Folks Of Interest Carl Casper - The "Other" Custom Builder

Everybody has heard of Barris, Roth, Winfield, etc...

But what about Carl Casper.

He is best known for his over the top show rods of the 60's and 70's but he also won the AMBR in 1965 with "Casper's Ghost"

Check out the dual blower setup.




Who could forget the "Paddy Wagon"




"Vanturian"



"Ultra Rod"




"Peanut Machine"




"Fantom"



"Futurian"



"Pinball Wizard"



I believe that Carl still owns every car that he ever built, and most are on display at the Kruse Museum in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

Casper is also known for building all of the Bat Mobile Movie cars (Barris did the TV show car), plus the A-Team vehicles, K.I.T.T. and the General Lee.

Carl still puts on a huge indoor car show in Louisville every year in February.

 

An extremely talented builder and a great person as well.I've been privileged to know him for quite a few years and a nicer person you would not meet.He also has a pretty amazing collection of horse drawn vehicles(stagecoaches,etc.)that he has restored.

 

I'd love to see some more pics of his streamlined FED.

 

Carl's "Undertaker Dragster" has always been one of my favorites.. He definitely has a recognizable style of his own.

-Dave

 

Thanks...

 

I built a model kit of the Paddy Wagon when I was about 12, very cool stuff from Casper, saw a lot of his stuff when my brother used to take me to the Speed Sport shows in Toronto.

 

i remember going to his car shows at the fairgrounds in louisville when i was a kid... and i aint been a kid for a long time.

 

That "ultra rod" is pretty awsome. I give it up to anyone with that much imagination.

 

Man! that guy was not afraid to use loud color! 60's for sure!

 

Great Pics !! Tom (Tired Old Man)

 

He used to have an indoor show in Dayton, Ohio every January in the 60's and 70's and it was the highlight of every winter.........

 

the peanut wagon and pinball wizard were my favorites when i was a youngster....

 

He used to have a warehouse full of customs around Flint , MI years ago. I believe it was somewhere along Dort Highway. I don't know if he still does or not. Any of you Flint guys know anything about this?

Frank

 

The Flint area cars are no longer around, from what I have heard the cars are located down around Auburn Indiana.. I remember as a kid driving by the building, and my father telling me of all the cool stuff that was inside.
Carl used to live right around the corner from my folks, before I was even around, and my dad still talks about going to check out his creations.

I have stated this in other threads, His first car, "the Exotic Empress", was named after a beauty salon. Carl's aunt Avis, and my grandmother were partners in the beauty salon called The Empress, located in downtown Flint, and they put up money for him to finish the car.

 

Different guy. The interior guy is in Wisconsin, and the "Casper" is kind of a play on his real last name which starts with a K and sounds a lot like Casper. I'm not real sure how to spell his last name correctly, so I'll leave that to someone else. Carl K has/had a very nice shop by his home in Waterford, Wisconsin. Maybe by now he is retired or a son is operating the business. Stu

 

check out kentuckymotorsportshalloffame.com or carlcasper.com for more pictures of carls cars. dave huber

 

The Turbo Shark which was also made into a MPC model kit...

 

I remember reading your earlier post but still a cool story. The "Exotic Empress" was the main reason our model car club wanted to attend a very small indoor car show at Art's Roller Rink in Harvey, Illinois back in the early '60s. We also saw "The Adonis" and the Bobby Darin Dream Car among others that day. I came to find out years later that Stu D Baker (see above post) was at that show, too!

 

I remember the shows he put on at the old I.M.A. building here in Flint. I was just a teenager back then. I had my first real date with a purty girl at one of his shows.

 

Anyone remember the "Shaker Trike" kit done by AMT??? I bought a kit a few years back. I think that was the last time it was released.. The box was marked as a 1/25 scale instead of 1/12 scale.

 

My dad was friends with him they went to school together I was at his shop a few times when I was a kid...a long time ago !

Pat

 

I'm sorry but I can't dig up any respect for some one that took Dave Phul's beautiful "ILLUSION" and turned it into this piece of crap.



At least he gave credit to Dave Puhl (RIP)

BB

 

The Shaker Trike...

 

The Cosmic Invader...

 

Wow!

That's quite a "transformation".....

 

The Illusion circa 1967 B.C. (Before Casper)

 

Sorry - other than the paint, I like Casper's version a lot better.

 

It does look like a Wal-Mart version of the Manta Ray now but I'm not sure it was a real loss.

 

Carl Casper made some GROOOOVEY rides, and lets face it, it was the 70s and drugs were way heavily used in the art of kustomizing. Very talented man and a real builder qjust the same.