Bill Cushenbery (March 22, 1933 – December 12, 1998) was an American car customizer, show car builder, and model kit designer. Cushenbery was a major influence on the look of custom cars and the customizing industry in general. In addition to building his own designs, he is noted for having helped George Barris create the Batmobile car featured in the 1966–1968 Batman television series.
History
Cushenbery worked in autobody repair shops to learn to do bodywork. Several members of his family were already in the trade and helped train him, but Cushenbery wanted to build new instead of repair damage.
Cushenbery started customizing cars in 1947, in a small shop set up in the back of his parents' house behind a service station in Wichita, Kansas. His first custom was a 1948 Frazer coupe.
Cushenbery soon established his own business called the Kansas Kustom Shop. At first, his body shop did work paid for by insurance companies, as well as some mild custom work. At the same time Darryl Starbird's Star Kustom Shop was also in Wichita.
After visiting California, Cushenbery returned to Wichita just long enough to get married, and then relocated to Monterey, California in 1954. He worked at a Cadillac dealership for about one year, while also picking up work from a local car club.
In the early 1960s, model car maker AMT created the Custom Car Caravan. AMT Vice President George Toteff and AMT Representative Budd Anderson worked with George Barris to create the Caravan as a way to promote car culture and AMT products in particular. Shortly after that first Caravan, Jacques Passino, the director of Ford’s Special Products Division, became involved and rebranded the show as the Ford Custom Car Caravan for 1963. While the first Ford Caravan focused mainly on cars developed by the company in house, in subsequent years many independent customizers were included, with Cushenbery being among the first invited to develop a car for the show.
Cushenbery's ties to AMT extended to developing model kits of his designs for sale.
In 1965, Cushenbery relocated his shop to Burbank, California, just blocks from Barris' North Hollywood location. During his time there, he incorporated his business to raise money to finish some projects, but wound up losing control of the shop to his other partners and walking away from Burbank. He opened a new shop in Bakersfield in 1974.
By 1966, the public had lost its taste for radical customs, so Cushenbery turned his attention to restoration work and to repairs for high-end imports. He customized a number of Porsches, and a De Tomaso Pantera. He worked on Frank Sinatra's Dual-Ghia and worked with Steve McQueen on the cars for the Le Mans film, developing camera mounts and specialized body panels. He became well known as a restorer of Mercedes-Benz 300 SLs.
Show cars and noteworthy customs
El Matador
In late 1959, Cushenbery began work on his first show car, El Matador, as a rolling advertisement. Although often mistaken for a 1940 Ford, El Matador started life as a 1939 model and debuted in February 1961 at the Oakland Roadster Show.
During the period when Cushenbery was tied to Ford, the original Oldsmobile Rocket V8 was replaced with a Ford engine.
Les Popo
Cushenbery was just one of the customizers involved in building this 1940 Ford Coupe for Bob Crespo. Completed in the late 1950s, the coupe's body was sectioned by Hal Hutchins, with some additional restyling done by Cushenbery. Barris built the hood, frenched in the grille, and installed the canted quad headlamps.
Exodus
Exodus was a 1959 Chevrolet Impala that Cushenbery built for Tony Cardoza. Every body panel on this car was altered in some way, setting a new trend in customizing.
Exodus was completed in 1961 and shown at the 1961 Monterey Kar Kapades.
Limelighter
Limelighter was a 1958 Impala built by Cushenbery in 1964 for Frank Gould of Hollister, California. The car's front and rear were extensively reshaped, and the pan was rolled. Inside, the stock dashboard was replaced by a section of wing strut and two instrument pods from a 1950s era Nash, and a custom console was added.
Bud Millard acquired the car in 1998 and made plans for the original builder to restore the car himself, but Cushenbery died before he could start. Limelighter was then sent to OZ Kustoms, who restored the car and made other changes, including chopping an additional out of the roof height and replacing the engine and transmission with a 1996 vintage Chevrolet small-block engine and a 700R automatic transmission.