Kingsville student hot rod cleans up at Detroit show
Grandpa Munster would be proud of the Kingsville youngsters. A coffin dragster inspired by the 1960s sitcom The Munsters and custom built by Kingsville District High School students won two first-place awards at the Detroit Autorama Sunday.
“It’s a huge uplifting thing for the tech students because a lot of times they don’t get a lot of praise,” Kingsville District High School auto shop teacher Gord Osborne said Monday. “We cleaned up at the Autorama. I just wanted to get it in there.”
The weekend show with 800 cars and almost 150,000 spectators is billed as America’s Greatest Hot Rod Show so it is an honour just to be selected, Detroit Autorama spokeswoman Linda Ashley said Tuesday.
The purple Dragula 2.0 won not only the show’s high school category but the special interest motorized category against cars built by hot rod shops or owners.
“To win in an established category where you’re competing against all the other cars is really a major accomplishment and we’re very proud of a high school being able to do that,” Ashley said.
“It just says something positive about the future of car customizing as a hobby.”
The one-of-a-kind dragster has a coffin hood with a power lift to reveal a 350 Chevy engine.
The two-seater has organ pipes as exhaust pipes, a spider web front grill, and a tombstone at the front between lanterns as headlights. Ashley called the purple coffin car spectacular. “To say it’s a special interest is an understatement. It was one of the most creative cars there.”
More than 80 students worked on the Dragula 2.0 over the last three years.
When Osborne first suggested the Dragula from The Munsters, students asked ‘Who are the monsters?’
The 55-year-old grew up watching the black and white reruns. In the Hot Rod Herman episode, Herman Munster loses the family car in a drag strip race bet. Grandpa, a veteran vampire, builds his own dragster called the Drag-u-la and wins back the Munsters Koach. Osborne and his wife spent under $10,000 so the students could build something special to get in the Autorama and received another $12,000 in donated parts or custom work from local businesses. Southern Collision in Kingsville donated at least $3,000 worth of bodywork that couldn’t be done at the high school shop and Chapman Signs did the $2,500 to $3,000 purple wrap that looks like a custom paint job at no charge. Osborne also thanked Farrow Performance, Metal Tech, LKQ Canada, Westside Performance, Dean Ciacelli and Jeff Labonte for their help.
Osborne said the students were dedicated to the project and it paid off. The Dragula 2.0 was a hit at the show where the top custom cars competing for the Ridler Award can be worth $1 million. “It was five deep. People loved this thing.” He was happy it made the show and placed first in the high school category where he was told Kingsville was the first Canadian high school in the Detroit Autorama. He wasn’t paying close attention during the Sunday awards when the car won the special interest motorized category and couldn’t believe it at first. Students who were with the car started jumping up and down when he got out of the ceremony to tell them they had just beaten pros in one category. “We built that with 14 to 17-yearold kids. That’s amazing. That still blows my mind,” he said. “It was just amazing that we were right in there with all the big guns.” The Dragula is on display at the Canadian Transportation Museum until March 22. The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday. Then it’s off to a car show at the London fairgrounds March 23 and 24.
He’s keeping it to show what students can do and it will be back for the high school’s annual car show May 17.