I always figured part of the reason those cars have no quarter windows is that it was easier to cover them with tin than try and make the openings all work right.. a lot of cutting and welding, and time, for cars built on a budget for a movie studio....
The story I was quoted was that during the production of each of these kustoms the shaping of the sail panel areas was subcontract- ed to California Metal Shaping. An old photo of these cars, in one of the Barris books, clearly shows these roofs cut out, and waiting for installation of the metalshaped panels. Swankey devils C.c.
Here is another of the same version Here are a couple a guy sent me. The story I got from him was there an ad in a newspaper in CA back in the 70's 0r 80's that said Chopped Chevy coupe chrome wheel So he called thought they ran out of room in the ad but no it just had one chrome wheel. If I recall right he bought it for $100.00 but he never done anything with it then George Barris wanted to buy it back for a museum he was putting together. He sold it back to Barris and at that time the museum never came to be.
I went back a searched old emails and found the email he sent me. Here is what he said I am from Burbank, Cal. originally, just a shot hop to Barris's shop. Followed an add in the paper "47 Chevy Chopped Top Chrome Wheel, thought they had run out of line space, but NO, it had ONE Chrome wheel......$100 and the car was mine, just the body, no running gear. Ended up selling it back to Barris, this was back in like 1972, before street rodding got it's rebirth, Barris was doing mostly "Pimp" cars, big Lincolns with paisley interiors.....At the time he was trying to buy back a lot of his old carz, was trying to open a Museum on Hollywood Blvd, never happened......
I was going to do that with mine but decided to leave the windows for now(I can take them out later easier than put them back in). If you do just move the rear of the roof forward. Look at Cat's maroon Chevy on the first page that is how I done mine. Look at the Barris cars how long and flat the rear section of the roof is. Here is mine so far http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=16079011&uid=1436522
Thanks for the link. I was wondering how I should go about it. This will be my first chop. I am not much of a metal guy, but I have an eye for it and I'm a little ocd. So it should turn out fine, just might take me 20 years.........
Does anyone know how to get in touch with Glenn Patrick. I've always loved that car and would like to contact him about it. Thanks Bill
This guy is cooler than everyone on this message board (me included) put together! Gas, grass, or ass, baby!
Shane Savage owns the car, he's one of my fellow Lonely Knights. It wasn't chopped until he fell asleep and rolled the car. Dave Pareso, (also a Lonely Knight), at Backstreet Kustoms chopped it and put it back together. It's now a Rose colored primer with no flames. Very cool chop on that Chevy. Johnnie.
Rikster: Thanks for another enjoyable thread. This may be a bit off topic but I still wanted to share a photo of Jake's car, I really dig the lines and there's some similarities with Barris' cars too. The photo was taken at the local get-together last Friday. --mika
thanks for filling in the gaps johnnie! it's been a while since i heard the rest of the story about the car being wrecked, etc. see ya saturday! ray
I am watching a movie I DVR'd called The Mating Game with Tony Randal and Debbie Reynolds and the Chevy that got dropped on its roof is sitting in the farm yard of the hoarder dad of Debbie Reynolds.
Always fun to hear about this car......this is a photo the day it came home with me, before I sold it back to Barris...I had swapped out the funky diff for a stocker, and put a stock 6 back in it...as I recall, Barris gave me $640 and change for it, and I had to deliver it...sorry the photo is so bad.....it is a scan of an old polaroid....my avitar is the same car
Something to learn here, at least I keep thinking there is. Never owned a Forties Chevy, even though I like their lines, even stock. Engines long in the tooth were shit. Flat-Heads were an easier fix, so I bought Fords as a kid. Yes, George's cars lost something, the older he got, and the more money he made. Hollywood turned him into a whore, like it does a lot of talented people. I always figured he lost interest and had flunkies do most of the work, and after a while his product began to look more like it was designed by an art department than art. No offense George, I admire your grit, and would love to have one of your crests. It all boils down to that old thing about truth and myth. Same with Roth, who eventually got religion; even if he was a magician who never gave away his tricks, only sold them in little books. And, hell yes. The clones look better than the one in Circus paint. I can imagine a hundred little devils piling out of it at a red light. Carl
the Barris car is in Jersey and owned by my friend Jack. The car is exactly like he got it from Barris. He has it in storage right now but it is safe and not going to be hacked up
glenn patricks "the villain" is here in phx and the current owner is selling it on craigslist, he has kept the car in very very good condition, he drives it everywhere!
What I love about these cars is that they're three windows and look like they always were. Does the last one pictured have molded fenders? My big complaint is all the striping. It interferes with the flow and is so prominent on the trunk it reverses the very reason it was 'de-chromed'. The color is outstanding. Oxblood or maroon? Is there a shot of the front?
The photos below show how Glen "The Cat" Patric built his 1948 Chevy in the late 1980's. The new owner uglyfied it quite a bit, at least the way I see it. But underneath all the added bling there is still a very nice car that could look very good. I took these photos in Pigeon Forge in the 1990's and was extremely impressed with the car.
Time to zombie up this ancient thread, but I think it's for good reason. I was the first birthday for a friend's daughter over the summer. I got to talking with my friend's father. We got on the subject of cars, turns out he owned one of the high school confidential cars. This was back before anyone gave a shit about movie cars, I think he said he paid a couple hundred for the car. After high school he enlisted, parked the Chevy in his parents yard. As so many of these stories go someone got sick of it sitting around and it was sold. He's not much of a car guy. He and his wife spent their lives raising their own kids as well as fostering and adopting kids in need. I've known this family for about 15 years now and I'm still occasionally surprised to meet another one of his adopted kids for the first time. Now that he and his wife are in their 60's they've moved to fostering dogs set to be killed in the shelters. The guy has a heart of gold for sure. He absolutely lit up when we were talking about the car. I was able to dig up a few pics for him and he got really quiet for a few minutes. I could just tell the emotional memories came back fast. It was a pretty cool moment. They guy's 69th birthday was yesterday. I'd love to send him some recent pics of his car, anyone have some? If there's any published books, magazines or so on about the car I'd love to try to hunt one down for him if y'all could share the info I'd need. Lastly, I could probably get him to tell his part of that car's history if there's someone looking to compile information about it.
One of these Barris Chevys was parked out in front of Gordy Browns Body Shop on San Fernando Road in Sun Valley Ca for about a year in the late 60's / early 70's. Dan Hagerty (Grizzly Adams) had the same shop too for a while might have been while Dan had the shop ?
Cats car the villian the body work and chop was done by Randy Raill at Rods by Rowdy Floyd Knobs IN. he done this one a few years ago
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