Did ya know about this ... Its about time the truth was posted check out what Dave said about the lil coffin & Starbird.. http://davestuckeyslilcoffin.com/
Great story,Ive always known who had built the car.To be honest I never knew Starbird had claimed he had built the car. I meet Larry Farber when he showed the car in Tulsa around 60 or 61 I think. Man ,That was along time ago of course I was just a kid.. I loved the car and got to talk to him for quit a while,if I remember correctly he told me he was a wheat farmer in Kansas.I've included a pic I shot of the car when it was shown in Tulsa the day I talked to Farber.
I met Dave at Leadsled spectaculor in Salina.We were in Mc Donalds and he had his grandkids with him.We talked about all kinds of stuff.I was honored when he complemented my car. Super guy, great personality.I always knew who really built it and I think most custom guys did also. Yes Dave deserves credit where credit is due. Awesome car Dave !
I have to admit, I always thought it was Starbird. Looks like I owe Dave a lot of thanks for hundreds of great hours playing with my old hotwheels when I was a kid. Glad to know the truth.
I lived in Kansas City then and I was at all of the shows during the period when the Coffin was finished and being shown. Daryl never took credit for that car. It was always billed as being built by Dave Stuckey. After he sold it to Larry, it was "owned by Larry Farber, Built by Dave Stuckey". Daryl, acquired it 8-10 years later and ruined it by turning into a new creation he called "the Monkey Ward Delivery". At some point, it was burned badly in a fire and Daryl recently decided to restore it back to the original "Lil Coffin". I don't think he got the proportions or stance quite right, the tires and wheels are wrong and Meatball, you are right...the original color was more of a cherry red candy, not as orange as it appears in these photos.
dave stared the coffin at his shop down the street from starbirds, and when dave went to work for him brought it with and from what my dad and scully, the finleys (jake and Donnie) as well as puhl have said is thats when starbird gets his name on them, the finish'em in his shop working for him,(just like dave's "the truck" or as starbird named it the ultra truck.
Somewhere in the archives I think I have a photo of that car that I took at the street rod nationals in Tulsa in 1973.
I have always dug the earlier versions of the car. Never heard Starbird take credit for it, always was said that Dave Stuckey built it.
It's amazing how much talent came out of Daryl's shop: Dave Stuckey, Jerry and Eldon Titus, and, I think also, Bill Cushenberry. Dave Puhl had already established his name in Chicago before he came to Wichita to work for Starbird.
That's it, but I think there was an earlier version with the roof, which was a two-level affair like those GM Vista Cruiser wagons. This thing looks just like a dune buggy.
That's the version I first saw when I was 12 years old; the "Fabulous Phaeton." It came after the regrettable Monkey Ward Delivery. The Phaeton is the version that caught fire. The earlier pic in this thread from 1993 is the revision from the Phaeton. I've never seen anywhere, including the R&C Article, where Darryl took credit for building the Coffin. Even in the sign at Wichita this weekend, it credits Stuckey as the designer. Some of Stuckey's commentary makes no sense. For instance, Starbird had the relationship with Monogram Models, and the long term contract. Does it make sense that they would individually buy the Coffin, or that Starbird pointed them toward it? Also, the part about AMC - Starbird's version is that he was approached by AMC to consult and steered them toward Stuckey. Stuckey's version is that AMC people saw the Coffin and contacted Stuckey directly. Given the timelines involved - that 1964/5 would have been at the tail end of the Coffin's first career and that Starbird was turning out customizations of new cars on a very regular basis during this time - it seems more logical that Darryl recommended Stuckey to them. Seems to me that some are obsessed with making the "bad guy" out of Starbird. Why, I have no idea. Few have cut as big a path in this hobby/sport/business as him. There really aren't many discrepancies between his version and Stuckey's, and those discrepancies can probably be put down to memory. Whoever built the car, Starbird has been the custodian of it for more than 40 years, and without his efforts in caring for it and showing it, it's likely that the car would be much less famous.
That's the 1st ugly version. Besides the raised rear roof section, I beleive it had the rear windows blocked out and was a pale yellow color. After all the modifications thru the years, and the fire, I doubt there's not really much left of the original Coffin.
I hope Dave sees all of this for what it is....a validation that the majority of rodding enthusiasts rightly believe that Dave was indeed the man behind the conception and execution of the Lil Coffin. I can't presume to know what he was thinking on his website, but perhaps he was goaded into "setting the record straight" by friends who may wrongly think that Daryl took advantage of, or credit for, Dave's accomplishments. Just speculating. Dave should know that his reputation for building a hot rod icon is intact. In fact, the first channelled and sectioned version of the Coffin was groundbreaking itself, as anyone can attest to who saw it's debut at Daryl's first Kansas City show, in the fall of '59. Below is the car I see as Dave Stuckey's masterpiece, Pat Mulligan's chopped and sectioned '58 Impala from Topeka, KS, finished in '62. I consider this to be just about the best full custom of all time....stylish and radical.
I really love the first version of the l'il coffin. I like the model version, but the first version is one of the nicest looking deuce tudors ever.
I just had a long talk with Dave on the phone. I know nothing about custom cars and only found out about this site when I was talking to him and did a little web-surfing at the same time. Dave does not have a computer and had not seen all of your messages. I read them to him. Thanks for all of the good things you said about him. He is a great guy and I'm glad to call him my friend.
Anyone have any original shots of the Coffin ? Mostly the back of it... I don't remember the rear window being quite so large or flush mounted, and many of the lines just don't seem as they were. Anything that got that cut up that many times probably is not exactly the way it was, but how close is it? I also thought the original Rod and Custom article gave someone (Stucky?) credit for it earlier versions but listed it as a Starbird custom after the major changes...
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