King of the road

Gene Winfield sits behind the wheel of the Bonneville Salt Flats racer while in the process of building the vehicle. Winfield was building the car in an attempt to break some land-speed records. He will be appearing at A&W on Lodi Avenue today from about 6 to 8 p.m. (Photograph courtesy of Nick Whitlow)

King of the road

Custom car legend Gene Winfield visiting Lodi's A&W and hot rod show

Friday, June 27, 2008 6:11 AM PDT

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At 81 years of age, the legendary "godfather" of customized street rods, Gene Winfield, has no plans of putting on the brakes.

If you don't recognize the name, don't worry. You've probably seen his work in numerous films and on TV. Shows like "Mission Impossible," "Star Trek," "Bewitched" and "Batman" have all used his vehicles. If you've watched "Back to the Future II" or "Blade Runner," you've seen his creations in motion.

Winfield, who grew up in Modesto, used to drag race at Kingdon near Lodi. He has won several trophies, and he's listed in seven different halls of fame.

These days Winfield lives and works in Mojave, but he still travels quite a bit (not leaving much time for his hobby of waterskiing). He'll be in Lodi today at the A&W on Lodi Avenue to sign autographs and sell copies of his biography, "The Legendary Custom Cars and Hot Rods of Gene Winfield," from 6 to 8 p.m. He'll also attend the Lodi Street Rod Show this weekend at the Grape Festival Grounds.

Winfield took a few minutes out of his ever-busy life to chat with Business Editor Marc Lutz about custom cars and what makes Winfield's engine roar to life.

Q: When did you know you had an affinity for designing and building cars?

A: When I was in high school, instead of studying, I was drawing cars ... hot rods and stuff. Then I got out of high school. I was in the Navy for a short period of time. Then when I got out of the Navy I started building cars. Little by little I got into the custom-made.

Q: What's the best car ever made?

Gene Winfield built the "Reactor" to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Hartford, Conn. Autorama. The Chevrolet Corvair-powered car was featured in the TV shows "Bewitched" and "Star Trek." (Courtesy photo)

A: That's a hard question. Probably Ferrari.

Q: What's your connection to Lodi and A&W Root Beer?

A: Peter Knight (the owner of the Lodi A&W) and his son came to my workshop. I (hold workshops) twice a year here at my place. I'm building a little museum here at my home. He brought me an old car hop thing to use, so we sort of traded.

Q: What are some of the more notable cars you've created?

A: The custom car that I'm most famous for would be the Jade Idol. I built it for a customer in Castro Valley. It was built on a '56 Mercury two-door hard top. We toured it back East, and it won everything.

Then I built two cars. One was called the Reactor, it was on "Bewitched" and on "Star Trek," but you didn't see it that much.

I built all the cars for "Blade Runner," then I built a couple cars for "Back to the Future II."

Q: What's your creative process like? How do you start a project?

A: People will bring me a car or a picture of a car. I'll study it for awhile and figure out different ways to change it. Like three different ways to change the taillight. Then I'll settle it down to one way.

What we do is create an image. The customer wants something a little different from other cars.

Maybe I'll take my ideas to an artist, roughly sketched, because I'm not a very good artist. And then he'll put his ideas with mine. He'll come up with a sketch, and I'll say, "I like this, this and this, but not this." Then he'll take it and sketch a final draft in pencil.

Q: What's your favorite part of a project?

Gene Winfield's famous rides

Gene Winfield has had a long and illustrious career in custom cars construction. Here's a list of the movies and TV shows in which his vehicles have appeared.

Film
"Back to the Future II"
"Blade Runner"
"In God We Trust"
"The Hindenburg"
"The Last Starfighter"
"Magnum Force"
"The Mechanic"
"RoboCop" and "Robocop II"
"Sleeper"
"Solar Crisis"
"Tracers"
"Willie Dynamite"
"The Wraith"

TV
"Baretta"
"Batman"
"The Bearcats"
"Bewitched"
"The Bold Ones"
"The Dean Martin Show"
"Get Smart"
"The Hero"
"Ice Pirates"
"The Immortal"
"Ironside"
"Love American Style"
"Man From U.N.C.L.E."
"Mannix"
"Marcus Welby, M.D."
"Mission: Impossible"
"The Mod Squad"
"Name of the Game"
"Newhart"
"Riptide"
"Star Trek"
"Street Hawk"
"Woman From U.N.C.L.E."

Source: Gene Winfield

A: I like creating the grills and taillights and stuff, but I like painting. I created the blended paint process. They're flying me all over the world to paint cars. They've flown me to England, Canada, Seattle, Memphis and so on.

Q: What project are you most proud of?

A: As far as the aluminum car, the car called the "Reactor." The other is the "Strip Star." They were designed by me and partly by Ernie Graves. We called him "Big Ern."

Q: Is there one you wish you hadn't done?

A: One Chevrolet, one time. A guy insisted we use his ideas. It never did flow, and I never did like that car. That's the only one I can remember right off.

Q: After gasoline, what do you think cars will run on?

A: I think they're going to be some different fuels. Electric is OK, but the batteries are too heavy. They're going to come up with some alternative fuels.

Q: What do you think cars will look like in 20 years?

A: A friend of mine, Syd Mead, is the greatest futuristic car designer ever. He did some catalogues for U.S. Steele. He designed all the cars for "Blade Runner" and part of "Star Wars." The cars you're seeing today are designs he did 20 years ago. Every student looks at Syd Mead's stuff. They take his ideas and go one step further. They're going to continue to do the futuristic stuff.

The limit is the general public. They can't accept the way-out futuristic cars. They also want comfort, so they have to build these box cars. Little by little (designers) keep changing and getting into these modern and futuristic designs.

Q: What's a project you would like to do?

A: I'm going to build a '58 Pontiac. It's going to be pretty radical.

Q: There are vehicle purists who believe that only the original stock parts belong on a classic car, and then there are those who believe that it's ingenious to combine the best of today's technology with yesterday's classic designs. What's your opinion?

A: If you take the best parts and put them together, even if you leave the stock appearance on the outside, I like to take it one step past that and change the outside. I like to do a mild conversion. I like to create a car that would have been like the way a designer would have done it. So when the public sees it, they'd say, "Oh, look at that, it's a '58."

Q: Are there any other people in your line of work that you admire?

A: One of the early customizers I admired was Harry Westergard from Sacramento. He worked with Dick Bertoluccie.

Q: Is there any work that you've seen and thought, "Why didn't I think of that?"

A: Oh yes. There's some young people that are doing some nice stuff now. They're just coming out with some beautiful, beautiful stuff, no matter who creates it.

Q: When it comes to some of the cars you've built for movies and TV, did it ever upset you when one had to be blown up?

A: No, I think it's just a part of progress. And as long as they pay me, it's OK. They can blow it up. If it was unnecessary, it'd upset me.

Q: Do you have any plans to slow down, retire or pass your legacy on to another builder?

A: No. I'll retire when they put me in the ground. I work approximately 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

Contact Business Editor Marc Lutz at marcl@lodinews.com.

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