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Obituary: Dean Jeffries, creator of the Monkeemobile, 80
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NotYetObit
May 12, 2013, 7:53:07 AM5/12/13
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Hey, hey, the creator of the Monkeemobile has died
Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY | 1:21 p.m. EDT May 8, 2013
http://www.usatoday.com/story/driveon/2013/05/08/dean-jeffries-monkeemobile-monkees-davy-jones-peter-dolenz/2144379/
Dean Jeffries, who created some of the most fun and wild custom cars of the last
half century, has died. He was 80.
Among the cars for Other cars from the Jeffries stable include the Monkeemobile,
created for the 1960s TV show featuring the Monkees; the original Green Hornet's
Black Beauty; and the MoonBuggy from the James Bond epic Diamonds Are Forever,
according to the obituary posted on his website. Jeffries died Sunday at his
home.
One of his best-known designs for a vehicle called the Mantaray, created for the
1964 Grand National Roadster Show. It had a Maserati Grand Prix chassis, a Cobra
engine and has been featured in museums ever since.
The automotive world has taken notice of Jeffries' passing. "We were very sad to
learn the custom car world lost one of its most important figures in Dean
Jeffries," said Beau Boeckmann, vice president of Galpin Motors in Los Angeles
and former host of the car customizing TV show Pimp My Ride. "His custom
creations were inspirational."
Drive On last heard from Jeffries when he popped up to make sure that fellow
famous 1960s customizer George Barris wasn't taking a little too much credit for
vehicles in which he, Jeffries, had had a major hand. He also went in depth
about that, and his career, in a Motor Trend interview a few years ago.
From his official obit:
"Dean Jeffries, also known as 'Deano' began pinstriping cars with the legendary
Von Dutch in Lynwood, Calif., in the early 1950s. Jeffries pinstriping lead to
custom painting, and then to custom fabrication.
"Jeffries started his craft in Lynwood before moving to Sunset Blvd, then to his
long-time shop on Cahuenga Blvd in North Hollywood. Jeffries fabricated some of
the most innovative custom cars and hot rods of all time. Jeffries painted the
infamous words 'Little Bastard' on the tail section of actor James Dean's
Porsche. Other stars that would visit his shop included Gary Cooper, Steve
McQueen, James Garner and Jay Leno.
"Jeffries was also enamored with the Indianapolis 500, where he crewed for many
years for the legendary AJ Foyt. Jeffries also painted many of the Indy 500
entries, and in fact one year painted 22 of the 33 starters in the field.
"Later in his career, Jeffries was involved in motion picture production, not
only from a vehicle construction standpoint, but also as a stunt driver and
stunt producer. Some of the movies he was involved in included "What's Up Doc?",
The Blues Brothers, Honky Tonk Freeway, Roger Rabbit, Romancing The Stone and
Die Hard: With Vengeance.
"In his semi-retired years, Jeffries could occasionally be found as a special
guest at car shows across the country, but his passion was to be at his shop
five days a week restoring his personal car collection and meeting with old
friends."
Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY | 1:21 p.m. EDT May 8, 2013
http://www.usatoday.com/story/driveon/2013/05/08/dean-jeffries-monkeemobile-monkees-davy-jones-peter-dolenz/2144379/
Dean Jeffries, who created some of the most fun and wild custom cars of the last
half century, has died. He was 80.
Among the cars for Other cars from the Jeffries stable include the Monkeemobile,
created for the 1960s TV show featuring the Monkees; the original Green Hornet's
Black Beauty; and the MoonBuggy from the James Bond epic Diamonds Are Forever,
according to the obituary posted on his website. Jeffries died Sunday at his
home.
One of his best-known designs for a vehicle called the Mantaray, created for the
1964 Grand National Roadster Show. It had a Maserati Grand Prix chassis, a Cobra
engine and has been featured in museums ever since.
The automotive world has taken notice of Jeffries' passing. "We were very sad to
learn the custom car world lost one of its most important figures in Dean
Jeffries," said Beau Boeckmann, vice president of Galpin Motors in Los Angeles
and former host of the car customizing TV show Pimp My Ride. "His custom
creations were inspirational."
Drive On last heard from Jeffries when he popped up to make sure that fellow
famous 1960s customizer George Barris wasn't taking a little too much credit for
vehicles in which he, Jeffries, had had a major hand. He also went in depth
about that, and his career, in a Motor Trend interview a few years ago.
From his official obit:
"Dean Jeffries, also known as 'Deano' began pinstriping cars with the legendary
Von Dutch in Lynwood, Calif., in the early 1950s. Jeffries pinstriping lead to
custom painting, and then to custom fabrication.
"Jeffries started his craft in Lynwood before moving to Sunset Blvd, then to his
long-time shop on Cahuenga Blvd in North Hollywood. Jeffries fabricated some of
the most innovative custom cars and hot rods of all time. Jeffries painted the
infamous words 'Little Bastard' on the tail section of actor James Dean's
Porsche. Other stars that would visit his shop included Gary Cooper, Steve
McQueen, James Garner and Jay Leno.
"Jeffries was also enamored with the Indianapolis 500, where he crewed for many
years for the legendary AJ Foyt. Jeffries also painted many of the Indy 500
entries, and in fact one year painted 22 of the 33 starters in the field.
"Later in his career, Jeffries was involved in motion picture production, not
only from a vehicle construction standpoint, but also as a stunt driver and
stunt producer. Some of the movies he was involved in included "What's Up Doc?",
The Blues Brothers, Honky Tonk Freeway, Roger Rabbit, Romancing The Stone and
Die Hard: With Vengeance.
"In his semi-retired years, Jeffries could occasionally be found as a special
guest at car shows across the country, but his passion was to be at his shop
five days a week restoring his personal car collection and meeting with old
friends."
NotYetObit
May 12, 2013, 9:07:30 AM5/12/13
to
(Photo of Monkeemobile at URL!)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/automobiles/dean-jeffries-car-customizer-and-painter-dies-at-80.html?ref=obituaries&_r=0
The New York Times
May 11, 2013
Dean Jeffries, Car Customizer and Painter, Dies at 80
By PAUL VITELLO
Dean Jeffries, a car customizer, designer and painter who was considered one of
the pre-eminent artists of American racecar and hot-rod culture, died on May 5
at his home in North Hollywood, Calif. He was 80.
His death was announced on the Web site of the company he started in the 1950s
and operated until recently, Dean Jeffries Automotive Styling.
Mr. Jeffries was a virtual one-stop shop in the world of custom cars. His
creations were featured perennially in magazines like Rod & Custom, in the
hard-baked gloss finishes of Indianapolis 500 racecars and in dozens of movies
that celebrated cars, including "Bikini Beach" (1964) and "The Blues Brothers"
(1980).
He was equally renowned for the precision detail of his brushwork on cars driven
by the racing champion A. J. Foyt and the actor Steve McQueen; for his steel and
fiberglass novelty cars like the Monkeemobile, used on the 1966-68 sitcom "The
Monkees"; and for the indestructible, supercharged stunt vehicles he designed
and built for movies and television series.
As a sideline, Mr. Jeffries also drove the stunt cars he built, developing a
specialty in overturning and rolling at high speeds. He retired from stunts, but
not until three years after he broke his back in 1981 while shooting a scene for
the action comedy "Honky Tonk Freeway."
He recovered and was shooting another movie, "Romancing the Stone" (1984), when
he reinjured himself in a stunt requiring him to drive a five-ton truck off the
edge of a ravine, steer it over a 100-foot chasm and crash-land on the other
side.
"That's when I decided to retire," he said in an interview posted on his Web
site. "I finished - I did the jump - and decided it was enough."
Movie stars discovered Mr. Jeffries early. Gary Cooper, Jayne Mansfield, Tony
Martin and Harry Belafonte were among those who had cars customized in his shop.
In 1955, James Dean, who raced competitively, asked Mr. Jeffries to paint his
new Porsche 550 Spyder with the number 130 and the words Little Bastard, a
racing number and nickname he had adopted.
A month after Mr. Jeffries finished, Dean, 24, was killed in an accident while
driving the car at high speed on a winding California mountain road.
Edward Dean Jeffries was born on Feb. 25, 1933, in Lynwood, Calif., the son of
Viola and Edward Jeffries. His father, a car mechanic, tried to teach him the
trade. But he preferred drawing and hated the grease and dirt of mechanical
work, he told Tom Cotter, the author of the 2009 biography "Dean Jeffries: 50
Fabulous Years in Hot Rods, Racing & Film."
Mr. Jeffries is survived by a son, Kevin Dean Jeffries, and a sister, Evonne
Jeffries. His first marriage ended in divorce. His second wife, Rosalee Berman,
died in 2008.
Though Mr. Jeffries wanted to attend art school, his family could not afford the
tuition, he told Mr. Cotter. Instead, he apprenticed throughout the 1950s with
some of the custom-car artists in his neighborhood - a group that included
George Barris and Kenneth Howard (known professionally as Von Dutch).
Tom Wolfe later described those men, in the title essay of his 1965 book, "The
Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby," as pioneers of a new American
art form.
"Anything I wanted to learn," Mr. Jeffries said, "I tried to find out who was at
the top at it and learn from the best."
Mr. Jeffries's entry in a 1964 Grand National Roadster Show competition, an
asymmetrical and elegantly futuristic racecar he called the Mantaray, received
wide acclaim from custom car critics; Hot Rod magazine called it a masterpiece.
The publicity led the producers of "Bikini Beach" to cast the Mantaray in the
film's starring automotive role.
In the movie's dramatic conclusion, in which Frankie Avalon faces his rival for
Annette Funicello's heart in a drag race, Mr. Avalon wins it all, including the
girl, from behind the wheel of Mr. Jeffries's masterpiece of an automobile.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/automobiles/dean-jeffries-car-customizer-and-painter-dies-at-80.html?ref=obituaries&_r=0
The New York Times
May 11, 2013
Dean Jeffries, Car Customizer and Painter, Dies at 80
By PAUL VITELLO
Dean Jeffries, a car customizer, designer and painter who was considered one of
the pre-eminent artists of American racecar and hot-rod culture, died on May 5
at his home in North Hollywood, Calif. He was 80.
His death was announced on the Web site of the company he started in the 1950s
and operated until recently, Dean Jeffries Automotive Styling.
Mr. Jeffries was a virtual one-stop shop in the world of custom cars. His
creations were featured perennially in magazines like Rod & Custom, in the
hard-baked gloss finishes of Indianapolis 500 racecars and in dozens of movies
that celebrated cars, including "Bikini Beach" (1964) and "The Blues Brothers"
(1980).
He was equally renowned for the precision detail of his brushwork on cars driven
by the racing champion A. J. Foyt and the actor Steve McQueen; for his steel and
fiberglass novelty cars like the Monkeemobile, used on the 1966-68 sitcom "The
Monkees"; and for the indestructible, supercharged stunt vehicles he designed
and built for movies and television series.
As a sideline, Mr. Jeffries also drove the stunt cars he built, developing a
specialty in overturning and rolling at high speeds. He retired from stunts, but
not until three years after he broke his back in 1981 while shooting a scene for
the action comedy "Honky Tonk Freeway."
He recovered and was shooting another movie, "Romancing the Stone" (1984), when
he reinjured himself in a stunt requiring him to drive a five-ton truck off the
edge of a ravine, steer it over a 100-foot chasm and crash-land on the other
side.
"That's when I decided to retire," he said in an interview posted on his Web
site. "I finished - I did the jump - and decided it was enough."
Movie stars discovered Mr. Jeffries early. Gary Cooper, Jayne Mansfield, Tony
Martin and Harry Belafonte were among those who had cars customized in his shop.
In 1955, James Dean, who raced competitively, asked Mr. Jeffries to paint his
new Porsche 550 Spyder with the number 130 and the words Little Bastard, a
racing number and nickname he had adopted.
A month after Mr. Jeffries finished, Dean, 24, was killed in an accident while
driving the car at high speed on a winding California mountain road.
Edward Dean Jeffries was born on Feb. 25, 1933, in Lynwood, Calif., the son of
Viola and Edward Jeffries. His father, a car mechanic, tried to teach him the
trade. But he preferred drawing and hated the grease and dirt of mechanical
work, he told Tom Cotter, the author of the 2009 biography "Dean Jeffries: 50
Fabulous Years in Hot Rods, Racing & Film."
Mr. Jeffries is survived by a son, Kevin Dean Jeffries, and a sister, Evonne
Jeffries. His first marriage ended in divorce. His second wife, Rosalee Berman,
died in 2008.
Though Mr. Jeffries wanted to attend art school, his family could not afford the
tuition, he told Mr. Cotter. Instead, he apprenticed throughout the 1950s with
some of the custom-car artists in his neighborhood - a group that included
George Barris and Kenneth Howard (known professionally as Von Dutch).
Tom Wolfe later described those men, in the title essay of his 1965 book, "The
Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby," as pioneers of a new American
art form.
"Anything I wanted to learn," Mr. Jeffries said, "I tried to find out who was at
the top at it and learn from the best."
Mr. Jeffries's entry in a 1964 Grand National Roadster Show competition, an
asymmetrical and elegantly futuristic racecar he called the Mantaray, received
wide acclaim from custom car critics; Hot Rod magazine called it a masterpiece.
The publicity led the producers of "Bikini Beach" to cast the Mantaray in the
film's starring automotive role.
In the movie's dramatic conclusion, in which Frankie Avalon faces his rival for
Annette Funicello's heart in a drag race, Mr. Avalon wins it all, including the
girl, from behind the wheel of Mr. Jeffries's masterpiece of an automobile.
JAZZ4JEFF
May 14, 2013, 12:05:23 PM5/14/13
to
I always remember how George Barris tried to take credit for the Monkeemobile. Once at the 86 convention, George stood next to the car the entire time. He had to be in every picture. He is sure full of himself.
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