+John Wylie My family was in the auto body business from 1926 thru 2006, my cousin's retirement. It was a shop which despised using fillers of any kind. The terms "plastic merchant" and "lead merchant" were bandied about whenever a vehicle which was victimized by substandard work arrived at the shop. By the late '80s, when body alloys changed, making "working metal" a thing of the past, the family shop begrudgingly joined the crowd. With that said, it did the heart good to see real craftsmanship for a change!
Lost Art, But Not Lost On The Chopit Family. I ran into Nick at The Grand Nat'l in Pomona and he told me they are busier than ever, doing what they always have done, beautiful hand crafted metalwork. Here's an earlier interview I ran across ua-cam.com/video/tLGaUacbqEk/v-deo.html
Wow I'm envious how these guys managed to live their dream! Makes me want to put a second effort into achieving My dreams - gets involved, takes money to get started, and then it's easy to lose your freedom when you take money
Interesting video of a real creative talented crews shop. A little BIO on these individuals, their history, and location would be great. Background music was so loud, difficult to hear their conversation. Tripod could help focus on their awesome custom results and more still photos of their exciting projects like the couple finished ones at the end would be great. Hope they let you do more videos since this is a dying skilled trade. Hope he starts a school apprenticeship for opportunities to pass on these talents.
Thanks for the comment. This was a once in a lifetime happening. I happen to be good friends with a man that runs a land speed car. Gene Winfield wanted to get the 200mph record at El Mirage in my friend's '68 Mustang, and offered a NASCAR engine and a paint job to drive it. We were in the neighborhood of Chopit getting a seat mold made for Gene when we stopped in to visit. I had a camera and kept it low profile so as to not interfere with Gene and Gary's tour. Gary is no longer with us and I decided to post this private video as a tribute to Gary and his family.
Great story that just proves we need to document more history on these interesting individuals and their fascinating projects before their all gone. What happens now to all those unfinished projects and custom made tooling? Did he have an apprenticeship that can continue this art? Maybe they will allow you to put together a scrapbook video of him and his projects.
What can I say that hasn't been said I've been following all the great customizer a lot of the great one's are passing on I hope the younger generation build and create there own custom the car's are starting to be all sipped up and now you have to do something with a modern car to set off from all the other cars that come off the lot, me and my friend did it to this guys brand new T-bird 1998? We shaved the doors handles put air ride system with candy gold orang with flake it came out different from all the stock one's from that time so if you can't find an 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s you have to make due of what you got
I really don't get it Gene made thousands of cars many for the movie industry,but still has a run down body shop he pulls miracles out from.Did Gene just throw away his money ,just find it bizzare something is missing from his life story.
I think most body shop guys blow ther money most like to drink ther heath usually sucks I believe he has breathing problems he is not young I imagine he is late 70s his place is awesome it’s in the middle of no we’re he prob loves it nyounimagine the shit in his lungs and body from doing this all his life I’m sure he has stuff to breath with at home and that’s not cheap in the USA
Wow i was so impressed to see Nick and Fabian follow in Gray's footsteps. My name is Patrick and i use to work with Gary when Chopit Kustoms was in Lindenhurst New York. Nick and Fabian were really young I knew Nick was going to be in the business i didnt think Fabian would. he was really young and into being an Entertainer. I forgot their sister's name i also thought she would entertain also. Im so proud of Nick and Fabian and i would really like to talk to them. If anyone can get this to Nick or Fabian and let them know Patrick the black guy that work with Gary when they were in Lindenhurst New York would like to say hello to them. They can reach me at Patb309@gmail.com. thank you.
That is what a body shop looked like in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. He's been there a long time and doesn't see any reason to change.You don't know what he has in the bank, what kind of house he has or anything else.
Jean Winfield a legend .. A national treasure
Gene Winfield
Beautiful cars thank you for sharing
Nice video. Noticed how intently Gene took interest in the details of the body work. Thanks.
+John Wylie My family was in the auto body business from 1926 thru 2006, my cousin's retirement. It was a shop which despised using fillers of any kind. The terms "plastic merchant" and "lead merchant" were bandied about whenever a vehicle which was victimized by substandard work arrived at the shop. By the late '80s, when body alloys changed, making "working metal" a thing of the past, the family shop begrudgingly joined the crowd.
With that said, it did the heart good to see real craftsmanship for a change!
Lost Art, But Not Lost On The Chopit Family. I ran into Nick at The Grand Nat'l in Pomona and he told me they are busier than ever, doing what they always have done, beautiful hand crafted metalwork. Here's an earlier interview I ran across ua-cam.com/video/tLGaUacbqEk/v-deo.html
Many thanks!
AMStationEngineer very well said I love the work and hope that it's passed on to our younger generation
Wow I'm envious how these guys managed to live their dream!
Makes me want to put a second effort into achieving My dreams - gets involved, takes money to get started, and then it's easy to lose your freedom when you take money
love the chopped shirt gene!!!
I could definately work in that shop jamming the oldies I'm 29 bodyman/mechanic and custom fab and paintwork love the projects in there ❤
Interesting video of a real creative talented crews shop. A little BIO on these individuals, their history, and location would be great. Background music was so loud, difficult to hear their conversation. Tripod could help focus on their awesome custom results and more still photos of their exciting projects like the couple finished ones at the end would be great. Hope they let you do more videos since this is a dying skilled trade. Hope he starts a school apprenticeship for opportunities to pass on these talents.
Thanks for the comment. This was a once in a lifetime happening. I happen to be good friends with a man that runs a land speed car. Gene Winfield wanted to get the 200mph record at El Mirage in my friend's '68 Mustang, and offered a NASCAR engine and a paint job to drive it. We were in the neighborhood of Chopit getting a seat mold made for Gene when we stopped in to visit. I had a camera and kept it low profile so as to not interfere with Gene and Gary's tour. Gary is no longer with us and I decided to post this private video as a tribute to Gary and his family.
Great story that just proves we need to document more history on these interesting individuals and their fascinating projects before their all gone. What happens now to all those unfinished projects and custom made tooling? Did he have an apprenticeship that can continue this art? Maybe they will allow you to put together a scrapbook video of him and his projects.
Gene Winfield is an icon
Gene deserves to be hailed The King George Barris takes credit for the work of others
What can I say that hasn't been said I've been following all the great customizer a lot of the great one's are passing on I hope the younger generation build and create there own custom the car's are starting to be all sipped up and now you have to do something with a modern car to set off from all the other cars that come off the lot, me and my friend did it to this guys brand new T-bird 1998? We shaved the doors handles put air ride system with candy gold orang with flake it came out different from all the stock one's from that time so if you can't find an 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s you have to make due of what you got
IT'S ART YOU CAN DRIVE!!!
I wish i had someone to teach me too me that a art
It's kinda funny, my name is Gene and it's a dream of mine to meet "THE LEGENDARY GENE WINFIELD"
Nicest man you'll ever meet.
check this out Gene ua-cam.com/video/x80yl2yhwsc/v-deo.html
I really don't get it Gene made thousands of cars many for the movie industry,but still has a run down body shop he pulls miracles out from.Did Gene just throw away his money ,just find it bizzare something is missing from his life story.
I think most body shop guys blow ther money most like to drink ther heath usually sucks I believe he has breathing problems he is not young I imagine he is late 70s his place is awesome it’s in the middle of no we’re he prob loves it nyounimagine the shit in his lungs and body from doing this all his life I’m sure he has stuff to breath with at home and that’s not cheap in the USA
I had a friend that did body work died in his 50 s from all the toxins in his body
Wow i was so impressed to see Nick and Fabian follow in Gray's footsteps. My name is Patrick and i use to work with Gary when Chopit Kustoms was in Lindenhurst New York. Nick and Fabian were really young
I knew Nick was going to be in the business i didnt think Fabian would. he was really young and into being an Entertainer. I forgot their sister's name i also thought she would entertain also. Im so proud of Nick and Fabian and i would really like to talk to them. If anyone can get this to Nick or Fabian and let them know Patrick the black guy that work with Gary when they were in Lindenhurst New York would like to say hello to them. They can reach me at Patb309@gmail.com. thank you.
That is what a body shop looked like in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. He's been there a long time and doesn't see any reason to change.You don't know what he has in the bank, what kind of house he has or anything else.