Munster Koach

The Munster Koach was the family car that was used in the television series, The Munsters. The show's producers contracted George Barris to provide the Koach. Barris asked Tom Daniel to design the car, and had it built at Barris Kustoms, First by Tex Smith, but finished by Dick Dean, his shop foreman at the time. The Munster Koach appeared in over twenty episodes throughout the series' two-year run.[{Please see Cars of the Stars by Barris and Scagnetti 1974} Tom Daniel's original drawing of the Munster Koach had it blown with a hood scoop and thin round disc lights. George Barris chose the ten carb set up with the ten air horns and lantern lights. {See also www.tomdaniel.com}

Specifications

Only one Koach was made for the television series and feature film. It was made from 3 Model T bodies and is 18' long. The 133" frame was made by hand, as were the brass radiator and fenders. It has "blood red" interior and Gloss Black Pearl paint. It took 500 hours to hand form the ornate rolled steel scrollworks. The front end had a dropped axle, split radius rods and T springs. AMT produced a plastic model kit of the car during the series run. It has been reissued several times since. Johnny Lightning has also produced a 1/64th scale die-cast model of the car. The Munster Koach was used in Munsters Go Home but different wheels were used. An unauthorized reproduction Koach was built on speculation and presented to George Barris. But Barris declined to buy it. Tubbs Johnson, Barris's paint man, purchased the unauthorized Koach and later sold it to Jay Orhbach. Barris auctioned off the original Munster Koach in 1982 with oversized gas lights and wrong tires and wheels. In 1984, George Barris wanted a Munster Koach for the Hollywood Christmas Parade. He had Dick Dean build this (second authorized) Munster Koach. Dick Dean's son, Keith Dean, helped with this build. This Koach still survives (c. 2011). {See:Cars of the Stars by Barris and Scagnetti 1974} Extra points of interest: Fred Gwynne never sat in the seat to drive the Munster Koach. Instead he sat on the floor where the ermin furs rugs placed. There five walnut blocks between the spokes of the mag wheels in rear. The rear slicks were Firestone eleven inch pie crust slicks. The Astro mag wheels were painted blood red just on the out side of five spokes mags. There was no skull radiator cap on the Munster Koach in the 60s. Only later did the Munster Koach get a skull cap. Both cars have been restored, but the original has not.

Engine

The engine was a 289c.i. Ford Cobra. It was built with Jahns high compression pistons, 10 chrome plated Stromberg carburetors, an Isky cam, and had a set of Bobby Barr racing headers. It has a four speed manual transmission.

See also

• DRAG-U-LA

Sources

• Munster Koach

{Cars of the Stars by Barris and Scagnetti Copyright 1974}