The "Red Baron" was first offered as a Monogram model designed by Tom Daniel in 1968. Bob Larivee, Sr. liked the concept so much that he had Chuck Miller translate the model to full scale in 1969 at his Styline Customs Shop. It may also be noted that the "Red Baron" was included in the first series of Hot Wheels from Mattel.
It all began around 1968 when now-legendary designer Tom Daniel was asked by Monogram Models to do his second model car design. Seeking inspiration, he needed to look no further than around him at the Southern California surf and hot rod culture. At the time, surfers, as well as hot rodders and kids who just dug hot rods, were wearing reproduction World War I German helmets (many marketed by none other than Ed “Big Daddy” Roth) and Tom said to himself, “Hey, I bet that would fit nicely on a T-Bucket.”
Tom designed the original model car kit with a 6 cylinder German aircraft engine and it was a quick hit with the youth culture of the day, selling more than two million units by 1973 (remember, without computers or video games and mostly only three TV channels at the time, model car building was the hot hobby). If the Red Baron wasn’t successful enough as a model car, in 1970 Mattel introduced the first of what would become many Hot Wheels versions of the Red Baron and many millions more have been sold, making the Red Baron likely the most popular T-Bucket ever.
A year after the model car introduction, car show guru Bob Larivee worked together with Monogram to have Chuck Miller of Detroit’s Styline Customs build a life size version of Tom Daniel’s concept, which went on Larivee’s Promotions Inc. car show circuit starting in 1969, thus providing even more exposure. Not having easy access to an esoteric German aircraft engine, Chuck employed the new and exotic looking for the time 1968 Pontiac overhead cam 6 cylinder engine.
Today, the original Chuck Miller Red Baron resides in the Smith Collection Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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