Do you remember the three George Barris Superteen Firebirds that were awarded as grand prizes for the Sounds of '68 talent contest, which aired on ABC-TV in 1968? We featured the last known surviving example in the Mar. '08 issue of HPP. Since then, we've learned more about the winners of the cars and uncovered some never-before-published photography from 1968.
In the story, we printed that Dawn Guildner was the female singer of The Things To Come, the group that won one of the three cars. Thanks to research by Jack Dale, owner of the surviving Superteen Firebird, we have since learned that it was Dana Guildner (not Dawn), brother of the band's bass player, who owned the car when it was destroyed in 1986. (This was a typographical error in the documents we relied on when researching the story.) We also learned the other members of the winning group were Bob Christenson (guitar/vocals), Denny Larsen (vocals), Jaynee Broskoff-Wilkens (vocals), Barb Tennis (vocals), John Sumner (guitarist/vocals), and Bruce Guilder (bass/vocals).
During his research, Jack met Bob, who found rare photos of the Superteen Firebird after it came back to the band's hometown of Albert Lea, Minnesota.
"We shared the Superteen Firebird among the members of our group," Bob tells HPP. "One band member would get it one week and another the next. Since I was going out with one of the female band members, I was the lucky one because I got to be in it two weeks at a time. Eventually Dana bought out our interest in the car."
The surviving Superteen Firebird is currently undergoing a restoration, thanks in part to the color photography provided by Bob. We'll bring you more information as it becomes available.