Master Engraver Otto Carter’s Godspeed

You might have seen a picture of the Knucklehead with the amazing engraving calledGodspeed by Master Engraver Otto Carter, but if you haven’t, here are some more pictures and more information.

Before going into the Godspeed, here is a little bit about Otto. From as early as he can remember he was doing some type of art, but it wasn’t until college when he got his first lessons and he eventually got his Bachelor’s Degree in Art.

After college, he did a number of things to earn a living, including being a sign painter, pinstriper, and doing artwork for the legendary Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, the creator of the iconic Rat Fink. In the 90’s, Otto first tried out engraving, but it got put to the side until 2002 when he took his first engraving class. After a limited number of classes, he hit the ground running with his pneumatic chisel in hand.

Now, the story behind the Godspeed motorcycle is that Otto was approached by Steven Bates to do some engraving on a bike he was working on. The theme was angels and demons. After a very brief period of time thinking about the theme, Otto knew exactly what he was going to do.

To allow for engraving, as well as to add Jesus to the front of the tank, the tank was cast in 1/4 inch aluminum. The process of making the Godspeed tank is quite interesting and is on his site.

In addition to the tank, Otto also engraved the Knucklehead’s rocker boxes, headlight and taillight housings, muffler tips, and coil cover. It took Otto, with his pneumatic chisel, 210 hours! You can tell by the results that it was well worth it.

Otto does much more than just engraving on motorcycle parts, he also engraves Rat Fink work on cars, jewelry, knives, belt buckles, spurs, and even e-cigs. His favorite things to engrave are rifles and handguns, especially Derringers. To see Godspeedmotorcycle or more of his incredible work, go to his site, OttoCarter.com.