Nick Boos: The Airbrush Artist Behind CalStreets’ Iconic ’86 Corvette
Long before digital graphics dominated automotive art, there were artists who mastered the airbrush — a challenging tool that lets painters blend colours seamlessly and create vibrant, flowing imagery directly onto vehicles. One such artist working in Western Canada is Nick Boos, best known locally for his work under the banner of Total Control Art Works and respected in custom car circles for his influential, hand-crafted automotive paint designs.
A Craftsman in the Airbrush World
Nick Boos emerged as an airbrush artist specializing in custom paintwork on cars and specialty projects. Based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, he became known regionally through his work on unique automotive builds and his willingness to take on ambitious custom paint jobs. Boos has been documented painting the Golden Hawk Streamliner — a high-speed diesel land-speed vehicle — applying his airbrush art to help make it both visually striking and memorable.
His business, Total Control Art Works, was referenced in local media coverage around custom vehicle projects, suggesting that Boos was not only a painter but a collaborator on creative automotive commissions.
The Art of Automotive Airbrush
Airbrush painting, as a medium, is highly technical and prized for its ability to create smooth transitions and detailed imagery that can’t be achieved with standard spray guns alone. Airbrush artists control paint flow in tiny increments, allowing effects like fades, highlights, and elaborate shading — ideal for flames, characters, and unique graphics on car bodies.
Artists who master these techniques — like those featured in Airbrush Action Magazine, a major publication in the field — are often celebrated for both their precision and creativity.
Painting the CalStreets 1986 Corvette
One of Boos’s most memorable projects has been the custom paint job on the 1986 CalStreets Corvette, commissioned by Rick Tetz. This car — a striking example of paint-as-art — represents a moment when custom automotive culture and local branding intersected. While most of Boos’s broader biography isn’t widely published online, the craftsmanship speaks for itself in this Corvette project:
Rick Tetz’s flame aesthetic came directly from the California hot-rod era and the core Southern California skate scene of the late 1970s and 1980s. In that world, boards, cars, music, and style were inseparable.
The same streets that produced Dogtown skating also produced flame-painted cars parked outside surf shops and skate spots. Flames weren’t decoration—they were identity.
When the idea of a signature CalStreets car finally took shape, the goal wasn’t nostalgia or trend-chasing. It was about honoring that lineage properly, with the same seriousness those early scenes demanded.
- The car’s design showcases flames and graphic elements that reflect both classic hot-rod aesthetics and the era’s love for vibrant, bold automotive art.
- Painting a Corvette in this style required free-hand mastery of the airbrush, along with a deep understanding of automotive surface preparation, colour balancing, and layering — all hallmarks of Boos’s skillset.
This isn’t just paint; it’s a custom rolling canvas — something every car culture enthusiast appreciates.
Local Impact and Craft Legacy
Boos’s presence in the automotive art community — especially in British Columbia — points to a dedicated career as a local custom artist. His work on vehicles like the Golden Hawk and the CalStreets Corvette showcases the role that independent airbrush painters play in preserving and evolving custom car culture.
Artists like Boos sit at the intersection of hands-on craftsmanship and creative design, keeping alive techniques that pre-date digital graphics but remain influential among hot-rodders, custom bike builders, and collectors alike.
A sincere thank-you is owed to Corvette Specialties, and especially to Glen Iggulden and Bruce Iggulden, for making the build possible at the highest level. Being allowed to indulge in such a complex and demanding project meant a great deal, and Glen’s experience on the body and paint side was a true asset to the final result. His background spraying factory finishes and preparing Corvettes to exacting standards brought a race-car level of discipline to the finish, giving Nick Boos’s airbrush work the proper foundation it deserved.
Working alongside a shop that understands how things are done properly made all the difference. The same energy that once put flames on Corvettes and skulls on decks is alive here.
Nick Boos didn’t just paint a car.
He helped carry an OG lineage forward.
That is the fire CalStreets was built on!
