It is unknown to date who the original winner was or if any of the footage from that broadcast exists. The Surfin'Bird was given away August 8th, 1966 on KHJ-TV Channel 9 The Dick Curtis 18 to 34 show at 5:30 pm. This car clearly shows the flamboyance of 1966, with a look that mimics other wild customs of the time period, like the Dean Jeffries " Monkeemobile".
Bill supposedly worked on the "Ferrari front", while the other man (possibly Steve Tate) worked on the "Stingray rear.” The actual work on the car does reflect this, as the front is all lead and executed at a high level, yet the back half had less refined metalwork and Bondo instead of lead. Sources stated that Bill hired a friend that worked at the Barris shop to assist with the build. It was built in Cushenbery's Burbank shop and it had a tight deadline for completion.
The starting point of the car was a 1956 Ford Thunderbird. Frank Terry of KHJ was the interviewer and translator of the Big Kahuna’s pidgin English to understandable English for Cushenbery to respond. These may be the only known audio recordings of Bill Cushenbery's voice. Several radio spots were created with fake auto body "grinding noise" in the background, to simulate being in Cushenbery's shop, while the Big Kahuna in his trademark Hawaiian pidgin English (Mahalo Nui Loa Cushenbery), requested features to be added to the car. 5 " Probably the ugliest car I have ever seen.".
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