Tuesday, 8 March 2016

Dan Woods, at 18 made the Milk Truck, and a couple years later, made the Ice Truck. Did you know that between them, he was drafted and did 2 years in Vietnam? Yup

full gallery from my time in the Galpin show car museum at http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/09/galpins-cool-collection-of-60s-show.html

Dan finished the Milk Truck in 1965, and showed it at the Tridents Car Show at the L.A. Sports Arena. It went on to win the Grand Sweepstakes and other awards that weekend. Rod and Custom magazine put it on the cover of their August, 1965 issue with a detailed feature inside.

Ed Roth was so impressed he got Dan to work for him at Roth Studios, and they built the Druid Princess for the Addams Family tv show. The tv show was cancelled before the car was ready.

Roth insisted that the small luggage trunk behind Druid Princess’s coach be a real child-sized coffin. Since undertakers didn’t sell coffins, Roth finally found the son of an undertaker who was hip. He brought $200 and a van to the back alley after working hours. The battery and a surplus aircraft gas tank were interred in the sarcophagus. Larry Watson veiled the Druid Princess in purple – a unique process that produced a unique texture and pattern.

The Ice Truck made the magazines in 1970 with a feature in Rod and Custom, and was at the 1971 Oakland Roadster Show. Then Dan went into business for himself building Ts,

and the fiberglass mould ended up getting sold off later, and stored by a couple different people, even winding up in a storage unit in Washington state