I dream of Jeannie GTO

[Raoul Ross]

P.S. Sorry to hijack your thread Gustavo!

[blizzy63]

On 2/16/2023 at 6:40 PM, Raoul Ross said:

Not true.... The Original MonkeeMobile was a tan '66 without A/C... it was a bare bones stocker with a top round push-button gear selector. The second car was a '67 with the rectangular gear selector. (The grills kinda give it away) The *Model* of the MonkeeMobile is a mashup of the original and the 2nd version. The original had no A/C and a solid-mounted rear suspension as Dean thought they wanted a wheelie car. The original also had only the resonators replacing the original mufflers with the downspouts exiting just in under the rear axle.

These are pix of the original and 1st MonkeeMobile. Note the purple(?) carpeting. The lever on the right side of the driveshaft tunnel is the chute release. Also note that the 1st MonkeeMobile had a pin-stripe down the side, the second '67 verson did not.

With all due respect...

There are lots of articles online from over the years about the Monkeemobile and many are very superficial and confusing (for example, some are written to suggest that there was only ONE Monkeemobile). Here are the basics:

Customizer Dean Jeffries was contracted to build TWO custom GTO cars for an upcoming Screen Gems television show production. The production studio supplied him with TWO 1966 Pontiac GTO convertibles to be used as their basis. Jeffries completed the TWO cars in four weeks. The first car (#1) was to be used in filming of the TV show; The second car (#2) was to be used as a back-up vehicle and for promotion in car shows.

The Monkees TV show first aired on Sept. 12, 1966 (the same month the 1967-model Pontiacs debuted).

It has been noted that car #2 was made from Major Nelson's blue '66 GTO convertible which was retired after Season 2 of I Dream of Jeannie was competed filming.

MPC, which had the contract to make Pontiac promotional models from GM and had a hand in the conceptual origins of the Monkeemobile, released their 1/25 scale Monkeemobile model kit in January 1967.

Today, the two Monkeemobiles survive in restored condition in private ownerships. #1 displays the original tan colored top and upholstery.

#2 was "restored" by George Barris in 2006 with a white top and uphostery and a comtemporary sound system. The car displays the '66 GTO dashboard with factory A/C vents (this does not suggest that the car was air-conditioned, only that this was inherited from the original, stock GTO).

You can see these video tours on YouTube of the the cars #1 and #2 as they exist today:

#1: 

 

#2: 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by blizzy63

[slusher]

Sharp GTO!

[Gustavo Reis]

Thank you guys.