Other Winfield Creations
An example of an early Winfield creation is the "Strip-Star." It was based on a 1946 Ford chassis with a 427 Ford engine and has a hand-formed aluminum body. It can be seen in the sci-fi movie "Solar Crisis."
Built in the early 60's,
the "Strip-Star" featured
an aluminum body.
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In the early 60's, Winfield designed and built another aluminum show car called "The Reactor." He toured the country with it at car shows and eventually took it to Hollywood and showed it to the various studios. Ultimately in appeared in several TV shows including "Bewitched", "Batman", and "Star Trek." This led to other TV car projects and eventually the job with AMT Corporation.
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The Reactor appeared
on several TV shows,
including "Star Trek"
with William Shatner.
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Winfield constructed this
"bubble car" as a rush job for
the Woody Allen's "Sleeper."
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Winfield built this Comet Cyclone showcar for
Lincoln-Mercury.
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Winfield was approached by director Ridley Scott to build the futuristic vehicles needed for his science fiction movie "Blade Runner." The job required construction of 25 various vehicles ranging from flying police cars (called "Spinners"), to taxi cabs, buses, and everday transportation vehicles. Winfield built all 25 units, but two were destroyed in a shop fire.
The "Spinner" was a marvel of technology, including forward-opening doors and wheels the folded-up into the body during the flight mode. Most of these vehicles were destroyed by the studio upon completion of filming. However, one "Spinner" and one black & white police "sedan" were put on display outside at Disney/MGM Studios in Florida. Recently, after years of deterioration from the weather, they were moved and said to have been destroyed. Another "Spinner" has been restored and now resides in Japan. A red police "sedan" is currently on display in Miami, Florida at the police museum.
The "Spinner" police car
from the movie "Blade Runner"
as it sat on display outside
at Disney/MGM Studios.
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Interview with Gene Winfield about the "Blade Runner" Spinner
Piranha Homepage
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