But what else can you call Gene Winfield: a man who began building hot rods more than 60 years ago; who began collecting magazine covers and top awards at national car shows in the 1950s; had cars featured on early TV shows, including "Batman" and "Bewitched"; built cars for movies ranging from "Sleeper" to "Blade Runner" to "Back to the Future"; has been elected to seven different automotive hall of fames; and who, at age 80, is still chopping tops, hand-forming panels, and applying custom paint jobs?

 Winfield said he began building hot rods in 1944 when he returned from a tour of duty in the Navy during World War II.  He said he joined with his two brothers to open a shop that did general mechanical and collision repair work as well as a few customs.

In 1947, Winfield said he went out on his own, opening Windy's Custom shop, and that by 1955 the business had expanded into a new shop called Winfield's Custom Shop, which included building prototypes of new-car designs for Ford and Chrysler.

By the late 1960s, though, Winfield said the hot rod and custom car markets had started to fade.  "The custom car field dried up in the 1960s when the muscle cars came out," he said.  "The manufacturers started doing many of the things we had been doing."  This combined with the poor economy and rising gas prices during the 1970s made the hot rod market a tough place to make a living.

Winfield said that during the next 10 years, much of his focus turned to creating special vehicles for more than 40 television commercials and shows and more than 20 movies.

In about 1980, Winfield said he was asked to make an appearance at a car show in Ohio and declined, saying, "This custom car thing is dead."  The promoters were persistent, and he said he finally agreed.

"I saw all of these cars that were being built and shown and I realized, 'It's happening again,'" Winfield said.  "So I got back into it, and I have been doing it ever since."

After 27 years, Winfield said he closed his shop in Canoga Park, Calif., in 2001 and moved to a property that he purchased a couple of miles south of Mojave, Calif.  The location is a salvage yard that includes 10 bays of shop space across several buildings, where he now works with six employees.

Winfield said the shop does a little bit of everything but is primarily known for chopping tops, especially on late '40s and early '50s Mercurys, and doing custom paint work. 

 
Winfield said a complete custom-built Mercury with a chopped top and custom paint and interior from his shop now runs about $50,000 to $60,000.

 
For several years, he said he has also offered a complete fiberglass body for a 1950 Mercury that includes a chopped top, frenched headlights, and numerous other custom features, and that he is making molds for a 1940 Mercury convertible that will soon be available. 

 
"You take a normal body that needs the usual work along the floors and rockers and you will spend $15,000 to $20,000 on the repairs and body customization.  This way they can buy a fiberglass body for $10,800 and the customizing is already done," he said.  He said he has also been working with a company that is considering bringing out an aluminum '50 Mercury body.

Winfield said about 20 percent of his business now comes from a line of small parts such as fender skirts and taillights he offers for customizers.

Winfield said he created the art of blending custom paint in 1957 and in addition to the work he performs at his shop he has been flown all over the world to paint cars.  "It takes me about 2 1/2 days to paint a car," he said.  "I blend it until I like it, and hopefully the customer likes it, too."

In addition to making appearances to sign autographs and answer questions at car shows across the country almost every weekend of the year, Winfield said he also regularly teaches classes on fabrication and customization as well as custom painting.  Twice a year, he offers a two-day class at his shop.  For $175 a day, he said he teaches skills such as gas welding, leading, and fabrication using tools such as the English wheel, wood hammer forms, bead roller, and sandbag.

"It's old-school torch welding and hammering and fabrication," he said.  "It's something they can't find hardly anywhere else."
In addition, Winfield said he regularly teaches classes around the country at colleges and shops to groups that range from 30 or 40 up to 140.  He said he is working with a college in Los Angeles to put together a regular painting class as well as a custom-painting class.

"I don't mind teaching them," he said.  "I tell them that to do any kind of custom work takes a lot of patience.  You just have to work hard, and if you have ingenuity, you will be successful."

The demand for the training has grown as the hot rod and customization market has exploded in recent years, Winfield said.  "I think the hot rod market is very high right now and the custom car field is going up all the time," he said.

As to all of the automotive TV shows that are appearing, Winfield said they have been good for the industry -- building interest, awareness of the difficult work involved, and attracting young people into the business.  He appeared on several episodes of "Monster Garage" and said he is working with shop Owner Rich Evans to film a series called "Building with the Best" that they hope to sell to a network.  "It's real people doing things without all of the arguments," he said of the show.

Comparing the builders of today to the early builders, Winfield said, "There's more creativity today.  Some of the shops are getting a lot of money, so the detailing is going well beyond where it was in the '50s and '60s.

"To win a Ridler today, some guys are spending a million dollars," Winfield said of a top hot rod award.  "With that kind of money, they are able to create parts and pieces that have never been done before."

While Winfield said he is now sought out by buyers from across the country who are seeking his old-school style of hot rod, resulting in an eight-month backlog for the shop, he also does some very contemporary-style hot rods and likes to choose projects that allow the chance to do something new and different. 

 
"I like to be creative and take on a project that is a little different than normal," he said.  "I like to create grilles and moldings and other things that have never been done before."

On March 7-9, Winfield will be featured as the "Builder of the Year" at the Detroit Autorama.  Among the 14 cars he has created that will be shown are two of his most famous.  The "Reactor" and "Strip Star," which both feature hand-formed aluminum bodies and his signature blended custom paint.

As the recognition of his work continues to build, Winfield said he and his technicians continue to build four to five major projects and complete 40 to 50 smaller projects each year.

"People ask me when I'm going to retire, and I tell them, 'When they put me in the ground.  When my hands and feet don't work anymore,'" he said.