| special updates pages catching up with Dean Jeffries and Ruben Procopio |
Dean Jeffries, builder of the two original Black Beauties for the Green Hornet TV show, first conceived of the Black Beauty on paper. He "made a few sketches, showed them to Chrysler and got them to give me two new Imperials. I got right to work on them because they needed them right away". That was over 35 years ago, but in some ways things are the same today. Dean is currently living and "working at 90 miles an hour". His current project, the "GT40" is "a '65 Ford LeMans Roadster with an 800 horsepower engine.This car goes about 250 miles an hour" explains Dean. He says he's "got to hurry up and finish it because they need it right away". Just like the old days. Dean's great energy and enthusiasm is only surpassed by his creative genius and perfectionism. The builder of some of America's most incredible cars drives one of his three personal cars around Hollywood these days. On any given day, he might show up in his VW bug, his customized Mercedes or his favorite, a 1933 Ford sedan. No regular 1933 Ford Sedan. It's "chopped, channeled and sectioned". In the language of car building, that means it's unique, one of a kind. Just like the guy who built it. |
Ruben Procopio is a talented Animator/ sculptor for Disney feature animations for over 23 years, working on such features as "The Little Mermaid", "Aladdin", "Beauty and the Beast", "The Lion King", "Mulan" and others. His father has been a sculptor for Disney Imagineering (the division that works on the parks) for over 35 years, and his sister has worked in the Animation research library for over 12 years. Ruben says "I grew up in the 60s, where my fascination with the Batman and Green Hornet series began as many fans can relate. Since then I've been an avid collector and admirer of anything to do with the masked vigilantes of yesteryear." At the end of a long day of working, Ruben says he" likes to unwind by doing sketches of personal stuff that I enjoy. Both the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet are some of my favorite characters, I've done so many sketches of them". Lucky for us, Ruben is also aware of our ongoing yearly stories and contributed some of his personal sketches for sharing with the fans of those masked vigilantes of yesteryear. See Ruben's LR/GH pages. See San Diego's "La Prensa" biography of Ruben at: http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/archieve/june19/disney.htm |
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| DJ 1966 model |
| DJ 2004 model, still runs "at like 90 MPH". |
| Old friends Ruben Procopio (at left) and Dean Jeffries at a recent get together in Hollywood, California. These 2 guys always seem to turn up at the same time, so we made their updates appear together. This is the 2004 updates page. |
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| Ruben Procopio at Disney circa 1980 |
| Ruben Procopio in L.A. in 2004 |