Eddie Munster Bike from the TV Show, The Munsters

The Munsters TV show only aired from 1964-66, but is still fondly remembered over 4 decades later. The CBS television comedy series revolved around a middle-class, American family resembling famous movie monsters, such as Frankenstein and Dracula. The Munster family was highly eccentric, to say the least. Their €home€ was a spiderweb filled, creepy, old mansion, and their €pet€ was a fire-breathing dragon under the staircase. They were a multi-generational family, whose Grandpa worked in a laboratory...in their basement.

Edward Wolfgang Eddie Munster, the fictional €son€ on the sitcom, was originally played by actor, Butch Patrick. (The role was later played by Jason Marsden in The Munsters Today.) His parents, Herman and Lily Munster, had only the one child, Eddie, and he was a werewolf. In some episodes, Eddie showed signs of being part vampire too, such as when he sleeps in a coffin. He carried a stuffed werewolf doll, €Wolfy€ or €Woof Woof,€ which looked like Lon Chaney, Jr.'s character in €The Wolfman.€ He was an average boy, attending elementary school, but he sported pointed ears, bushy eyebrows, a severe widow's peak, and a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit. Eddie Munster's bike was made of chains & a spiderweb windshield.

Hot rods and custom cars were huge in 1964 California. With this in mind, the show's producers asked George Barris, King of the Kustomizers, to build The Munster's funny family car. The Barris kustom shop designed the Munster Koach just for the TV show. The creepy, custom hot rod was made from 3 Model-T bodies. As hoped, it became famous quickly, so George Barris studios made The TV series a 2nd vehicle, Dragula, which was a dragster sporting a coffin body.

George then had the idea to make a Kustom Bicycle for little Eddie Munster,€ since his Munster Koach and Dragula cars had been worth their publicity weight in gold. Barris thought it would be cool for 11-year-old Butch Patrick, the actor who portrayed "Eddie Munster,€ to have a custom bike to ride around the set where they filmed the TV show. It's said that he developed an affection for the child actor during his visits to the set. Butch was even invited to the Barris Kustom Shop, by George Barris himself, where the boy would wander around, admiring all the new, custom cars in development.

Once George Barris designed the custom, concept, his employee, Skip Barrett, oversaw the building of the bicycle. The bike was based on the popular 20-inch high-rise bikes of the day, like the Schwinn Stingray. The frame of Eddie's kustom bike was it's most memorable feature, being completely hand-made from welded steel chain. Some original Stingray frame components were used as well the head tube, bottom bracket shell, rear dropouts, and a few inches of the seat post tube.

THE CHAIN BIKE FRAME

The fabrication of the chain bike was a collaborative effort between Skip Barrett & Von Dutch. Skip Barrett contacted Von Dutch, famous fabricator and detail man, for the fabrication work of the project. Von Dutch had worked with the Barris shop many times and had a taste for unusual cars. The Eddie Munster chain bike project peeked Von Dutch's interest, and he promptly fabricated the bicycle's chain link frame. The Munster chain bike's €fork€ was a stock Schwinn, but with the chrome truss rods removed, similar to those on the Stingray SuperDeluxe model. It also featured a small tassel hung from the spring bolt by the rubber bumper. The €sissy bar€ base was a stock 36€ Bill Mathews Corporation unit. (these were factory-made with a bent-back rounded top and a metal ring welded on about 8 inches above the seat mount holes.) Von Dutch added his own personal touch to the metal work, providing decorative elements welded onto the tubes, which gave it a creeping vine effect.

The chain link bikes' seat was a plush banana-type, and sported a black coffin upholstery, with a gold trim lining its lower edge. The custom bike's wheels were standard Stingray 20, with the rear wheel sporting a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed hub (assumed to be a S.A. TriCoaster model). They were controlled by a S.A. 3-speed trigger shifter, which was mounted to the seat post. The rear end was capped off with a bolt-mounted, chrome plated Bill Mathews Corporation nerf bar (like the push bars seen on hot rods and dragsters). Finishing touches included an antique brass tail lamp, with a red lens, mounted behind the seat, and a final coating of gold paint.

THE BARRIS BIKE'S SPIDERWEB WINDSHIELD

The handlebars of this Barris bike were the standard Wald high-rise. A crossbar was installed, on which to mount an antique bicycle lamp. The Kustom Bike even had a spider web and spider design on it's windshield, which was attached to the upper front of the handlebars, and had Eddie's name hand-painted across the top. Bright red Schwinn-type handle grips and streamer tassels, and a small, looping bulb horn, completed the look. The €Spiderweb Windshield,€ along with the bicycle's chain link frame, was it's calling card.

A few years after The Munsters series stopped production, George Barris sold Eddie Munster's chain bike. Before 1973, it was proudly displayed at Jim Brucker's Movieworld- Cars of the Stars museum in California, where Von Dutch worked, but was eventually sold at auction in 1985. The bike has had multiple owners, and is currently part of the collection of a Munster aficionado living on the US West Coast. The chain bike remained basically intact, but is missing its spider web windshield, head & tail lamps, and rear nerf bar. It is believed that these parts were removed in the late 1960's. Estimate $600-$900 US. Auction Sale Price $1,725

RM AUCTION RESULTS Eddie Munster's Von Dutch Bike

Unfortunately, fans who watched €The Munsters TV series in the 60s never got to see Eddie's chain bike, as it never appeared on the show. In fact, only a few insiders knew the story behind the chain bike until ten years ago. Though the history behind it was hidden for decades, the bike itself survived, along with a couple of vintage photos of €Eddie€ riding it, and a few documentation photos taken by George Barris he finished it. Lowrider Bicycle magazine ran an article on the Barris chain bike in the late 1990s, locating a few old photos of it as well. The fan speculation on the significance of Eddie Munster's chain bike, created by readers of the article, birthed an origin myth for the low rider bicycle movement.

Young Butch Patrick (AKA Eddie Munster) happily rode the Barris Kustom chain bicycle for years around Universal studios. As a grown man, Butch fondly remembers €the great times I had riding it...and the warm friendship I had with the Kustom King, George Barris.€ USA Choppers, along with actor Butch Patrick, have gotten together to design a unique version of Eddie's custom bike on The Munster's TV series. These limited edition bikes are exclusive machines and only thirteen will be manufactured. They can be purchased here httpusachoppers1.comassetsproductseddie_bike.html
Eddie Munster's Monster Bike #1 with custom paint job from The Munsters

Butch Patrick a.k.a. Eddie Munster is available for appearances at Halloween parties and events such as Reunions, Birthdays, Corporate Parties and more. All promotions are customized to your market. Join the Official Eddie Munster Facebook Fan Group here httpfacebook.comgroup.phpgid=112895838760279

See our article on the famous cars from the TV show, The Munsters,
Munster Koach & Drag-u-la€ in the €Star Cars€ section of of http://GearheadDIVA.com.

EDDIE MUNSTER STATS:

NAME: Edward Eddie Wolfgang Munster

AGE: 8-10 years old

LOOK: Eddie wears a €Little Lord Fauntleroy€ suit, which is his ONLY piece of clothing & carries a werewolf doll named €Woof-Woof.€ He has dark hair, with widow's peak, bushy eyebrows, pale skin, pointe