American Automotive Customizer and Fabricator, Robert Eugene “Gene” Winfield passed away March 4, 2025, following a battle with cancer. Winfield affected car culture for more than 70 years and is known for his fade paint job as well as many notable custom creations dating back to 1959.

Gene Winfield June 16, 1927 – March 5, 2025

In The Beginning…

Winfield started his career when he built his first roadster while still in high school, in Modesto, California during World War II. He opened Windys Custom Shop in 1946. Not just a customizer, he would race his cars on the streets, the dry lake beds, and the early dragstrips. After a stint in the Army in the early fifties, he returned to Modesto and opened Winfield’s Custom Shop. Winfield gained prominence in the early sixties with the Jade Idol and other custom Mercurys and Roadsters. His is a storied career, but not limited to one brand. In 1999, he built “Maybelline”, the 1961 Cadillac named for the hit Chuck Berry song.

Gene Winfield built the 1961 Cadillac “Maybelline” in 1999. Photo: Kustomrama

A Hall of Fame Career

Gene was inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame in 2022. Some of his other notable recognitions include

• Oakland/Grand National Roadster Show hall of fame
• Darryl Starbird’s national Rod & Custom Hall of fame
• Kustom Kemps of America (KKOA) hall of fame
• San Francisco Rod & Custom hall of fame
• Michigan Rod & Custom hall of fame
• San Bernardino Route 66 hall of fame
• Detroit Autorama Builder of the year
• NHRA’s lifetime achievement award “The Wally”
• Grand Marshal for Modesto’s American Graffiti week

In addition to his contributions to hot rodding and car culture, he also shaped popular culture with the cars he designed for movies. These include the Galileo shuttlecraft from Star Trek, the Wraith, Blade Runner and many more.

Gene Winfield’s Reactor was seen in Bewitched and Star Trek (pictured here with William Shatner a.k.a. Captain James T. Kirk) Photo: Kustomrama

Gene Winfield: King of the Kustoms

Gene Winfield was regarded as the “King of the Kustoms“. He held three “America’s Most Beautiful Roadster” awards, had numerous cars featured in hot rodding and custom car magazines, as well as the cars he built for television and film. It was a title well earned. In February, it was announced that Winfield was battling cancer. Till the end, he shared his love for the car community and his fans. He may be gone, but his legacy in the automotive world will live on through his methods of paint and fabrication, the people he trained, the stories he shared, and his cars themselves. Gene Winfield was 97.

Winfield’s Custom Shop