News Release
(North Platte, Nebraska | June 15th, 2020) – The Platte River Cruise Night crew is excited to partner with North Platte Native, Mat Fhuere, to welcome one of the original California Customizers and the King of Kustoms, Mr Gene Winfield to North Platte, Nebraska to attend the 2-day Platte River Cruise Night Car Show on July 11th, 2020.
Gene built his first roadster while in high school during World War II and hasn’t stopped since. After Gene’s return from the service in 1951, he opened Winfield’s custom shop in California. Over the years he has also contributed to articles in many rodding publications and an article for Car Kulture Deluxe. By 1960, Gene’s work was getting national recognition, most notably for his custom paint jobs. His eye for shades and hues led to the development of the first fully blended paint job. His canvas was the radically customized 57 Mercury dubbed the Jade Idol. It was quickly followed by another custom Mercury called the Solar Scene, a 1950 with electrically operated seats that swiveled out to greet the occupants. A couple of other famous Winfield cars are the Strip Star and the Reactor, both of these cars are animated with remote control devices and gadgets. These cars have won many prestigious awards at national car shows, including the “America’s most beautiful roadster” award in 1955, 63, and again in 64.
Later, Gene was asked to run AMT’s (a model car company) speed and custom division. AMT built specialty vehicles for TV shows, feature films and movies. One such creation was a plastic bodied car called the Piranha. Some of Gene’s creations were the Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Get Smart gadget cars, the Galileo shuttlecraft from the original Star Trek series, a 31 Chevy that converted to the NEW 1967 Camaro in under a minute for the Dean Martin show, a new Impala split front to rear for a Chevrolet commercial and he has also frozen a car in a block of ice for an oil company. Some of the movies and TV shows that feature his work are Ironside,
Bewitched, Robocop, The Wraith, Magnum Force, Back to the Future II and the list goes on. Some of Gene’s larger projects include 6 cars for Woddie Allens Sleeper and a monumental 25 cars for Blade Runner featuring Harrison Ford. Some of those cars had to be specially equipped with hydraulics to retract the wheels for a flying mode.
Some of Genes more recent TV work includes 2 interviews on Hot Rod TV, an interview with Dennis Cage from My Classic Car, the Old School Chevy and Insane 54 for Monster Garage, painted a Cadillac for Billy Gibbons (ZZTop) on TLC’s show Rides, demonstrated fabrication and painting techniques on Travel Channel’s Riding with Rossi and History channels Boys Toys Custom Cars where he also chopped a top, and 3 full size wind up cars for a Mobil oil commercial. With all that Gene is also in negotiations for his own TV show. If that isn’t enough, Gene travels the world teaching workshops on metal fabrication to pass his experience of customizing on to future generations.
Gene will be bringing the project car from the final episode (86th episode) of Monster Garage, aired on the Discovery Channel and hosted by Jesse James. The Insane 54 is a 1954 Ranch Wagon that was chopped, channeled, pancaked, and pinked by Gene Winfield and Daryl Starbird. Gene will also be holding metal shaping demonstrations throughout the day, will have merchandise on sale, and be available for autographs. Gene and Mat will also be giving out a custom award for their choice or favorite car at the show.
Platte River Cruise Night car show and display will be held at the Platte River Mall West Parking lot on July 11th from 10 am to 3 pm.