'Crazy car guy' is on a joy ride (USA Today, 05/10/05) By Marco R. della Cava HOLLYWOOD The ancient Egyptians stocked the tombs of their pharaohs with mortal spoils to ensure a cozy afterlife. On Saturday, 80 of George Barris' pop-culture masterpieces (but not Batman's baby) go up for auction in L.A. Maybe that's what George Barris is thinking. "Look, I'm just a crazy car guy, and I'm proud of it," says Barris, who doesn't like talking about his age. (His daughter, Joji, says he's in the neighborhood of 80.) "My love for this nutty stuff keeps me coming in the office every day, 8 o'clock sharp." And what an office it is. To walk into the ramshackle headquarters of Barris Kustom Industries in a forgotten corner of North Hollywood is to be assaulted by mementos from 60 years of building some of the most outrageous cars ever to cruise the street and screen. On the walls are hundreds of faded photos, including Barris riding shotgun with a young Elton John as he scoots about in a bug-eyed golf cart and standing next to a perfectly coiffed David Hasselhoff and K.I.T.T., his Knight Rider co-star. Lining the shelves are thousands of toy cars and figurines from dozens of productions, from Back to the Future (Barris transformed the DeLorean into an unforgettable time machine) to The Dukes of Hazzard (he made the General Lee soar). And in that deliciously preposterous garage are treasures that over-rev the emotional motor of anyone who was glued to the boob tube in the '60s: the stretch dune buggy used by The Monkees, a giddily ghoulish station wagon that belonged to The Munsters, and Barris' personal Mona Lisa: the wow-mobile piloted by Batman. But it seems even the most obsessive of pack rats can hit overload. Although he's hanging on to his Batmobile, Barris will send 80 of his other creations under the gavel Saturday at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. "The auto market has gone ballistic, with some classic cars selling over the $1 million mark," he says, eyes popping. "Heck, the way I figure it, the stock market stinks, real estate is just out of sight, so folks would rather put their money into something valuable that they can also enjoy." The icons for sale include the black Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit and a Yamaha Batcycle. The cars' histories are noted; often the vehicles are one of several Barris made, some for use on the show and others for promotional tours. Barris says that "it's nice to get them into the hands of collectors." But it's also the move of a man who wants his life's labors to work for him. "What these cars bring in will certainly help his kids down the road," says museum director Dick Messer, noting that auctioneer Bonhams & Butterfields has estimated the value of many of the cars in the mid to upper five figures. The Petersen museum holds the Holy Grail: Batmobile No. 1, the primo prop used by actors Adam West and Burt Ward. Messer says Barris' genius leans less on careful craftsmanship and more on sheer sizzle. "George came up with the Batmobile in just three weeks unheard of, really." Messer laughs. "Bless him. This town is all smoke and mirrors, and he is a master at polishing the mirrors and blowing the smoke." Whatever Barris did, its impact is felt today more than ever. Run through cable channels and you see his progeny, like Jesse James on Discovery's Monster Garage and Xzibit of MTV's Pimp My Ride. They both chop up cars with abandon to create new visions, much as Barris did with Bruce Wayne's ride. "I had a (Lincoln) Futura sitting around," Barris says. "I added some other touches and outlined the whole thing in neon orange. Pow!" The road to the Bat Cave originated in tiny Roseville, Calif. There, Barris and his late brother Sam started tinkering with cars just after World War II. Soon they made a prophetic move to the burgeoning car capital of Southern California. The Barris brothers' Kustom shop ("I couldn't just use a plain old regular word") soon became a mecca for anyone dreaming of sleek sheet metal winking under a California sun. "I'd be freezing my butt off back East and open up a hot rod magazine and see these wild, flake-painted cars with girls in bikinis in them and, man, George was my hero," mechanic-turned-car collector Jay Leno says. "George was perfect for us blue-collar guys because he'd show you how to make your cars cool with whatever you had around you. In the process, he brought hot rodding into the mainstream. Whether it's that goofy Munsters car or the coolest car of them all, the Batmobile, he made you smile." Barris was hitting his stride in the go-go '60s. Into his shop waltzed Tom Wolfe, who spied dizzying creations that perfectly complemented the combustive prose in The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby. Not far behind were Hollywood TV executives, who found that Barris could be counted on to pump out campy cars that were fun and could run. "I had just days to go before they needed the jalopy for The Beverly Hillbillies. I had no great ideas, when suddenly I found this old Model T wagon at a feed store. Perfect. The only thing missing was a platform for that old rocker of Granny's," Barris says with the zeal of a kid remembering an old flame. He has a lot of those stories. Like the times Elvis came by to check on his custom gold limousine. "Such a nice young man, always asking my employees how they were." And the day Frank Sinatra burst in after asking Barris to tint his windows to discourage pesky fans. "He yelled, 'George, what did you do? I couldn't see a (expletive) thing!' " And the afternoon he conferred with Farrah Fawcett-Majors about tweaking her Corvette. "She loved the word 'Foxy,' so we stenciled that on the car, which we did in a two-tone lime and kelly green." For John Derek and his new teenage love, he customized a van. "George did the whole thing: beautiful sinks, hardwood floors and a tent that popped through the top," says Bo Derek, who still comes by Barris' shop "just to say hi and maybe go grab a burger. He's kind, funny and adorable." And he's still working: Derek has a new pickup truck she might take in for a Barris makeover. Barris shrugs when asked why he spends his days in a musty old shop whose shag carpeting has seen better decades. "What else am I going to do?" he says. "Besides, I have my family working with me now." Daughter Joji and son Brett, both in their 40s, came into the fold after their mother, Shirley, died of cancer in 2001. Shirley's photos dot the offices, including a massive color shot of her lounging on her motorcycle. "That woman, she'd try anything," Barris says softly. "What a woman." Joji now fills the role her mother did, scheduling her father's appearances at dozens of hot rod shows. "When he gets a new idea, look out," she says. "And he gets them every day." At each day's end, Barris walks out the same doors that Elvis and Frank and the rest walked through and makes his way to the space where he parks his new Jaguar XK8 convertible. It has, of course, been Barris-ized, from the $80,000 car's hood, which serves as the canvas for a black jaguar, to its vanity plate, BKUSTM. And just to make sure there's no confusing who's at the wheel, the plate's rear frame makes this simple declaration: "I'd rather be rollin' in my Batmobile."
A little O/T, but here it is anyhow. Burt ward is married to one of the nicest women I've ever had the pleasure to meet. After I split with my ex-wife in 1999, I decided to get a dog to keep me company. (Hell, he was better company than her anyways!!!!!) I was looking for another great dane, and found a great dane rescue in Norco, Ca. I made an appt. to see the dogs, and when I got there, guess who met me at the front gate? It was Burt ward! He took me up to the main house, introduced me to his wife, Tracy, and they started showing me the dogs. It took at least an hour for all the dogs to be shown. This family has devoted most of their life to the breed, and it showed! I've never seen so many danes in one place. I think she said they had over 75, some young, some old, some with papers, others without. There was even a 3 legged one with a great personality, but was older than I wanted. I ended up adopting a black/white 1 yr.old male. Turned out to be a great buddy who helped me through a tough time in my life. The Wards are great people, who've spent A LOT of $$$$ saving this breed. They even sent me home with a 40 lb bag of dog chow(which only lasted about a week and a half). So, if your looking for a great dane, look them up.
If you go to Bill Cushenberry's site, you can read that George Barris did not Build or Design the Bat Mobile. Appearently he just happened to own the Lincoln Futura because he was owed storage fees on it... But somehow History has gotten distorted, and even Magazines will print that George Barris Built it, without checking the facts.
The icons for sale include the black Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit and a Yamaha Batcycle. The cars' histories are noted; often the vehicles are one of several Barris made, some for use on the show and others for promotional tours. umm, no it's NOT "The Trans Am", this article is just propogating the misleading info in the auction catalog. the car being offered has ZERO connection to the movie, it just happens to be a T/A "like" the movie car. why do i care? it's the principle of the thing, and it's bullshit...
Metalshapes: I need a link to Cushenberry's site Monsterflake: I need to know where your info. on the Trans Am came from Sending corrections to the editor of USA Today...but need good sources.
I will look for it later, and get it to you. USA Today probably aren't car guys, so I guess you cant blame them to much... But did you read page 29 of the June issueof HRM?
This is from the Bonham's auction site... This black Trans Am, although not used in the feature film, was designed to replicate the Pontiac Trans Am from Smokey & the Bandit as a test car and personal stunt car by Barris. http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent=EUR&screen=Catalogue&iSaleNo=13278 Mutt
sorry, i was at lunch. also, as i noted in the first thread about the auction, the picture they're using in the on-line catalog is a production still from SATB II, and is a (1980?) Turbo T/A, NOT a 400 powered '78. the text is disengenuous at best , but the photo is an out-and-out misrepresentation...
So the Batmobile is not going to be in the auction? That is too bad... Somebody should buy that and bring it back to the radical Detroit Concept Car it was. Then you'd really have something...
The Beverly Hillbillies car was not a model T.........it was a 21 Oldsmobile that had been made into a flatbed truck.
As if to underscore your post, talk about timing...I just got off the phone with Dean Jeffries ( thanks to info provided by OldandKrusty!)... Dean flat out said to quote him on this: "George is a great promoter, but he doesn't have any real talent in his hands OR brain.....he made a career out of putting his name to other people's work...I knew Sam and George since the beginning, and I know what I'm talking about....I don't know why people are so afraid to tell it the way it is- I would tell him to his face today what the truth is....." Wow......I learned alot from that conversation, and am eagerly awaiting our next conversation.....
Thats funny, at one time I think Barris had something to do with kustom cars.... Photos complements of Germ.
Now there was a Customiser ( he even knew how to spell the word! ), The Manta Ray, The Black Beauty, his Porsche...
oh good, ANOTHER "lets kick george in the nuts" post. good thing we're all so fucking smart. although most of us weren't born until after the kustom movment was dead. but, we've read a bunch of magazine articles (and we know they're always accurate) and we know what REALLY happened don't we. can't pull any wool over our eyes. dean jefferies was/is an extremly tallented car painter. he is also the A #1 cause of the death of kustom cars. the ones i like anyway. when he started panel painting shit he showed that you didn't have to have all that EXPENSIVE body work to change the look of your car. did george barris ever do anything? i mean, he HAD to do something related to kustom cars, right? oh yea there's the whole kustoms spelled with a k. do you really beleive that after a 60 year career of building kustom cars that he can't do anything? he worked for harry westergaurd he talked sam into joining him in a kustom car buisiness he designed the hardtop look for the matranga merc which lead directly to the building of the hirohata merc, of which he sketched the front end design for sam to follow. he painted the aztec he employed and directed most of the biggest names in kustomizing including dean jefferies. he is responsible for by far the biggest name kustom shop in history. which by the way has his name on it. but, hey , lets worry about who built the stupid ass bat mobile
Did he? I didn't know that, I thought that was Watson. I'm not that worried about it. In fact I have little interest in the man or his work ( although I love the Hirohata Merc...) I just kept reading about him as I was trying to find out exactly what happened to the Chrisman Coupe. And if he really did intentionally put his name on other peoples work, that would be no different to me than ripping off somebody's Art or plagiarize a Book or a Song. Apart from that he has a place in History that is undeniable...
i've got some rat fink mouse pads for sale...oh, never mind i've been pissed off at george barris ever since i went to see burt ward and the batmobile at a car show, and it turned out to be that FUZZY FUCKIN' RIP-OFF "ASSMOBILE"! you broke my heart fredo , i mean george...
Panel painting didn't kill off customs - progress did. Just as rods evolved with OHV motors, customs evolved with the cars that Detroit was putting out. The early style of custom never left some of the builders - Charley Brewer, for instance, kept building them. The big names followed the trends because that's where the money was. If you didn't build what the people wanted, you didn't make money. Here's a Jeffries How-to from HRM Jan. '61. Mutt
I believe that as well..... For the record, I'm not trashing anyone...I'm quoting the words of an artist I look up to, and those words concern another person whose business had a severe creative impact on my career. Nowhere did I bash George Barris. How Jeffries feels about Barris is based on the experience of someone who actually had business dealings with him.
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