Steve Stanford, everyone’s favorite car designer, has finally made his way to Facebook, where fans can now stay updated and check out loads of cool content created by the legendary artist. Having honed his craft over the course of more than four decades of hard work, Stanford is now eager to share new information and designs with his fans in the digital realm.

It’s been a long journey for Stanford, now pushing sixty and living in Huntington Beach, California. Born in St. Louis, Stanford spent his early years of life as a quasi-pupil of an illustrator living in the same apartment building, taking inspiration from the drawings he received from the man.

Fresh out of high school, Stanford’s life took a turn for the foreign when he joined the Air Force at eighteen. “I knew I wasn’t going to make the military a career, especially after signing up for a mechanical field and getting stuck in munitions,” said Stanford. “”Then it occurred to me: I could use the Air Force as a safety net so I can learn another career to fall back on when I got discharged.”

That career, as it turned out, went to pinstriping. Fellow soldiers at his base near Los Angeles (and later, in Osan, South Korea) liked the young man’s talent for painting, and quickly had him turning out commissions on cars and canvases.

Connections and favors got Stanford based back in the States, this time near Salt Lake City. He stayed in the area for some time, making friends with Mike and Sharon Jones as well as Dave Swonger, who plied their trade painting vans (remember the ’70s?) at dealerships and decided to settle in the state’s capital.

In the early ’80s, Stanford found a job back in California working for Billy Carter, a renowned painter in Chatsworth. Carter and his associates determined that the budding twenty-something kid had more of a knack for illustration than pinstriping, and soon enough–thanks in part to a featured article in Car Craft magazine–Stanford was making his mark in the custom car world.

“I was just floored. The cool thing was that the phone just never stopped ringing after that. I mean, it was like the flood gates were open…all of a sudden I was swamped,” said Stanford.

From then on, the man’s legend grew to epic proportions. Numerous designs, whether commissioned or personal, came pouring out of Stanford’s mind onto the canvas. He’s still working to this day, and now that he’s joined Facebook, you can expect to find a lot more of his magnificent works ready for the public eye.