The Red Baron

What Happened to Chuck Miller’s Red Baron?
Sub Plot...



If you were a kid in the 1960′s you probably day dreamed of driving the Red Baron. Like who didn't! Yeah, for sure that car was so cool and radical! This was a special type of car that you built models of and bought the Hot Wheels car to add to your collection. That is, if you could find it at your local department store! This Hot Wheels car called the "Red Baron" wasn't hanging around the shelves when it was released back in 1970!


It was hot and we couldn't get enough of it. Week after week we noticed lots of Snakes and Mongoose there, but we all wanted the Red Baron. There was something magical or shall we say charming about this car. Question is what made this so popular and so quickly?


The Red Baron is one of the most iconic hot rods of all time, it was popular on the car show scene during the 60′s and 70′s. The car became a rodding icon thanks to it’s wild appearance and it’s following among the youth.




The story of the Baron began in 1968 when designer Tom Daniel was asked by Monogram to design a new model kit. Daniel wanted to design a hot rod but not an ordinary hot rod, he wanted to make something wild and unique.




He found inspiration for his design within Southern California rodding and surfing culture.


In the 1960′s So-Cal hot rodders and surfers wore German WWI helmets as a symbol of rebellion. (Like who knew that!)


These helmets were produced and sold by hot rod legend Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. (I believe we vaguely recall him, sure love that Beatnik Bandit that Hot Wheels released which is his design). Well, Daniel took one look at those helmets and knew one would look great on top of a T-bucket.


He designed the Baron as a C-Cab T-bucket with a helmet for a body, and a WWI German inline six aircraft engine as the power plant. When the model debuted in 1968 it sold like hot cakes, young boys all over the country saved their dimes to purchase a kit of their own. The model was so popular that in 1969 Monogram worked with car show guru Bob Larivee to have a full scale version built. Larivee commissioned Chuck Miller the owner of Detroit Styleline Customs to undergo this project.


"Reversing the usual procedure of developing plastic models from full size vehicles, the Red Baron show car was inspired by the Tom Daniel's Monogram model kit of the same name. Commissioned to custom car builder Chuck Miller by the Show Car Division of the ISCA.


It was unveiled at the Detroit Autorama in January 1969. The Red Baron was originally designed by Tom Daniel for Monogram Models, and converting the design to full scale was much easier to design than build. For instance, Daniel incorporated a 1914 Mercedes aircraft engine to power his Red Baron. However, due to its improper scale, (hey, Daniel is an artist, not a car builder!) Miller had to improvise, powering his Red Baron with a Pontiac overhead-cam, 6-cylinder".
 
Information from hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Baron



To construct the Baron, Miller used a Model-T frame and fabricated the helmet-shaped body over it. He then gave the car it’s red paint job, added cheater slicks tires and threw on a pair of machine guns in front of the cockpit. Since the power plant of the model was a German Aircraft inline six, Miller didn’t want to use a V-8. Instead he found a 1968 Pontiac OHC Inline Six to use as a substitute. He then attached a zoomie header, as well as a helmet-shaped air cleaner and thus the Red Baron was born.


"One other non-cost-effective situation were the custom wheels conceived by Tom Daniel: Miller was forced to replicate these by using Sheet Metal. He cut them to resemble the wheels in the model kit, painted them black, and attached them to chromed steel wheels. The hand-formed, all steel body, equipped with replicated machine guns, sits atop a custom built frame and is topped off with a large fiberglass German WWI helmet. This is where another problem arose for Miller. Although Daniels' kit featured a chrome plated helmet, Miller was unable to achieve this with his car. Unfortunately, there were no companies at the time that had large enough plating equipment. Miller was forced to settle for a silver metal flake paint job instead".

Information from hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Baron









After it was completed, Miller and Monogram then took the car on a cross country show tour. It was on this show tour that the Baron became a huge hit among both hot rodders and model builders, it’s popularity would sell 3 million Monogram kits by 1972. The car remained on the show circuit throughout the 70′s until it mysteriously disappeared. For years it’s whereabouts were unknown, however, today the Baron can be found in the Smith Collection Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska.






The story goes that due to its overwhelming popularity two more Red Baron replicas were produced by Jay Ohrberg, the original “Mr. Roadster” (a story for another day): one a V8 and the other a 6.

Read the rest of the story here...
www.tbucketplans.com/every-kids-dream-the-red-baron-t-bucket/


Images and information courtesy of...
www.streetlegaltv.com/news/what-happend-to-chuck-millers-red-baron/
www.tbucketplans.com/every-kids-dream-the-red-baron-t-bucket/


Hot Wheels - The Red Baron

It was issued in 1970 and was in production until 1977. Some changes occurred along the way like the spike on the helmet was reduced to a mere round dot as shown below. In 1993 the Red Baron was re-issued for the 25th Anniversary of Hot Wheels! It continued to be released in 1994 as the Vintage series in various colors. The full listing of Red Baron issues is located here  hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Red_Baron.










This crazy looking Red Baron car was so popular Monogram wanted a real car built to showcase it. Yes Hot Wheels collectors, a show car was commissioned from a model kit...and Mattel owned Monogram at the time. So the first concept car sketch Ira Gilford designed for Mattel, called "Dream I", also known as the Twinmill, took 30 years for Mattel to make it a real car or show car...


Tom Daniel, in the meantime, who designed concept model kits that were also made into Hot Wheels...in this case the Red Baron concept in 1968 was made into a real car one year later. So unofficially the first concept Hot Wheels car that came to be a show car is technically the Red Baron and not the Twin Mill! It was 1969 when Mattel decided this would be made into a Hot Wheels car.




Speaking on the subject of Tom Daniel, It would have been nice if he transferred to the Hot Wheels division when they were looking for someone to design their cars. He was a big influence for Mattel since many of his model kits were made into Hot Wheels. But imagine how many more crazy and wacky designs he would have created if he was working directly in the Hot Wheels division....



Here is a list...

Bad Man
Bad Medicine (When is Hot Wheels going to release this amazing model kit car?)







Baja Bandito
Baja Beast
Beer Wagon





Big Red Baron
Boss A Bone
Boss Bulldozer
Boss Mustang
Cal Street Vette
Cherry Bomb
Cop Out
Devil Chopper
Dog Catcher
Draggin' Fly
Dragon Wagon
Dune Rat
Earthquake
Extreme Shovel
Fake Out
Fast Buck
Fiend
Firecracker
Fire Iron
Firebomb
Flap Jack
Garbage Truck
Ghost of the Red Baron
Gremlin
Groovy Grader
Grim Reaper
Hangman
Hemi Semi
Honest Engine
Horn Toad
Ice 'T'
Jinx Express
King Chopper
Leap Hog
Li'l Red Baron
Li'l Van
Low Blow
Mean Maverick
Mojave Mule
Mountain Mover
Muscle Bug
Outcast
Paddy Wagon
Pie Wagon



Poison Pinto
Popper Chopper
Quicksilver
Rat Vega
Rattler
Red Baron
Rip Off
Roarin' Rail
Roar 'N Peace
Rommel's Rod
Sand Crab
Sand Shark
Satan's Cycle
S'Cool Bus
Screamin' Skipshovel
Screamin' Vette
Shut Out
Smug Bug
Son of Ford
Stampede
Streeto Vandito
Street Cleaner
Street Fighter
Super Taxi
Super Digger
SweeTee
Thunder Bug
Tijuana Taxi
Top Chop
T'Rantula
T'Rantula (snap)
Trick 'T'
Troublemaker
Unreal Roller
Vampire Trike
Vanana Split
Vandal
Whiplash

From Tom Daniel's website...
www.tomdaniel.com/85_kits/frm_85kits.html

For a short time, Mattel owned Monogram, and the Hot Wheels "Red Baron" was included as a bonus in some model kit boxes. I have some pics of these as well.

Red Baron
Ice T
Paddy Wagon
Sand Crab
S'Cool Bus

There's gotta be more. Actually there is more since many of his other model kits designs were used in the Zowees line, Rrrumbers, Sizzlers, Chop Cycles, Gran Toros...
Wow, quite the influence on the Hot Wheels division of toys. He should have been the main man designing these die-cast cars...oh well.

More pics of the Red Baron...



This Red Baron below with a white interior and delrin bearings is a pre-production or prototype. Only 10 have been known to exist with a white interior. By the way, this one also has a blank base which makes it even more uncommon.




There was a time when the Red Baron was the coolest Hot Wheels car to have in the 60's and 70's. Mattel produced a lot of them as well. Today that distinction of hottest car belongs to the VW Drag Bus! However suppose the Red Baron was somehow made part of the VW Drag Bus. Would this cause another sensation? You decide...









References

Red Baron 3-Dimensional Art Hot Rod
by TequilaBill
Digital Art / 3-Dimensional Art / Vehicles / Terrestrial (for land)
©2008-2014 TequilaBill

Inspired by the origional design by Tom Daniel. Modeled and rendered in Lightwave.

www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/artists/74115567?view_mode=2


Real Red Baron
photocamel.com/forum/transportation/139502-childhood-fantasy-comes-life-red-baron.html

Show Rods Model Kit
www.showrods.com/gallery_pages/red_baron1.html

More great Red Baron Renditions
coffincorner.proboards.com/thread/13072

Halloween Red Baron Review...
www.battlegrip.com/?p=7262