Chassis no. H9YH122457

352-cid, 300-hp OHV V-8 engine, three-speed automatic transmission, coil spring independent front suspension, live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs and four-wheels power hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 113-inches

The youngest showgirl in Las Vegas history, Cassandra Peterson went on to tour Europe, make movies with Federico Fellini and form her own musical comedy show “Mama’s Boys.” However, it was as “Elvira,” in the newly created show “Movie Macabre” in 1981, that she became an icon of the macabre.

For her first Elvira film, Mistress of the Dark, in 1988, she had George Barris work up an appropriate car, inspired by a black 1958 Thunderbird she had seen on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. The car was a hardtop, so Barris cut off the roof and added a bunch of ghoulish embellishments: a spider web in the grille, bat-wing nose emblem, eyeballs on the fenders, skull-and-crossbones hubcaps, leopard-print velour upholstery, mini-caskets on the center console and trunk lid, skeleton hands, and a chain-link steering wheel with a skull in the center. Cassandra herself supplied the metal hood ornament, a crouching, winged banshee sculpted with her profile. After filming was completed, Peterson kept the car for herself.

This created the need for another, to use on promotional tours, so Barris worked up a clone, the car being sold here. Based on a 1959 T-bird, it has the same accoutrements as the original car, and has appeared with Elvira in outside promotions. In very good condition throughout, it both frightens and delights.