Traditional Coach Works

The good folks at Motorbooks have started sending us books to review. We just got their recent title The Legendary Custom Cars and Hot Rods of Gene Winfield, which is super cool (expect a full review later when I get my act together). But the pics of an old brochure for Traditional Couch Works in the introduction really caught my eye. I’ve seen a few of these Cadillac conversions over the years but didn’t know the story behind them. Turns out that author David Grant first came to know the legendary Gene Winfield in the early 70s, and while he was in high school Winfield got him a job working with him at Traditional Couch Works in Chattsworth, California, where they did all sorts of wild conversions on Cadillacs. Gene took the young David under his wing and taught him how to shave emblems, shape metal, hammer-weld and metal finish. Sounds like a pretty cool guy. I drove a ‘77 Coupe DeVille for most of my high school years, and love the idea of a Caddy "Sports Wagon" or "Estate Wagon." Apparently Evil Knievel purchased their first "Mirage" Sports Wagon, which can be seen in the movie Viva Knievel! One more pic of the brochure after the jump.