DRAG-U-LA

DRAG-U-LA, along with the Munster Koach, was one of two cars designed by Tom Daniel while working for George Barris and Barris Kustom Industries for the television show The Munsters.

The car

The fiberglass body of DRAG-U-LA was built from a real fiberglass coffin that Richard "Korky" Korkes was able to purchase from a funeral home in North Hollywood. Korky Korkes stated in 2013, it was illegal to sell a coffin without a death certificate. Korky made a deal with the funeral director, paid in cash, and it was agreed the coffin would be left outside the rear door of the funeral parlor where the Barris crew would collect it after dark.

It featured a 350HP, 289CI Ford Mustang V-8 engine, with a four-speed stick shift. It had two four-barrel carburetors mounted on a Mickey Thompson Ram-Thrust manifold.

The rear tires were 10.50-inch Firestone racing slicks, mounted on custom 10-inch Rader aluminum and steel wheels. Each hubcap was decorated with a large silver spider. The front tires were 4-inch Italian tires on Speedsport English buggy wire wheels. To extend the Gothic motif further, Barris installed four Zoomie style organ pipes on each side of the car in lieu of a standard exhaust pipe, and mounted antique lamps on the front and rear.

The front of the vehicle sported a marble gravestone — supposedly Grandpa Munster's license plate "from the Old Country" — with the inscription: "Born 1367, Died ?". A "hidden" radiator was topped with a small golden casket. The driver sat in the rear of the vehicle behind the engine, under a plastic bubble.^[1]

There were some subtle changes or variations made to the automobile, such as tires, etc., generally for different aspects of filming for the movie Munster, Go Home! or for the television series.

This car was sold at the closeout auction of the Chicago Historical Antique Automobile Museum in Highland Park, Illinois, in 1985.

The original 1966 car was housed in Planet Hollywood in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where it hung from the ceiling. This Planet Hollywood location is now closed, according to Planet Hollywood's Web site. The car is now housed at the Volo Auto Museum in the town of Volo, Illinois. The museum had the car completely restored in 2011.

While the car came from George Barris' shop, the car was constructed by Richard "Korky" Korkes and others who worked under Korky's direction while he managed the Barris facility.

In The Munsters

On The Munsters television series the car was created by Grandpa Munster so he could win back The Munster Koach, which Herman had lost in a drag race in the episode Hot Rod Herman.

The 1966 movie Munster, Go Home features an alternate origin. After Herman crashes the Munster Koach, Grandpa builds the Drag-u-la, so Herman can drive it in a cross-country automobile race.

In popular culture

• Rob Zombie titled a song on his Hellbilly Deluxe album "Dragula". Episode footage of the drag race was included in Zombie's horror film House of 1,000 Corpses.
• The DRAG-U-LA is a playable vehicle in the car combat video game Twisted Metal 4, and also in Carmageddon: TDR 2000 (re-named "Drag-ghoul").

References

External links

• Pictures of Grandpa's Dragula
• George Barris' "RAT U LA" (a remake of the original DRAG-U-LA)