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If you're a "Rodder" or Custom Car Fan….. You know Dick Deans Cars !
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Much of the work Dick has done over his 40 odd years in the business has been
done in the shops of, or in collaboration with, other builders such as George
Barris, Dean Jefferies, and the like. Thus, Dicks nickname
"the ghost-builder". We are going to let you in on some of the projects
that you may not have associated with Dick, as well as giving you the
"low-down" (no pun intended) on his most recent projects !
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We were first introduced to the magic of Dick Dean Cars in 1990 when we fell in love with a beautiful flamed Merc owned by Noel Blanc. We saw it often at a "cruise-in" we went to on Saturday Nights in Studio City, California. As we learned more, we found that we knew many of Dicks cars… but that we didn't have his name connected with the works !
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Dick Deans road to fame began with a job at his fathers Nash dealership in Wyandotte, Michigan. They wanted him to work the parts counter but he gravitated to the body shop instead. Although he wasn't too thrilled with the idea of putting wrecked cars back together - he was fascinated with what he saw in the shop of Bill Hines… the fellow his dads shop hired to fix the bad wrecks. In Hines' shop he got a look at the art of customizing. Hines let him hang around the shop after school and it was here that he learned about leadwork and where he first learned the customizing tricks that would become his future. His first project was a'41 Hupmobile that he bought from a farmer for $25. He worked 2 years to turn it into a thing of beauty.
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After graduating from high school with an art and drafting major, he went on to the Ford Trade School hoping to become a model maker for Ford Motors. When Ford closed the apprentice program Dick was left with his dreams, a hack saw and a "HotRod" magazine as his guide. In the early '50's, after a stint in the Air Force, Dick opened his own customizing shop, "South End Kustom", where he managed to struggle along while refining his talents and skills. It was during this time in 1954 that he met and married his sweetheart Jeanne. Then, in 1959, in a stroke of luck, Dick met George Barris at the Detroit Autorama where he had entered a '48 Merc. Barris told him that if he ever came to LA, he had a job waiting…. within 3 months Dick and Jeanne were California - Bound !
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Dicks '53 Ford Pickup, his rolling billboard for South End Kustom.
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This was the beginning of Dicks "Ghost Building" era...
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many of the famous cars that came out of the Barris shop were built by Dick Dean. In all, Dick estimates that he built 40-50 cars during two stints at the Barris shop.
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"Dragula" was Grampa Munsters Car built at the Barris shop in the '60's. They made 4 of these cars along with the Munster Koach, the Bat-Mobile, and many more.
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When A Car Was Built at the Barris Shop for the Movies - There wasn't just one built !
The film companies needed extras for promotions, special appearances, or just in case something happened to the original, the show could keep rolling.
Dick built 4 of the Beverly Hill-Billies cars.
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Barris wasn't the only
builder that Dick collaborated with during the '60's. He worked for
2 years with another famous customizer Dean Jeffries. It was at Jeffries' shop that they did the "Manta Ray" and the "Black Beauty" used in the Green Hornet.
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The Flintstones Car, Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles and Jurrasic Park were some of the more recent projects for the movies. We have an inside look at some of those projects for you………...
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NINJA TURTLES
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Dick and his sons worked on many movie projects in their own shop "Imagineering"
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During his
years working on projects for the movies, Dick was also busy
working on many less well-known custom cars for individuals. He also found
time to build a few for himself...
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Believe it or not… this '52 Plymouth Wagon was not a Woodie when Dick started on it. He, of course, chopped it …. and then made all of the wood components to turn it into a "Woodie". This beauty also had a matching teardrop type trailer which Dick completely hand-crafted from scratch.
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This One -of- A- Kind Limo is a Merc that Dick stretched for Bill Papke and put on a Chevy Chassis. It's Called "Prom Night"
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Betcha Didn't Know that those big long Surf-Cads you see at all of the Hard Rock Café Clubs were built by Dick Dean.
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These are the cars that we love ! Dick estimates that he has chopped over 1000 tops in his career and that he has done 300 to 400 '49 - '51 Mercs and these days he spends most of his time working on one (or more) at his shop outside of Palm Springs, California. We'll take a look at his current projects shortly…...
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A story about Dick Dean
wouldn't be complete without mentioning the "Shalako". When customizing
took a nose dive in the late '60's, Dick had to devise a way to make his talents pay the
bills. He took advantage of the publics' love-affair with the Volkswagen,
and designed a "Kit" Car which would go onto a '66 VW Platform.
The Shalako and its successor the "Shala-vet" were a success, with about 1,000 being built.
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When it came out, people didn't believe that the Shalako could go Off-road too !
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That's Jeanne with the '70 Shala-vet. It could hold a VW, Pancake 6 Corvair, or Ford 4 Cylinder engine.
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In 1984 Dick was commissioned by Wolfgang Schuller, from Germany, to build the Worlds longest Limo. It was an amazing 60 ft long ! It was shipped to Germany to appear as an attraction along with other auto exhibits. Dick was amazed that the German people would pay 20 marks to see his car. A few years later, Wolfgang shipped the car back to the US and had Dick lengthen it to 100 feet. At this length it was actually two complete vehicles which were maneuvered separately, and then fastened together for display. This vehicle made the Guinness Book of World Records.
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You Probably Think That Dick is now kicking back somewhere…. Relaxing….. Enjoying retirement ….
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Dick and Jeanne do spend time together and Dick does tinker with his hobby, remote controlled airplanes and building special toys for the grandkids.
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BUT You Forgot --- He's a Car - Nut. He's got lead in his veins !
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It's The " Mer - Vettes "
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and You're getting the First Look !
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Take a close look at this '40 Merc
It's widened, chopped, made into a hardtop,
AND The '86 Corvette Chassis was Shortened to Fit.
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And… If this isn't enough - Dick is also working on a '51 Merc for Dr. Mike Norville.
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This wild custom is on a 1995 Corvette Chassis.
It's been widened 2 Inches It's been chopped 3 Inches It's been sectioned 3 Inches It's been channeled 3 Inches AND It's been shortened 22 Inches
Named "The Mer~ Vettes" this pair will be appearing at "Oakland 2000" and Dick has promised to send us updated photos of these works in progress.
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We've had such a good time reminiscing with Dick about so much of the work he's done.
We could have taken up 20 more pages like this one to tell all the stories
he's got to tell. …. and maybe we will. We look forward to watching
the progress of the Mer~Vettes and seeing them at Oakland. We'll
keep you up to date on the progress complete with pictures, and
hope you come out to see the finished product with us. We're pretty excited that HotRod HotLine is the first place these splendid cars are being seen, you're watching custom car history in the making right here and we're proud to be bringing it to you on this great new medium.
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