After attending Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts and the Phoenix School of Design in the 60’s Alex Dilena went back to Long Island and worked for the sanitation department of Hempstead. He didn’t start pinstriping until 1974, when a friend had showed him the craft by demonstrating on Dilina’s dump truck.  Dilina quickly enhanced his own pinstriping skills and left his sanitation job to pinstripe full time soon after.  Also an art collector, and aviation buff, Dilena customizes and pinstripes anything he can get his hands on. His current project is a 1968 Chevy Wagon that he has customized to look like a WWII Flying Tigers plane complete with a 7’ wing span.