Post by DiggerFan on Mar 31, 2010 20:29:20 GMT -5
Frankenstein Monster Truck lives up to its terrifying name
The Spokesman Review (Spokane, Washington)
(Page 25)
Friday, March 30, 1984
BY: Chuck Stewart
Slower than a speeding snail, more powerful than a can crusher, able to snuff two cars in a single bounded leap...
Look... Out at the Interstate Fairgrounds. It's... It's Frankenstein Monster Truck!
You won't have to watch the kids closely around one of the feature attractions at the 21st Spokane Auto Boat Speed Show, which runs through Sunday at the Fairgrounds, but you may want to keep an eye on the car.
Frankenstein Monster Truck attracts youngsters - and oldsters, too - like a new video game. And it's as tame.
But the radically transformed 1954 Ford pickup, which has devoured automobiles regularly in its three months of existence, will put on car-crushing displays daily through Sunday's closing performance.
Get eyeball-to-headlight with this customized, yellow pickup and you might mistake it for a mild-mannered street machine.
But look beneath the frame and it's... well, it's monster city.
It may not be one-of-a-kind. Not even an original. But Frankenstein Monster Truck should prove to be the show-stealer in an arena that also includes the black, computer-bedecked Trans-Am KITT from the television show Knight Rider, television star Doug Barr, "Howie" from the Fall Guy series, and He Man and Masters of the Universe cartoon figures.
Frankenstein evolved from the brains of Cliff Starbird and his parter, Richard Rathbun, inspired by other monster trucks now stalking the country.
"There's Big Foot, and King Kong, and Bear Foot... all those big, four-wheel drive monster trucks," noted Starbird.
"We used King Kong in one of our shows in San Francisco," added the resident of Mulvane, Kan., who, with his father, puts on shows during the winter months and spends the summers customizing cars. "And with the price they get, I said we could build our own and save some money."
But he didn't want a clone.
"I thought, why don't we build one - only make it a little wilder; a little more impressive."
While Frankenstein's predecessors are fashioned under late-model bodies, Starbird said, "We decided to use an early model body, and customize it. We chopped it four inches, put on a customized tailgate, filled in the body holes, things like that.
"Who want to see a stock body? You can see them on the road all the time. That's why we decided to customize it," he added.
But you'll excuse the patrons if they don't notice Frankenstein has been customized. It's like someone saying they buy Playboy for the articles. In this case, it's not the truck body that is the attraction, it's what's underneath.
And underneath Frankenstein once was a five-ton 6x6 Army truck.
"Of course," smiled Starbird, adjusting his glasses, "it's been altered and cut down."
Standing an awesone 11 feet tall on four 66x48-inch tires - with wheels that weigh 800 pounds each - Frankenstein is powered by a 302 GMC engine with a two-barrel carburetor. It has a top speed of 55 mph - downhill, with the wind - but generally stays between 1 and 8 mph, utilizing a four-speed Allison automatic transmission with a 2½-ton REO transfer with high and low gear that gives it the power to crush full-sized cars without batting a windshield wiper.
It weighs 12,000 pounds, with two 6x6 Army truck rear ends giving it the mobility to turn either the front or rear wheels.
"We have about 50 grand in it," Starbird said.
And trash under it when Frankenstein Monster Truck finishes its act.
Rathbun is the driver and Starbird his spotter.
"You have to have someone on the ground," Starbird explained, "because the truck is so big and tall and the cars are so little (in comparison) you can't see them."
But you can feel them.
"Definitely," he smiled.
Getting within a couple feet of the prey, Frankenstein inches forward, crushing two to three cars at a time, riding over them with the ease of a shopper taking "speed bumps" in a parking lot.
The Spokesman Review (Spokane, Washington)
(Page 25)
Friday, March 30, 1984
BY: Chuck Stewart
Slower than a speeding snail, more powerful than a can crusher, able to snuff two cars in a single bounded leap...
Look... Out at the Interstate Fairgrounds. It's... It's Frankenstein Monster Truck!
You won't have to watch the kids closely around one of the feature attractions at the 21st Spokane Auto Boat Speed Show, which runs through Sunday at the Fairgrounds, but you may want to keep an eye on the car.
Frankenstein Monster Truck attracts youngsters - and oldsters, too - like a new video game. And it's as tame.
But the radically transformed 1954 Ford pickup, which has devoured automobiles regularly in its three months of existence, will put on car-crushing displays daily through Sunday's closing performance.
Get eyeball-to-headlight with this customized, yellow pickup and you might mistake it for a mild-mannered street machine.
But look beneath the frame and it's... well, it's monster city.
It may not be one-of-a-kind. Not even an original. But Frankenstein Monster Truck should prove to be the show-stealer in an arena that also includes the black, computer-bedecked Trans-Am KITT from the television show Knight Rider, television star Doug Barr, "Howie" from the Fall Guy series, and He Man and Masters of the Universe cartoon figures.
Frankenstein evolved from the brains of Cliff Starbird and his parter, Richard Rathbun, inspired by other monster trucks now stalking the country.
"There's Big Foot, and King Kong, and Bear Foot... all those big, four-wheel drive monster trucks," noted Starbird.
"We used King Kong in one of our shows in San Francisco," added the resident of Mulvane, Kan., who, with his father, puts on shows during the winter months and spends the summers customizing cars. "And with the price they get, I said we could build our own and save some money."
But he didn't want a clone.
"I thought, why don't we build one - only make it a little wilder; a little more impressive."
While Frankenstein's predecessors are fashioned under late-model bodies, Starbird said, "We decided to use an early model body, and customize it. We chopped it four inches, put on a customized tailgate, filled in the body holes, things like that.
"Who want to see a stock body? You can see them on the road all the time. That's why we decided to customize it," he added.
But you'll excuse the patrons if they don't notice Frankenstein has been customized. It's like someone saying they buy Playboy for the articles. In this case, it's not the truck body that is the attraction, it's what's underneath.
And underneath Frankenstein once was a five-ton 6x6 Army truck.
"Of course," smiled Starbird, adjusting his glasses, "it's been altered and cut down."
Standing an awesone 11 feet tall on four 66x48-inch tires - with wheels that weigh 800 pounds each - Frankenstein is powered by a 302 GMC engine with a two-barrel carburetor. It has a top speed of 55 mph - downhill, with the wind - but generally stays between 1 and 8 mph, utilizing a four-speed Allison automatic transmission with a 2½-ton REO transfer with high and low gear that gives it the power to crush full-sized cars without batting a windshield wiper.
It weighs 12,000 pounds, with two 6x6 Army truck rear ends giving it the mobility to turn either the front or rear wheels.
"We have about 50 grand in it," Starbird said.
And trash under it when Frankenstein Monster Truck finishes its act.
Rathbun is the driver and Starbird his spotter.
"You have to have someone on the ground," Starbird explained, "because the truck is so big and tall and the cars are so little (in comparison) you can't see them."
But you can feel them.
"Definitely," he smiled.
Getting within a couple feet of the prey, Frankenstein inches forward, crushing two to three cars at a time, riding over them with the ease of a shopper taking "speed bumps" in a parking lot.