At the outset, membership was identified through the wearing of a black shirt with the wording 'Vietnam Veteran Motorcycle Club'. In the later part of the 1980's members in Sydney and Queensland in consolation drew plans for the Vietnam Vets Riders Association 'Skull and Slouch Hat'. The design was duplicated from the Grave Diggers MC 'Casper' with a 'shield' used to distinguish itself from other social club 'biscuit' patches.
1989-1992 Single Back Patch.
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1978-1989 Front Pocket Shield.
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Tim Storrier
Tim Storrier AM is an Australian artist who won the following awards: Sir John Sulman Prize 1968 and 1984, Archibald Prize 2012 and Doug Moran National Portrait Prize 2017. This 'Casper' is the symbol of 'Stone' and is the identical 'Skull and Slouch Hat' the Grave Diggers MC rode with and what Sandy licenced in 1997 to the Vietnam Veterans MC. This 'Casper' has one tooth missing (central incisor) and is a fabric version.
Sandy stated 'I commissioned Tim Storrier, the Art Director of Stone, to do all the artwork and colours in September 1973. Tim was 19, but I hired him for the picture as a I considered him the most dynamic young artist in the country... Tims art was perfect and much better than I imagined, I had the patch embroidered exactly to match Tims illustration. The rockers were in red lettering on white and blue edge... for the colours of the Australia's National Flag'.. and the font to represent the continued support of the Dominant MC; thus, the initial design was conceived on the idea that the patch was to resemble the dominant MC's style; however, to be uniquely Australian.
For the filming of 'Stone', Sandy sought approval from the dominant MC to sanction the Grave Diggers as a 'three piece patch' to avoid any difficulty that may arise with other MC's while wearing the cut-offs. Approval was granted and the Grave Diggers were sanctioned as an MC, therefore, the Grave Diggers were an Outlaw Club with the close relationship of the dominant MC inscribed inside the 'Undertakers' cut-offs.
'Some of the cast and crew were sitting around in Sandy's and Helen's lounge room, including Tim Storrier. Sandy said to Tim, today we are going to come up with the patch for the Grave Diggers and I want you to draw whatever we come up with... we were passing joints and there most of the afternoon... with Sandy and Tim coming up with the final creation. This was all done a year or so before we began making Stone' - Zonk.
Sandy stated 'I commissioned Tim Storrier, the Art Director of Stone, to do all the artwork and colours in September 1973. Tim was 19, but I hired him for the picture as a I considered him the most dynamic young artist in the country... Tims art was perfect and much better than I imagined, I had the patch embroidered exactly to match Tims illustration. The rockers were in red lettering on white and blue edge... for the colours of the Australia's National Flag'.. and the font to represent the continued support of the Dominant MC; thus, the initial design was conceived on the idea that the patch was to resemble the dominant MC's style; however, to be uniquely Australian.
For the filming of 'Stone', Sandy sought approval from the dominant MC to sanction the Grave Diggers as a 'three piece patch' to avoid any difficulty that may arise with other MC's while wearing the cut-offs. Approval was granted and the Grave Diggers were sanctioned as an MC, therefore, the Grave Diggers were an Outlaw Club with the close relationship of the dominant MC inscribed inside the 'Undertakers' cut-offs.
'Some of the cast and crew were sitting around in Sandy's and Helen's lounge room, including Tim Storrier. Sandy said to Tim, today we are going to come up with the patch for the Grave Diggers and I want you to draw whatever we come up with... we were passing joints and there most of the afternoon... with Sandy and Tim coming up with the final creation. This was all done a year or so before we began making Stone' - Zonk.
Allan Puckett
Allan Puckett was a born in North Carolina, U.S.A. He served as a soldier in the Pacific Campaign, including the Battle for Bougainville and the Liberation of the Philippines. Allan was a graduate of the Art Faculty at Yale University. He worked on industrial design before moving to Sydney to work as a freelance artist. After the 1997 licensing of 'Casper' to the VVMC, Sandy used the redesigned version of 'Casper' from Allan Puckett to distinguish it from the original patch; thus allowing Grave Diggers MC merchandise to be marketed at the 1998 Stone 25th Anniversary Ride.
This version of 'Casper' has more teeth missing (central incisor, lateral incisor, cuspid, and first molar) and has been digitally illustrated. Sandy stated 'the Skull and Diggers Hat I have released to the general public is from later artwork by Allan Puckett and is designed to differentiate from any MC association'. This 'Casper' was initially developed for use on the release of the 'Directors Cut' VHS cassette... 'this version of Stone was specially prepared by me for the Australian video release'. This version can be seen on VHS and DVD sleeves and covers.
This version of 'Casper' has more teeth missing (central incisor, lateral incisor, cuspid, and first molar) and has been digitally illustrated. Sandy stated 'the Skull and Diggers Hat I have released to the general public is from later artwork by Allan Puckett and is designed to differentiate from any MC association'. This 'Casper' was initially developed for use on the release of the 'Directors Cut' VHS cassette... 'this version of Stone was specially prepared by me for the Australian video release'. This version can be seen on VHS and DVD sleeves and covers.
Peter Ledger
Peter Ledger was an illustrator, famous for his intricate airbrush work and fantasy images. He prepared the graphics for Stone and the 1976 Australian film OZ - A Rock and Roll Road Movie. In 1977 he was awarded the 'Art Directors Silver Award' for his surf-about poster. That same year, one of his posters for Golden Breed (Australian surfing apparel brand) was honoured in the graphics yearbook of award-winning posters from around the world.
In 1979 he won an Australian King of Pop award for best album cover design for the Angles album Face to Face.
Whilst living in New York he worked for Marvel Comics. One of his contributions to the comic book field was the fully painted and airbrushed work on the series, Weird World: Warrior of the Shadow Realm.
He painted robot suits and designed aliens for the movie The Ice Pirates and Babylon 5. Peter Ledgers 'Casper' can be seen on movie posters and cinema lobby cards. The Ledger Awards are named in honour of Ledger's contribution to comic book art and were organised to 'acknowledge excellence in Australian comic art and publishing'. The Ledger Awards commenced in 2004 and continued to be held until 2007. They were revived in 2014.
Peter Ledgers depiction of 'Casper' gives the skull a full set of teeth, smile and a more menacing darker look.
In 1979 he won an Australian King of Pop award for best album cover design for the Angles album Face to Face.
Whilst living in New York he worked for Marvel Comics. One of his contributions to the comic book field was the fully painted and airbrushed work on the series, Weird World: Warrior of the Shadow Realm.
He painted robot suits and designed aliens for the movie The Ice Pirates and Babylon 5. Peter Ledgers 'Casper' can be seen on movie posters and cinema lobby cards. The Ledger Awards are named in honour of Ledger's contribution to comic book art and were organised to 'acknowledge excellence in Australian comic art and publishing'. The Ledger Awards commenced in 2004 and continued to be held until 2007. They were revived in 2014.
Peter Ledgers depiction of 'Casper' gives the skull a full set of teeth, smile and a more menacing darker look.
Sandy stated 'I have used the Skull and Slouch Hat symbol for the advertising of Stone since the first advertisement for the world premier on Thursday 27 June 1974, and it has since been published in New Zealand, UK, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Greece and Korea... as the film was released in these countries and this also protects the copyright in the United States under the Berne Copyright Convention'.
The movie 'Stone' and 'Casper' are copyrighted through Australian Copyright Council and the World Copyright Council.