In his career, Jeffries was an automotive jack-of-all-trades, working as a stuntman, car builder, and race car painter and pinstriper. He was well known within the auto business, but didn't achieve wide commercial success like some of his contemporaries.

"He didn't talk about himself or promote his work," Jay Leno, host of "The Tonight Show" and a noted car collector, said Wednesday. "We work in a town where the squeaky wheel gets the grease. That wasn't Dean. He's just a regular car guy who happened to create some of the most gorgeous cars you have ever seen."