It’s that time of year when interest peaks in the legendary Munsters car, Dragula. It’s also the time when hot rod builders start thinking about building their own version of a casket car on a T-Bucket chassis. We have a terrific movie at the end of this post that features scores of Dragula clones and other casket cars that we know you’ll enjoy.
The Tom Daniel designed, George Barris built Munsters car, Dragula, captured the imagination of millions when it debuted in the TV series 50 years ago.
And like every popular hot rod back in the day, it was introduced to the exploding model car industry. At a time when there were only three TV channels and no such things as video games or computers, aside from sports there were very few other diversions for adolescents.
The Munsters car Dragula was introduced in the “Hot Rod Herman” episode of the series as Grandpa Munster’s creation to win back the Munster Koach, which Herman had lost at the drags. We have a brief clip of that episode in our post about Drag-U-La and the Coffin Car Fascination.
What’s really cool is that with its Ford 289 engine with cross-ram dual quads and 10.5 inch slicks it actually ran and was rather quick.
Not only was the Munsters car, Dragula, featured in the TV series but also in the movie, Munster, Go Home.
It was the ideal promotional vehicle then, as in the above pic with George Barris and Eddie Munster, played by Butch Patrick.
Butch Patrick even continued making public appearances with Dragula clones at a wide variety of events.
Of course, the Dragula story is not complete without mention of the Munster Koach, which was another George Barris Model T based creation and we’ll cover it in another post. But, for now we’ll feature two of my favorite Munster Koach photos. The one above is really great, with George Barris chauffeuring Herman and Grandpa in a parade.
My other favorite, is the lovely Pat Priest who played “poor Marilyn”, the plain one in a family of monsters.
As you’ll see here and in the movie below, the Munsters car, Dragula, inspired many fun-loving hot rodders to build either Dragula clones or their own unique casket car creations.
This is the most colorful one I’ve seen to date and it is dedicated to an equally famous scary character.
The inspiration for this coffin creation is Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, who is always especially visible around Halloween time.
So, kick back and relax while viewing the movie below and you’re sure to come away with some casket car building inspiration of your own.
TBucketPlans.com originated in 2005 as a personal blog extolling the virtues of T-Buckets. In 2009 I blogged about Chester Greenhalgh, the "how to" genius who wrote the legendary, out-of-print “How to Build a T-Bucket Roadster for Under $3000”. That led to a friendship with Chester and our partnership in marketing the updated eBook version of his T-Bucket building bible. The T-Bucket fire burns stronger and stronger.
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In 1966, I was fascinated by way-out show cars like Steve Scott's "Uncertain-T", so when the "Hot Rod Herman" episode of The Munsters appeared with Grandpa's Drag-U-La, built to win back the family Munster Coach, I was glued to that blurry Black & White television! Just in case you're too…
I was fascinated at the Munster Coach. The coffin was just alright with me.