Event Coverage Barris = Low Class

Long story short. I was at the Winfield Watson open house which was awesome. I have a book, Customs of the 50's that I have had people sign since 99. I take it with me because I want him and Bill Hines to sign it "thank you Mr. Hines" I go up to his table and ask

"Mr. Barris can you sign my book?"

"you will have to ask him"

ok, Sir. can i get mr Barris to sign my book"

"It, will be 10 bucks"

"are you for real I already have the book and my own pen for that matter"

"yeah, you want an autograph from him you pay ten bucks"

"yeah, right you guys can kick rocks"

Now while I had the 10 bucks, i sure as hell wasnt going to spend it on that! I pretty much laughed it off and continued the day. But where the cake of disgust got the icing was when i was looking at the stuff to be auctioned off for Progeria Research I saw a kid about 10 with a t-shirt that he bought from the event go up and ask Barris for an autograph again he reffered the kid to his "keeper" and he told the kid $10 bucks...I guess one thing he has going is consistency, of being ludacris that is!

SIDE NOTE: " I will retract all staments if I find out that this is being done againist his will"


BIGDADDY

 

Well all I can say is back in 1999 at the 50th Anniversary of the Oakland Roadster Show,I saw him walking around and he signed my program for free.

 

Next time offer to let him squeeze your ass in exchange for the $10.

 

He is getting pretty old.Maybe his "handlers" have changed the game,trying to bring in some money before its no longer possible.I can see both sides of it.If my signature was worth money,you can bet I would sell it.But like you,I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of the "no bucks,no autograph" deal.

 

Not defending Mr. Barris, but if this was a charity event he may have been doing this to raise money for the charity. Just a thought.

 

i have gene winfield's , ed roth's , pete millar's and rich gannon's (2002 NFL most valuable player) autographs all for free

 

Bingo! Maybe show him the goods also. Seriously, he looks like a tacky old bastard, but I am willing to bet this is someone else trying to cash in.

 

its funny how all the other car builder will sign anything without a problem. gearge did the same to me like 5 yrs ago too. then i was looking at the photos for sale and saw that phot of sam barris standing next to his car. it was signed too. i looked closer and george had signed it. what the hell. why did george sign that photo? shook is hand and told him thanks for what he had done for the custom cars scene and i walked just walked away.

 

I had heard Carrol Shelby has been doing this for decades, but I don't know how much of a stickler he is. If the $10 was going to charity, they could at least explain it to people.

 

George signed a book for me last October in Little Rock, wasn't charging anyone.

 

Joe Bailon and Barris both attended a KKOA event in Gettysburg, PA a few years ago and Bailon signed every page of a custom book I have which had a pic of one of his cars on it...for free, and then he took the time to tell me all about Miss Elegance and Scoopy. Bailon is a class act...and then there was George Barris.

Barris got out of his rental car, told all the spectators around him that Gettysburg was a shit town and why would anyone in their right mind come to this show and then he proceeded to kick a guys quarter panel while the guy was showing him his shoebox Ford.

Stay classy Mr. Barris, stay classy.

 

Two years ago I got Barris' autograph in Monterey at the RM auction cocktail party. I tried to be polite and attract his attention. That did not work.
I walked right in front of him and said loudly "George would you sign this jacket for me?" George said "Be happy to!", whipped out his own Sharpie and did the deed.
He did not appear to ask for or need or want any money from me! Maybe that's just me though....I don't hear so good either....
BTW no ass squeezin' was involved by, either party, in my exchange with Barris...

 

Shit evertime I sign my checks I get charged but you gotta pay the bills.

 

Hey Bigdaddy, I will sign it George Barris for $5.

 

Is his Autograph worth anything, as in adding to a collectible, like getting a hall of famer's autograph on your ball? If what he's signing is worth something and increases value as a collectible. In sports, it's become a business, and that's why they charge, 'cause they had guys walking up to them and asking for 20 autographs on balls so they could sell them.

But who's gonna buy Barris' autograph on a shirt, for chrissakes. He should sign it for kids always.

 

Sounds like you may have had some experience with Mr. Baris? Do tell...

 

What female hasn't

 

Strange. Up at Syracuse while attending his workshop, Gene Winfield reminded me to bring his book over to sign.

 

I'll sign your book for $5.00.

 

I'll sign it for $4.99

 

Guess that answered my off color swinging the wrong way question..I'll apologize to Mr. Barris in my own homophobic little warped mind.

 

ill sign jose canseco for 2 dollars if your interested, haha. naw but i kinda understand both sides,hes just tring to make money, people sell his signed stuff over the internet, why shouldent he make a bit off his own autograph?but he also, probably has someone else managing his money and calling the shots on what he should do, but a kid shouldnt have to deal with that bullshit either, barris is an iconic name in this culture, hes the Mickey Mantle of this custom car thing(well to me sam was anyways)that kid is the future of this whole custom car thing, he probably looked at getting his autograph as something hed show off and hold dear in the future. treatment like that could detour him from getting into customs,and hotrods, and could send him straight to the import or muscle car scene as he gets older! all because of one bad experience.With a man with an Iconic name.

On a side note, I did buy a copy of the mantranga merc signed, and honestly I did ask myself why am i buying any of these old cool custom pictures that sam pretty much built with georges signiture? but i liked the pic and the man still had a major hand in promoting cars throughout the years so i bought it.and am happy with it.

On another side note, Norm Grabowski was a very cool guy and talking with him was one of the highlights of my day.

 

I got George Barris' autograph at a car show, he was all set up for signatures with a table and all, but didn't charge anything, and was very nice about it. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, I hate to hear guys trashing on him.

He's a very important character in custom car history, whether you like his style of builds and his personality or not.

 

Maybe he is bipolar and you just caught him on a bad day.

 

I get a chuckle when I see some of the big names charging guys to sign their dashboards.

The owner of the car who just paid for the signature gets all proud that their car was deemed a real hot rod by the big name they just paid to write that.

 

a guy asked shelby to sign his old mustang's dash,and shelby said right in front of everybody "what's in it for me"?

ive heard people call him other things,but i think he and barris are true businessmen

 

The only talented Barris was Sam anyways.

 

George was signing autographs for $5 years ago at a Starbird show - there were kids calling him "Batman" (he had posters of the BatMobile), and old guys asking him if he remembered them from back in the 60's.
I brought a couple of his books to sign, had $10 ready, and called him "Mr. Barris" - he signed both books and told me to keep my money.
I can't poormouth him even if he has acted badly elsewhere.

 

The best was Larry Watson yesterday....that guy was autographing everything, I bought Gene's book yesterday, Gene signed it and got the guy who wrote it to sign...yup all free!!! I guess Barris need some kind of income nobody wants custom toyota's anymore and Sonny and Cher don't need cars anymore!!!! I used to be a Barris supporter!!!

 

That's bullshit.