# MUNSTERS CUSTOM SCHWINN



## Xlobsterman (Apr 24, 2022)

I saw this posted on FB this morning and thought some of you may be interested in the history of this bike.







Eddie Munster Chain Bike By John Brian

At one point during the show's run George Barris came up with the idea that 11-year-old Butch Patrick- who played the series' youngest character "Eddie Munster"- should also have a kustom-styled machine to ride around on. Barris thought it would be a fun thing to do for Butch  especially since the two of them got along so well together during his visits to the set. Butch was even invited by George to come over to the Barris kustom shop, where he was free to wander around and check out all the new projects.

George's idea to make a kustom for Butch's character "Eddie Munster" seemed like a great idea, especially since the Barris- made "Koach" and "Dragula" cars had been worth their weight in gold for appeal and publicity. This time around, though, it wasn't going to be a spooky kustom car that would be made, but a spooky "kustom bicycle". The bike that Barris proposed was not going to be any ordinary pedal-powered machine either, it was going be extraordinary. His expert team of specialists would see to that. A kustom bicycle for "Eddie Munster" had the potential to generate some good publicity; so, Barris gave the green light for the project to begin.

Skip Barrett
After Barris finalized the basic design concept it was decided that the main fabrication duties would be overseen by one of the shop's most talented employees- Skip Barrett. The bike's general specifications would be based around the popular 20-inch "high-rise" bikes available at the time, the Schwinn Stingray to be specific.

The outstanding feature of "Eddie's" kustom bike would be its frame - which would be completely hand-made from lengths of welded steel chain, using Stingray frame tubes as a template. Of course some original Stingray frame components were used on the build, like the head tube, bottom bracket shell, rear dropouts, and a few inches of the seat post tube.

Von Dutch
After getting the OK from Barris, Skip Barrett contacted the well-known fabricator and pin-striper Von Dutch, to see if he could do some of the fabrication work for the project. Von Dutch had done various jobs for the Barris shop over the years and seemed like the kind of guy who might be interested in an unusual project. Curiously, Von Dutch found the Eddie Munster chain bike project quite interesting, and immediately decided to sign onto the task of fabricating the chain link frame himself. Skip could not have been more pleased. In fact (as it turned out) the bike's fabrication eventually wound up being a total collaborative effort between the two men.

Kool Components
The fork used on the Munster chain bike was a stock "Schwinn" unit, like the ones found on the Stingray "Super/Deluxe" model, (but with the chrome truss rods removed), and featured a small tassel hung off the spring bolt next to the rubber bumper.
The wheels were standard Stingray size (20") with the rear sporting a "Sturmey-Archer" 3-speed hub (probably a S.A. "TriCoaster" model) controlled by a S.A. 3-speed trigger shifter mounted to the seat post.

The handlebars were standard "Wald" high-rise type, with a crossbar installed to serve as a mount for an antique bicycle lamp. A clear round "Plexiglas" windshield was mounted to the upper front section of the handlebars, and featured a spider web design- complete with spider. Arcing at the top of this windscreen was the hand-painted letters of Eddie's name. Finishing off the handlebars were bright red Schwinn-type handle grips with tassels used for streamers, and a small looping bulb horn.

The seat was a plush banana-type  featuring black coffin-style upholstery and a decorative band of gold-colored trim running along its lower edge.  The sissy bar started off as stock 36-inch "Bill Mathews Corporation" unit, which was factory-made with a bent-back rounded top and a metal ring welded on about 8 inches above the seat mount holes. Von Dutch then gave it some additional metal work. Decorative elements were welded onto the tubes to give it an ornamental "creeping vine" type of effect- finished off with a coating of gold paint- the Chain Bike's sissy bar was as wild as any seen on a chopper motorcycle. Mounted behind the seat was an antique brass tail lamp complete with a red lens. Finally, rounding off the rear of the bike was a chrome plated "Bill Mathews Corporation" nerf bar, similar in style to push bars seen on hot rods and dragsters, the nerf bar was bolt-mounted to the bottom axle holes of the sissy bar and covered the rear tire at the 10 o'clock position.

More Munstory
Here is a curious Chain Bike story I stumbled upon; it's from an entertainment column published in 1965. It states that Butch Patrick had an accident on the bike when he was riding it on the Universal lot, and that he wound up at a first aid station.
Rattling around at Universal Studios

When all these elements were put together it resulted in one of the wildest kustom bicycles made up to that point in time. Unfortunately, the bike never appeared in any episodes of the Munsters TV show. But as long as the series was being filmed, Butch Patrick had exclusive use of the chain bike to explore the back lots of Universal Studios. Between takes Butch would sometimes ride around on the bike in full costume- delighting everybody who saw him, and (supposedly) he even crashed the Chain Bike on at least one occasion.
Kids who watched the "Munsters" in the 1960s never got to see Eddie's chain bike, and only a few insiders knew anything about the chain bike story until about ten years ago. Luckily, the bike itself has survived, along with a couple of vintage snapshots and a few documentation photos taken by Barris after the bike was completed. The main reason we know of the bike today is because a bicycle magazine (Lowrider Bicycle) ran an article on it back in the late 1990s, they managed to locate a few old photos of the chain bike and then speculated on what its significance was, effectively creating an origin myth for the lowrider bicycle movement.
The Eddie Munster Chain Bike is a ghost of the past. It was (and is) a true kustom bicycle made within the hot rod and chopper sensibilities of the mid 1960's. Young Butch Patrick received the most enjoyment from the bike's creation. He fondly remembers the great times he had riding the bike around Universal studios, and the warm friendship he had with the "Kustom King" George Barris.

The Chain Bike Survives
Barris eventually sold the bike a few years after the Munsters series stopped production. It wound up on display at Jim Brucker's "Movieworld- Cars of the Stars" museum in California (where Von Dutch worked) sometime before 1973- and was eventually sold at auction in 1985.  The bike has had a few different owners over the years, and is presently in the collection of a Munster aficionado living in the American West. Although the bike is still essentially intact, it is now missing its windshield, head and tail lamps, and rear nerf bar. It appears that these parts were taken off the chain bike sometime in the late 1960's.

I had the great pleasure of meeting George Barris and his son Brett at a large outdoor car show last summer. Through my conversation with George I was able to clear up a few of the missing pieces in the Munster Chain bike story.


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## danfitz1 (Apr 24, 2022)

Some useless trivia for you. Butch was living here in Geneseo, IL when he got the call to go audition as a potential replacement for Happy Derman, who played Eddie Munster for the pilot.


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## Hoagie57 (Apr 24, 2022)

Thanks for sharing that great story. Otherwise, many of us would have never known about this cool spooky Schwinn  👏 
Tommy


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## StingrayRider (Apr 24, 2022)

Thanks for sharing and taking the time to do a great write-up. I was jokingly called Eddie Munster back when I was a kid because I supposedly resembled him. I never knew about his chain bike. I remember going to a Movie Car Museum in So Cal when i was a kid, but dont remember seeing that bike. I do remember seeing a old go kart with metallic blue paint and blue glitter seat and dual McCuhlocc engines. I got separated from my parents and when they found me I was at the go-kart in awe.


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## Xlobsterman (Apr 24, 2022)

StingrayRider said:


> Thanks for sharing and taking the time to do a great write-up. I was jokingly called Eddie Monster back when I was a kid because I supposedly resembled him. I never knew about his chain bike. I remember going to a Movie Car Museum in So Cal when i was a kid, but dont remember seeing that bike. I do remember seeing a old go kart with metallic blue paint and blue glitter seat and dual McCuhlocc engines. I got separated from my parents and when they found me I was at the go-kart in awe.




I didn't write the article, it was written by someone else, and I saw it on FB this morning. I just did a copy & paste of the text, and uploaded the pic.


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## StingrayRider (Apr 24, 2022)

Just found this. https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/eddie-munster-bike.133719/


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## razinhellcustomz (Apr 25, 2022)

Xlobsterman said:


> I saw this posted on FB this morning and thought some of you may be interested in the history of this bike.
> 
> View attachment 1612934
> 
> ...



I had the chance to talk and meet Butch Patrick several years ago at the Iola car show and even got his autograph and a hand shake too.. Really great down to earth guy.. Always had a funny line for every thing he said... Really cool guy.. Thanks Butch...


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## mrg (Apr 25, 2022)

razinhellcustomz said:


> I had the chance to talk and meet Butch Patrick several years ago at the Iola car show and even got his autograph and a hand shake too.. Really great down to earth guy.. Always had a funny line for every thing he said... Really cool guy.. Thanks Butch...



Pics!


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## razinhellcustomz (Apr 25, 2022)

mrg said:


> Pics!



Yeah, thanks didn't have a camera phone at the time...


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## Mymando (May 6, 2022)

Great story, as many kids did at the time I too watched the show religiously at the time and the cars were the highlight of the show. Thanks for sharing. Great memories.


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## PCHiggin (May 6, 2022)

razinhellcustomz said:


> I had the chance to talk and meet Butch Patrick several years ago at the Iola car show and even got his autograph and a hand shake too.. Really great down to earth guy.. Always had a funny line for every thing he said... Really cool guy.. Thanks Butch...



He must have mellowed with age, infriendly @ Detroit Autorama years ago.


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## Hoagie57 (May 9, 2022)

mrg said:


> Pics!



Why do you need pics ...


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## mrg (May 9, 2022)

Just thought if you met & shook hands with a celeb ( and maybe his bike ) you would take pics!, cell phone/cameras have been around for years and before that people took cameras to events like that.


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## Hoagie57 (May 9, 2022)

mrg said:


> Just thought if you met & shook hands with a celeb ( and maybe his bike ) you would take pics!, cell phone/cameras have been around for years and before that people took cameras to events like that.



Yes sir and way before that you just took there word for it. We'd all be better off if we still did that ,, just take the persons word, TRUST it's called. 
I go a lot of places and "never" take pics. Why? because most people don't really care. 🤫


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## Boris (May 9, 2022)

Thanks for posting the story! On a more personal note, I was more of an Addams Family guy. Why? Because I couldn't stand Grandpa in the Munsters. Still can't! .........also because I was in love with Morticia......also because I thought it was a better show. But, waaaaay cool bike. Spiderweb windshield, nice touch.


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## Boris (May 16, 2022)

Actually, I dislike Grandpa a lot more now than I did back then, for some odd reason.


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## Dra (May 25, 2022)

I wonder if Indian Larry got his idea from this article when he did that chain frame panhead on biker build off cool rides


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## Dogtown (Jun 14, 2022)

Butch was great, I had the opportunity to meet him a few times when he was a grip at 20Th Century Fox when I first started  there. If I remember correctly he was working on Dharma and Greg at the time.


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## Rusty Klunker (Jun 29, 2022)

Boris said:


> Actually, I dislike Grandpa a lot more now than I did back then, for some odd reason.




Ah come on, hes a bicyclist. How can you dislike that.


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## mrg (Jun 30, 2022)

Their cars were cool too!


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## Bill in Bama (Jul 9, 2022)

The only thing I have to add to munster bike is…..”that’s badass”! Really a blast!


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## Arthur Roy Brown (Jul 11, 2022)

Cars of the Stars and Planes of Fame were on Orangethorpe Ave in Buena Park, CA









						Movie World, Cars of the Stars and Planes of Fame Museum (site) - Wikimapia
					

Cars of the Stars  6920 Orangethorpe Ave. Buena Park, CA 92801  Former farmer Jim Brucker had one of the biggest parking problems in Hollywood. As the owner-operator of Oxnard's Movieland Cars of the Stars and Picture Car’ Company in Los Angeles, he had one of the largest privately owned...



					wikimapia.org
				




I remember the Monkee Mobile being there as well.


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## SoBayRon (Jul 11, 2022)

Tribute bike?


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## BFGforme (Jul 11, 2022)

SoBayRon said:


> Tribute bike?
> View attachment 1660520



Wow, a lot going on there…🤣


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## mike cates (Sep 16, 2022)

Here are two lamps that Von Dutch painted the spiders and webs on the lenses. Two other lamps were fitted as head lamps and these two were going to be used as tail lamps but were found to be too large so smaller ones were fitted on the rear of the original Munster Koach. These two lamps have sat dormant in a closet since the mid 1960's until their sale to a private car builder recently. I actually got to see them prior to their sale and capture these photos first hand.
Oh Yeah...I got to meet Von Dutch in the 1980's and he showed me knives he'd made, his pin striping kit he used for cars, motorcycles and just about anything else, a full sized working slot machine he made that all parts were made of clear acrylic plastic (You could actually see through the complete slot machine and see all the inner gears and workings) AMAZING, paintings he had done and that were in progress and his motorcycle with it's side car that had the headlight at the front with the "Flying Eyeball" wings design all around it which was, besides his many other things, one thing he was famous for. It is amazing to have met a famous craftsman like "Dutch" in my life and I encourage anyone to meet people that inspire them in their lives..... the memories will always be with you.
Mike Cates, CA.

Here's a link you can click on for some Von Dutch history for your enjoyment:    


			https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiJrar_u5z6AhV0K0QIHbozAdIQFnoECA0QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Flethalthreat.com%2Fblogs%2Fnews%2Fvon-dutch-and-the-history-of-the-flying-eyeball&usg=AOvVaw0TfbEJ33_Vo3su85qrCvAE


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## Grey Ghost (Nov 23, 2022)

The chain bike is cool and all but unless I can find an example in terra cotta I’m not interested.


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