Junie Donlavey, said his friend, Martha Chandler, and he had done the paintwork on Donlavey's No. 90 car.

Mr. Pinchefsky was instrumental in designing some of the interior of the Virginia Holocaust Museum, his cousins said. He spent close to a year building a model of a ship that had brought Jewish refugees to Israel, "down to the last detail of what had been on the ship," Betty Pinchefsky said.

Admired for his carvings of fish, ducks and other fowls, he had won prizes for his carvings at the Waterfowl Festival at White Stone.

He also had been a regular volunteer at the Beth Sholom Home of Virginia.

Survivors include a sister, Miriam Dreifuss of Pittsburgh.

Always heard that the above photo of Junie Donlavey's #90 SWANSBORO SPECIAL race car had an "Naked Woman" painted on it's roof?

Wonder if #90 pitcrewman /sign painter Howard M. Pinchefsky did the "Naked Woman" paint job?  

Does anyone any clear photo of it?

Dennis Garrett

Richmond,Va. USA