Latest news with #GeneWinfield
New York Times
16-03-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
Gene Winfield, Whose Cars Starred in Film and on TV, Dies at 97
Gene Winfield, a hot rodder and prominent car customizer who built fanciful vehicles for 'Star Trek,' 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' and other television series and for films like 'Blade Runner' and 'Sleeper,' died on March 4 in Atascadero, Calif. He was 97. His son, Steve, said he died in an assisted living facility from metastatic melanoma. He had also been diagnosed with kidney failure. Mr. Winfield began to attract national attention in the late 1950s with a two-door 1956 Mercury hard top called the Jade Idol. According to the custom car website Kustorama, he transformed the Mercury for a customer by adding features like handmade fenders rolled in aluminum in the front end; headlight rings made from 1959 Chrysler Imperial Crown hubcaps; a television set integrated into a new dashboard; and a steering column taken from an Edsel. Automobile magazine described the Jade Idol as having 'a sharklike presence that represented a new direction in customs.' The car got its name from Mr. Winfield's inventive paint scheme: multiple shades of green and pearl white, with one color artfully blending into the other, using a technique that he developed. It became known as the Winfield Fade. In a 2014 interview with the racing news website On All Cylinders, Mr. Winfield said that he began his paint experiments with motorcycles, followed by a white Chevy, 'I put purple around the chrome strips,' he said. 'When I got done, it was a little bit gaudy to me; it was different, though, and everybody loved it. So as I started to do the next one or two, I made it softer and started blending.' Another famous custom job was a roadster, the King T, which he built in the early 1960s with Don Tognotti. They painted a Model T Ford lavender and added modifications like a Chevrolet V-8 engine paired with a four-speed automatic transmission; four-wheel disc brakes; and 15-inch chrome wheels with wood inlays. It won an award for 'most beautiful roadster' at the 1964 Oakland Roadster Show in California. Mr. Winfield chopped off the tops of many cars that he customized — including hundred of Mercurys — and put them back a few inches lower to give the cars sleeker looks. 'He would go to a World of Wheels show and, with his crew, cut off the top of a vehicle with a blowtorch and put it back four inches lower; it was quite a spectacle,' said John Buck, producer of the Grand National Roadster Show and the Sacramento Autorama, to which Mr. Winfield brought his cars, charming the crowds. Mr. Winfield's custom cars, if not his name, became widely known in the 1960s when they were seen on television and in the movies. He towed the Reactor — a futuristic, low-slung, aluminum two-seater with a gold and green color scheme, front-wheel drive and a hinged roof panel — on a trailer to the 20th Century Fox studio in Hollywood in 1966, hoping to get it a screen role. 'I went up to the gate and conned them into letting me in to show my car to their transportation department,' he told Motorious, a website for car collectors and restorers, in 2017. 'From there, the transportation coordinator gave me the names and addresses of all these other studios, and for two days I took the car around and handed out my business card. Two weeks later, 'Bewitched' called me and said that they wanted the Reactor on their set.' It was the centerpiece of an episode called 'Super Car.' The Reactor was then used on three more series: 'Star Trek,' 'Mission: Impossible" and 'Batman,' on which Catwoman (Eartha Kitt) used it as the Catmobile. He did some of his TV work as a division manager for the model-car company AMT, for which he built the Galileo Shuttle for 'Star Trek.' Based on a design by Thomas Kellogg, it appeared in a few episodes. He constructed it in two units. 'One would be a complete exterior, full size,' he told the official Star Trek website in 2011. 'Then we built the complete interior. This interior had what we called 'wild' walls. What you do is you make the walls in four-foot sections on wheels, so you can put up one wall and they could film the actors sitting on the seats and whatnot.' Robert Eugene Winfield was born on June 16, 1927, in Springfield, Mo., and grew up with five brothers and sisters, mainly in Modesto, Calif. His father, Frank, was a butcher who ran a wagon from which he and his mother, Virginia (Akins) Winfield, sold hamburgers and hot dogs for a nickel. After his parents divorced, his mother opened her own hamburger restaurant, where Gene started working at 10. He was 14 when he opened his first shop, to which he brought his first car, a 1929 Ford Model A coupe. To it, he added oxtails, two antennas and a blue paint job. But his hope of hot-rodding it in the streets was soon dashed when it was wrecked in a crash with a taxicab. He quickly bought two more roadsters. He served stints in the Navy, from 1944 to 1945, and in the Army, from 1949 to 1951. While stationed in Japan, he learned welding skills from an expert Japanese welder. Back home, his custom work got better, and he began to attract customers. He also began racing in the streets and on dry lakes in the late 1940s; in 1951 he took his custom-built Ford Model T coupe — which he called the Thing — and drove it 135 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. But what established his reputation were the cars that he customized — like the Maybellene, a modified 1961 Cadillac named for the Chuck Berry hit song and painted in cream and butterscotch tones — and the ones that he made for Hollywood. For 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,' the cheeky spy series starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, Mr. Winfield built a gull-wing car, with mock flame throwers in the front end and a Corvair engine. For 'Get Smart,' the spy-spoof sitcom starring Don Adams as an inept secret agent, he designed a sports car with gadgets like a retractable cannon. For 'Sleeper,' Woody Allen's 1973 science fiction comedy, he created a car with a bubble top over a Volkswagen chassis. He also built 25 vehicles for the dystopian science-fiction film 'Blade Runner' (1982), based on designs by Syd Mead, a few of which were called Spinners. One of them was flown by the police officer played by Edward James Olmos. One of the cars he built for 'Blade Runner turned up in 'Back to the Future Part II' Mr. Winfield's son said that he preferred customizing cars to creating them for television and films. 'The movie cars were dictated to him, but his custom car customer would say, 'Gene, here's my car, do whatever your inspiration says,'' he said. 'That's how he turned out the Jade Idol.' In addition to his son, from his marriage to Dolores Johnston, which ended in divorce, Mr. Winfield is survived by a daughter, Jana Troutt, from the same marriage; a daughter, Nancy Winfield, from another marriage, to Kathy Horrigan, which also ended in divorce; a son, Jerry Carrico, from another relationship; five grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. Mr. Winfield said that he met with Ridley Scott, the director of 'Blade Runner,' every two or three weeks as he and his crew built the cars for the film. 'The only thing that I was unhappy about in the end results was that Ridley Scott had us do a lot of things that had to be absolutely near perfect as far as surface and shapes and colors,' he said in an interview with Blade Zone, a fan website. 'We went through hours, and hours, and hours of colors and all of this sort of thing, and then it was all filmed at night in the rain.' With a laugh, he added, 'You don't see even half of what we did.'
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Gene Winfield, Hotrod Pioneer, Designer Of Movie And TV Cars, Dies At 97
Read the full story on Backfire News Gene Winfield, a movie and TV car designer many revere for pioneering hotrod and lowrider methods used by many builders today, died recently at the age of 97. Among the productions Winfield worked on are notable entries like Blade Runner, RoboCop, and even the original Star Trek television was also a celebrated hotrod builder, something which is common among the old school movie/TV car builder crowd. In fact, he's recognized as one of the pioneers of hotrod and lowrider culture. That's why some have referred to him as 'the King of Customs.' At least until right before the very end, Winfield was still building cars and going to events, socializing with other gearheads. The man loved speed and performance, he himself barely slowly down even in his elderly years. Born in Springfield, Missouri, Winfield grew up during the Great Depression as the youngest of six children. Seeking greater economic prosperity, his family moved to Modesto, California An enterprising youth, he opened his first automotive shop at the ripe age of 15. Shortly after, he bought a 1928 Ford Model A coupe. After joining the Navy at the end of World War II, Gene returned home and got into the hotrod scene, chopping his brother's '41 Plymouth convertible. It didn't take the man long to build a huge reputation. With that came Hollywood studios wanting him to use his creativity and fabrication skills to build custom vehicles for television shows and movies. That was how his work reached a more mainstream audience and will continue living on in those beloved productions. Back on February 27, Winfield's Custom Shop posted on Instagram about his declining health, revealing his wishes that his museum remain intact instead of the different cars being sold off for big money. He passed away on March 4. Image via winfieldscustomshop/Instagram,IMDB
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Gene Winfield, ‘Blade Runner' Custom Car Designer, Dies at 97
Gene Winfield, a custom car designer for films such as 'Blade Runner' and 'Robocop,' died on March 4. He was 97. The news was confirmed via his obituary on Winfield became known as the 'King of Kustoms' after working on some of Hollywood's most iconic cars. He opened his first custom shop in the 1940s and his career spanned over eight decades. Over the years, he became the go-to man when Hollywood needed cars, especially futuristic ones. He worked on the 'Super Car' in a 1967 episode of 'Bewitched.' The car became known as the Retractor and appeared in an episode of 'Star Trek: The Original Series' as Jupiter 8 and an episode of 'Mission: Impossible.' It also became Catwoman's Catmobile in 'Batman.' Winfield also designed the vehicle used in 'Get Smart' and customized a Piranha for 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' His custom vehicles were featured in 'The Last Starfighter' and 'Robocop.' Perhaps his most recognizable cars were seen in 'Blade Runner' for which he created the flying cop cars known as 'spinners.' According to HotRod magazine, he was born in Springfield, Mo., and was the youngest of six children born to Frank and Virginia 'Ginny' Winfield. The obit says he bought his first car at age 15, a $75 1928 Model A coupe that he painted dark blue. He customized that and installed dual antennas and foxtails, even though the car had no radio. The hot-rod community bestowed accolades on him including the National Hot Rod Association's Lifetime Achievement Award. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Oscars 2026: First Blind Predictions Including Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, 'Wicked: For Good' and More What's Coming to Disney+ in March 2025
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Gene Winfield Dies: Custom Car Designer For ‘Blade Runner', ‘Star Trek' & More Was 97
Gene Winfield, a pioneering legend in the hot-rod world who created custom cars for numerous films and TV shows including Blade Runner, the original Star Trek series, RoboCop, Get Smart! and many others, has died. He was 97. He died March 4, according to his obit on His Winfield Custom Shop had posted on Instagram late last month that he had cancer. More from Deadline 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries George Barris Dies: Custom Car Creator Behind 1960s Batmobile Was 89 Roberto Orci Dies: 'Star Trek', 'Transformers' & 'Hawaii Five-0' Writer-Producer Was 51 Winfield was known as 'The King of Kustoms,' and his most famous creations include the iconic Galileo shuttlecraft and the Jupiter 8 for Star Trek — the latter seen in the episode 'Bread and Circuses' — and the 'spinners' for Blade Runner, which was nominated for the Special Effects Oscar. He also built the Catmobile for TV's Batman and gadget cars for Get Smart! and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. during the Bond-fueled spy craze of the 1960s. His futuristic vehicles are seen in Back to the Future II, the original RoboCop, The Last Starfighter, Woody Allen's Sleeper and others. Winfield's cars also are seen in the Dirty Harry sequel Magnum Force, Bewitched, Ironside, TV's Mission: Impossible and more. Winfield's work was featured in a mid-2010s DVD series called The King of Kustoms, and he is the subject of David Grant's 2008 book The Legendary Custom Cars and Hot Rods of Gene Winfield. Born on June 16, 1927, in Springfield, MO, Winfield moved with his family as a toddler to the Central California town of Modesto, where he grew up. By age 10, he was working on cars, beginning a lifelong gearhead obsession that led to auto racing and building by the early '50s, after a stint in the Army. Often specializing in custom paint, he won accolades and many awards in the hot-rod community throughout his life and is a member of several halls of fame. He received the National Hot Rod Association's Lifetime Achievement Award and also worked with Detroit automakers. DEADLINE RELATED VIDEO: Best of Deadline 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery The 25 Highest-Grossing Animated Films Of All Time At The Box Office
