Happy Birthday Gene Winfield

Gene’s birthday is June 16th and the iconic car customizer turns a very young 84 years old. His whole life story has been told in parts many times elsewhere, so instead I just wanted to mark this special occasion by tipping the hat to my top 5 favorite Windfield creations of all time:

5. Gene’s 1950 Mercury- It started as a mild custom started by fellow Century Topper Pete Hischer, but Gene wanted to have a rolling billboard for the fantastic bodywork he could do. It was subsequently chopped with slanted b pillars, got 51 Merc rear quarters and 54 Mercury taillights, along with a host of other tasteful updates. The car was sprayed in a two tone lime and dark green and shown at the 1956 National Roadster Show in Oakland. I think it’s right up there with any milestone Barris Merc of the same era.

4. Lanny Ericson’s 1956 Chevrolet- A chopped ’56 Chevy 2 door post with a ’57 Chevy front bumper, 55 Lincoln tail lights,  wild side trim and painted in “Violet Fantasy�? blue and purple blend. In my opinion, the majority of heavily customized Tri-Five’s aren’t executed very well. This car on the other hand looks killer. Enough said.

3. LeRoy Goulart’s 1951 Shoebox business coupe- A fairly mild custom that looks just perfect slammed and shaved, but not chopped. I dig the molded in Olds rocket taillights, the louvers, and the “hooded” headlamps. Sprayed in Pagan Gold/Green with an all-white tuck and roll interior. It later was redone with quad headlamps and deep fender coves, but I like this original version.

2. Alvin Serpa’s 1946 Ford- This is one of the earliest Winfield full custom jobs, first customized around 1948. Nosed, decked, 46 Olds grille, Appleton spots, and the perfect chop capped with a Hall top. This car has such a tasteful early post war custom look that was first seen at Oakland in 1949. It also went on to win it’s class at Oakland and make the cover of Rod and Custom in 1953. I personally like the ’46 before it was painted white and headlights were frenched in, but there is no bad version of this great little car.

1. Leroy Kemmerer’s 1956 Mercury “Jade Idol”- I’ve got vivid memories of this car when I saw it at a Starbird car show in Wichita, Kansas as a young boy (most likely after Rod Powell restored it) . Maybe it was the quad stacked Lucas headlights with the pie pan trim, the tube grille with rolled pan, or the crazy Dodge tailfins. What I remember most was that wild green and black fogged paint- It was over the top and radical and yet it had to be Winfield to pull off such a weird car so perfectly well.