That thing with the open front wheels and fins is amazing!

Gene is a true master and is absolutely deserving of this award.

Unfortunately, Gene's getting to be an old man. I hope he lives to be 200, but I get the feeling he won't, and when he dies, you can rest assured that anything he had a hand in building is going to become very valueable (not that it isn't already)

Wow. Nice work. Dunno how this guy stayed under my radar for so long, but I'm really impressed. It's nice to see that not all of the top Kustom guys are shameless self-promoters. Winfield's work seems to be every bit a good as Barris or Roth's.

BTW what is that car in 13 & 14? The roofline and tailfins suggest 58-ish Chrysler product, and I'm sure the headlights are from a 73 or so Oldsmobile.

Here's a site that show's soem of his other early cars and his TV and movie work - like the shuttle Galileo from the original Star Trek, and the Police Spinners from "Blade Runner".

[www.c-we.com]

Awesome, and well-deserved.

Tell me he didn't build the spinners. No, wait, dont.

@Vintage Racer: Thanks for the link. Very informative, but I still wonder how I've never heard of him before.

Here's another of my old man memories; my apologies in advance. When I first heard of Gene Winfield, he was based in Modesto, CA.
My older sister and her husband and kids lived in Modesto in the 60's and 70's. The summer of 1964(OMG 44 years ago) I went to Modesto to spend a few weeks with my sister. Her hubby was going to college and he was a car guy, too, and knew where Gene Winfield's shop was. One day he took me for a ride and we stopped there and in the front window was a cool '49 or '50 Mercury Coupe that had been featured in Hot Rod Magazine(or Rod and Custom) magazine in the recent past. My brother in law asked if Gene was in, but sadly, he was not then so I never got to meet him. The shop was small as I recall and there wasn't much going on other than the Mercury in the window. Here's a link to what I think is the car I talked about: [public.fotki.com]

I have seen the one with the open front wheels on a fair in Sweden just a couple of years ago....howabout that? The old man was there himself!

I remember that Yellow Caddy! It has a Northstar V8, last I saw it, Gene couldn't keep it running because it needed to be "enabled" or something like that.

Anyway, this is what I remember about him:
- Worked crazy long hours (musta been in his 50s or 60s)
- Known for his fade paint jobs (according to him) and was proud that he did them without any special paint booth. His idea of a paint booth was hosing down the shop floor to keep the dust in check (FYI: that Caddy was painted like that)
- He had this cool GMC car hauler with the M flipped up to read GWC(Gene Winfield Customs)

His shop used to be in the Valley (on Canoga somewhere) but that was 12 years ago. I think he's moved since then. He gave me a tour of it and asked if I wanted to help out, alas, I lived too far and my parents weren't willing to drive me back and forth (I was in junior high).

@Mike the Dog: The yellow car is called "Golden Sunrise" and is either a '57 or '58 Chrysler.

I saw an episode of "My Classic Car" with Dennis Gage last year and he visited Gene at his shop in Mojave, CA. Gene said he liked the weather there, I think. He showed Dennis all of these cars and then they went to drive one called the Strip Star, they got about half mile down the road and it quit running. They both had a good laugh while waiting for a tow truck

[public.fotki.com]

This auto show makes my dragon hot.

The car with the pointy nose, open front wheels, horizontal taillights, and big fins is called the Reactor, and it was built in the mid-60s. You can see it in the original Star Trek episode about an updated Roman empire (don't remember the name) - it was seen in a magazine ad as the Jupiter 8 and was also briefly shown in a TV broadcast.

Genuine dream machines--just the right, perfect surreal touches.

mmmm. those scallops look tasty

Gene was also featured in my all time favorite Monster Garage episode,when Jesse had all those legendary rodders build an old school lead sled.

on the car i mean, i dont have any actual scallops,
Unless youll give me some!, that would be great.
just mail um to me and ill' be ready!

I Met Gene at the SEMA Show. Believe me, he has plenty of years left. Mentally and physically he's still at the top of his game. Great guy.

Gene is truly a living legend in the automotive world. It's great to see this pioneer honored for his achievements.

That '62 Caddy just rocks. Skeg fins...please don't ever let these disappear. I bet that thing looks positively huge in person. Shaved door handles? Check. Deep, deep paint? Check. Two sets of tail fins? Damned straight!

I like the '73 Olds Delta 88 headlamp doors on the '58 Mopar (I think it's a Chrysler 300, but it's tough to tell without photos covering more angles)...not. That's the nice thing about customization...while I may not like it, I respect the man's abilities and creativity.

Gene is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet anywhere---and he's still as sharp as he was years ago.

Last year, on set-up day at the Sacramento Autorama, i was looking for cars to photograph for my soon-to-be-ex-rag, and Gene recognized me, came over, said hello...and for the next hour or so we wandered around, not only looking at the stuff that he did that was in the show, but other cars & trucks that he thought were kewl (some of which wound up winning more than a few of the big awards at that historic show!)

What in the world is this?