Heads ups, Kustoms guys.... For those of you who aren't aware of this pretty cool info, Gene Winfield is chopping a car at the Chicago World of Wheels which is this weekend, March 1-3, 2013. Joining him tonight was Voodoo Larry, and I think some of his crew were there as well. He's also chopping a car next weekend at the Detroit Autorama. I never thought I'd have the opportunity to meet Gene. Fortunately, I did have an opportunity to meet Mr. Winfield at the Chicago World of Wheels and he was a really great guy. I bought a picture of the exterior of his shop from 1957, and he autographed it. Then, he said "let's get a picture in front of the shop sign", where they had recreated a backdrop to look like his old shop. I'm hoping that somehow a little bit of that top chopping skill was passed along when I shook his hand. As an additional heads up, I talked to guy at Gene's display who's writing a book about Gene Winfield. He's got a lot of pages written and a lot of photographs together already. He said look for the book at the end of the year.
I thought the whole show was good... It's nice to see a bunch of cars of all types in the middle of winter. The area around the Winfield display is what I liked the most. That's where most of the hamb friendly cars were.
When I was there today Voodoo Larry was doing the the welding n Gene was eating a burger n taking pictures with pretty girls.As soon as he was done he jumped back in to help.
They started cutting on Friday at 3pm. Not may people there. Another friend was there today to take pictures and he could not even get close. I have not got any more picks since yesterday. I am going tomorrow.
It doesn't take long being around Gene to figure out that he stops what ever he is doing when the pretty gals show up. It's fun to watch even though you were the one he was talking to at the time.
Those pictures only show the area for Winfield's display. I don't think they are letting anybody just walk up to them working on it. They are keeping people back, probably for safety's sake. Plenty of people were watching while I was there. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
It's nice to know that if you really want to, you can still be cutting and welding some of the coolest stuff at age...I'm gonna conservatively guess 70 or 75 maybe? Makes me feel good knowing I can do this a while yet since I'm only 28 and I'm off to a good start already.
A couple years back I met Gene at the WOW in Winnipeg when I had my 52 Poncho entered. I asked him if he thought I should chop it, and his response was "of course"...got a pic of him "chopping" her with a hacksaw...only thing that I could scrounge up at the time...Pretty cool I thought. One hell of an awesome guy.
Got to watch the master in action as well. What a treat!! I would've spent the 16 bucks just to go that "back room" just to look at those cars and watch him all day! But with the wife in tow, and my parents (and mom) in town made that a bit tough...
anyone know who the guy on the left is... i met him at rumblefest last year and cant remember his name. [/QUOTE]
I looked at the show information for Boston on march 22-24, it says Gene's chop shop will be on display but its not clear if he will be there or not. Can't find any schedule by google search of Gene either? Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Mr. Winfield was there (Detroit)and indeed was chopping a '39 Chevie coupe. I was there on Friday and they removed the top and started fitting the gap pieces. He had plenty of help but was very actively involved. Also signed many autographs between cut off wheels. Also had a '37 ford PU that he did in the '50s on display. Good show all around but the "basement" was best.
Nice to think I might have 26 more years in me. I'm sure that when he got done at the end of day he wanted to go dancing. Gene told me his theory was don't worry about everything just do what you can. Still acting like a kid at 86.
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