Shared by Ron Dvorak - from the website RedLineShirtClub HAPPY HALLOWEEN! The Munster Koach Designed and built by George Barris. The Koach was made from 3 Model T bodies and is 18 feet long. The 133 frame was made by hand. It has a four speed manual transmission and a power rear end. The brass radiator and fenders were hand formed. In 1964, the cost to build the first one was $18,000.00. It had blood red velvet interior. It took 500 hours to hand form the ornate rolled steel scrollwork. It had Gloss Black Pearl paint. The front end had a dropped axle, split radius rods and T springs. The studio gave George Barris 21 days to complete the car. Powered by a 289 Ford Cobra engine from a 1966 Mustang GT. Built with Jahns high compression pistons, ten chrome plated Stromberg carburators, an Isky cam, and had a set of Bobby Barr racing headers.Barris auctioned off the original Munster Koach in 1982 with oversized gas lights and different tires and wheels. In 1984, George Barris wanted a Munster Koach for the Hollywood Christmas Parade. He had Dick Dean build a second authorized Munster Koach. Dick Deans son, Keith Dean, helped with this build. This Koach was restored in the summer of 2011 with new black pearl paint, pie crust cheater slicks, new brass lantern lights, torque thrust mags, smaller skull radiator cap, and had the dummy crank lever removed and sealed. They did not have Bobby Barr Headers, so there is wide opening where those headers were.The engine was a 289 cubic-inch Ford V8. Originally configured for installation in an AC Cobra, it was built with Jahns high compression pistons, 10 chrome plated Stromberg carburetors, an Isky cam, and had a set of Bobby Barr racing headers. It has a four speed manual transmission. GRANDPAS DRAG-U-LA The fiberglass body of DRAG-U-LA was built from a real fiberglass coffin that Richard Korky Korkes was able to purchase from a funeral home in North Hollywood. According to a conversation with Korky Korkes himself in 2013, it was illegal to sell a coffin without a death certificate. Korky made a deal with the funeral director, paid in cash, and it was agreed the coffin would be left outside the rear door of the funeral parlor where the Barris crew would collect it after dark. It featured a 350HP, 289CI Ford Mustang V-8 engine, with a four-speed stick shift. It had two four-barrel carburetors mounted on a Mickey Thompson Ram-Thrust manifold. The rear tires were 10.50-inch Firestone racing slicks, mounted on custom 10-inch Rader aluminum & steel wheels. Each hubcap was decorated with a large silver spider. The front tires were 4-inch Italian tires on Speedsport English buggy wire wheels. To extend the Gothic motif further, Barris installed four Zoomie style organ pipes on each side of the car in lieu of standard exhaust pipe, and mounted antique lamps on the front and rear. The front of the vehicle sported a marble gravestone with the inscription: Born 1367, Died ?. A hidden radiator was topped with a small golden casket. The driver sat in the rear of the vehicle behind the engine, under a plastic bubble. There were some subtle changes or variations made to the automobile, such as tires etc., generally for different aspects of filming for the movie Munster, Go Home! or for the TV Series. This car was sold at the closeout auction of the Chicago Historical Antique Automobile Museum in Highland Park, Il. in 1985. The original 1966 car was housed in Planet Hollywood in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where it hung from the ceiling. This Planet Hollywood location is now closed according to Planet Hollywoods website. The car is now housed at the Volo Auto Museum in the town of Volo, Illinois. The museum had the car completely restored in 2011. While the car came from George Barris shop, the car was constructed by Richard Korky Korkes and others who worked under Korkys direction while he managed the Barris facility.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 20:02:44 +0000
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