Edward Dean Jeffries was an American custom car designer and fabricator, as well as stuntman and stunt coordinator for motion pictures and television programs based in Los Angeles, California.
14 Facts About Dean Jeffries
1.
2.
Dean Jeffries served in the United States Army during the Korean War, stationed in Germany.
3.
Actor James Dean was one of his early customers, and Jeffries painted "Little Bastard" on Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder.
4.
Dean Jeffries drove to my Lynwood shop in his new 550 and asked me to paint a temporary number 130 on the front hood, rear deck lid, and both doors of the Spyder in flat black, washable paint.
5.
Dean Jeffries asked me to paint "Little Bastard" on the tail section in the same font script.
6.
Dean Jeffries would go on to become one of the best custom car painters of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and an early pioneer of painting flames on cars.
7.
Dean Jeffries began custom fabrication in the 1960s, expanding his premises three times in the decade.
8.
Dean Jeffries built The Mantaray, Python, Black Beauty, the Monkeemobile, the Landmaster from Damnation Alley, the Moon buggy, the trolley.
9.
Dean Jeffries was an expert on dune buggies, produced his own models, and has contributed to books about them.
10.
Dean Jeffries is credited as the constructor of the five cars attempting to drive across the US in the 1975 film, Death Race 2000.
11.
In 1996, the owner of Black Beauty hired Dean Jeffries to do a complete restoration.
12.
Dean Jeffries worked on the design and initial fabrication for the Batmobile, but when the studio wanted the car sooner than he could deliver, he turned the project over to George Barris who hired Bill Cushenbery to perform the fabrication work.
13.
Dean Jeffries died in his sleep May 5,2013, at home in Hollywood.
14.
Dean Jeffries was 80 and had been in declining health.