Featured Folks Of Interest Gene Winfield

Gene was the only man who could make Dick Clark look old.

 

Gene had boundless energy and massive talent that he was glad to share with others. A true great.

 

Met him a couple of times, he was a consummate teacher.

I always liked this one...




RIP

 

I only met him a couple times at car shows, but he always had time to talk with anyone.

I appreciate his willingness to share his knowledge with younger generations. I never took a class of his, but in my opinion, that might be his lasting legacy much more than any of his creations.

 

I was honored to have met him and talk with him. He is a true legend...


Rest in peace.

 

Rik Hoving's collection of his cars
https://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_car_photos/beautiful_custom_cars/gene_winfield/

I never met the man, but he was a big part of customs and creations for longer than I've been alive.
The hand built stuff would be enough to cement his fame. His fadeaway paint jobs would be enough to be legendary alone. The customs would too. Then his legacy of holding clinics all over teaching metal work and chopping would be yet another aspect that would by itself be enough to gain a place in history.
He did all that and was from accounts a kind and generous human.

What an example of a life fully lived and talents learned and shared.

 

Perhaps an odd choice for pic of favourite car as it’s not even a whole car. But for me it’s Gene’s paint that always stands out.

 

Heard the name over the years. Never really knew nothing of his accomplishments, but that red car is something else. Having an interest in metal shaping, I’ll have to dig a little more into his accomplishments. Seems he spent his life living his passion which is more than vast majority of us can say.

 

Dang, that's hard, there's so many!

LeRoy Goulart's 1951 Ford

Richard Zocchi's 1962 Pontiac

 

The Strip Star is asymmetry at its best.
Never found any of his work that missed the bullseye
Thanks for that one Ryan

 

Our hot rod history makers are almost gone.........

 

Good that we can honor the man.

I may have read a little something about the strip star once years and years ago. Sure didn't know it has a 427 and a 4spd. That poor little Ford rear end. LOL

He built so many awesome cars. But I can't help it, I like this.
Seeing him young. In the early days.

 

Jade Idol for me. Snowman ⛄️

 

Since @Rolleiflex beat me to the punch on Zocchi's Pontiac, I'll throw in Lanny Ericson's '56 Chevy. The car isn't perfect, but it's bitchin' and it was among the cars that linked the early customs he did with the later more radical stuff. What a life he had.

 

I know it's a relatively recent build, and that Gene was only a part of it (for the paint job). It's not even a super high quality build, really. But this car probably did more to bring guys my age and younger into the custom car hobby than any other. Gene toured around the country giving classes to ordinary people that were pretty well sold-out for decades and I'd bet that for a lot of those students, this car was their first taste of custom car building.

 

When you look at Mr. Winfields body of work it’s astounding. Here was a man who did it his way, never complaining, compromising or cutting corners ( no shortcuts that is). He was a teacher, a mentor and a friend to many. The number of people he has inspired, worked with and talked to is immeasurable . How do you follow that? Especially when you’re following a legend?I’d like to think that he’d tell you to do it for yourself and do it your way. If anyone wants me I’ll be in the corner reflecting on the life of a man who inspired so many.

 

I feel what made him stand taller amung the greats was that he was so accessible.

 

Zocchi's Pontiac gets my vote, too....tough to find a good pic that isn't the "recreation" built later on.

 

I think there is a lot of truth there.

Picking a favorite out of that body of work is nearly impossible but I’m going to say the Jade Idol (I know the photo is of 2) I think to me it’s my favorite of Genes builds because there is absolutely no doubt who did that, and it works. There’s no “ oh is that maybe early Barris or maybe a Jefferies” about this one.

but as far as a “vibe” you Just can’t beat those early hot rods/hot rod photos.

 

To many to pick a favorite. Here's any early one.

 

That's a really astute observation. I always talk about entry points when discussing how to get more people involved in building custom cars. For that time, Jesse James and his popularity was a point of entry into custom cars, and Jesse was a strong enough ambassador to utilize his medium to introduce the greats to a new generation. I don't think his contribution to this hobby gets enough credit.

 

I love customs but there’s something about the pure rawness of an old sketchy, dangerous hot rod


The creation the boss posted is probably my favorite overall but this looks like a lot more fun

 

Jesse was a great ambassador for hard work and determination along with showing how it's done and some of the Who's Who of the past.
He also had more than his fair share of self-confidence, expected the expansion to never stop, and made some rather poor life choices with the spotlight and tabloids on him. Nothing to demonize him, but he had some flaws, as we all do.
I haven't followed his life in a long time. I wish him well and hope he's happy and sane, but can't idolize him.

 

A photo I took back in the sixties. This was the first year I became fully aware of his custom work and painting. Years later, I knew I would be seeing him, so I brought him this photo and when we were talking, he told me it was actually a different shade that year.(63). I don’t know, but this photo matches my memory.
He was the undisputed master of fades. The orchid early T he painted was at this show, shortly after it won AMBR.

 

It's funny, show paint went through some really wild changes over the decades. The current cars are for the most part a single shade. I can think of a few famous fades, but it's like he did it and after that, nobody even tried to compete let alone top it. He had done it so well that it became his signature alone.

 

Gene was always at Paso, and had a swap meet space selling various parts from cars of interest. I bought this Dodge instrument pod from him at Paso one year, always intending to use it. I upgraded it with new gauges and almost put it in my cabriolet years ago, but after all the work on the dash panel, I only used the panel to practice wood graining. I think of Gene when I see this laying around my shop.