Again it seems that Jim Street is off base, saying Barris is taking credit for everything. I don't know of any car Mr.Street built. All the cars that he got from Barris were famous and finished before Street got them. It seems he came from Ohio with bags of money and bought the current famous car that Barris had built. The cars and trucks were then destroyed, poorly restyled or neglected after he had used them up for promotion. He does seems to have been into electronics and added many of those features on the Sahara. I would love to see what the Sahara, or the Kookie T, would bring if they dragged them onto the stage at Barrett Jackson.
Perhaps Mr. Street was indeed telling the truth. Hollywood often employed "doubles" for actors in driving scenes. Given the complexity of the Golden Sahara, it is hard to imagine it's operation being turned over to anyone else. It is well told that Mr. Street insisted on operating the G.S. himself when it appeared on "To Tell the Truth".
Funny thing about people as we are all humans, this guy is at some time gonna die, LOL. all of us are. and I bet his kids or whoever will want nothing to do with the cars in the garage and will just sell 'em off for the cash. happens every time. FRITZ
I'm from Dayton, Ohio and back in the early 80's we held the 1st Cruise-in at Frishes Big-Boy at Franklin, Ohio and what comes rolling in but the Golden-Sarhara and 3 Barris Customs!! One of the most famous but low-key owners of about 100 Beautiful old Fords is Jim Walker. He had a Barris there. He also has the whole front clip of a '36 Ford mounted on a wall...lift the hood for his liquor supply! I always wondered how they made the antennas work for the TV and/or telephone in the Golden...they came out through the center of the front wheel hubcap bullets?!?
A friend of mine has been over there for another reason and he let him see the Kookie car but not the Golden Sahara.
Ya know...Stephen Fields and I need to work on this... We live in Dayton, and need to talk to this person...Steve...what da ya say..
Good fuckin luck lol,I know of people who had offered him good money to see the car and he wouldn't let them see it.Here you guys go I will do a FREE piece of art to the first guy who can show a resent picture of the Kookie Car..........
You guys think you can go over there and ask to see those cars?? You must be nuts!! He answers no phones and lets no one near unless he wants you to be there. Anyone else who comes by sees the door cause he knows what you want.. There are plenty of Known guys here in town who know where the cars are and still can't see it.......
Spoons....... Exactly. If people start banging on his door it will probably piss him off and he will never let anybody get close to him. The few that know him and have had dealings with him are the ones that have a small chance.
"Chances aaaaarrrreeee" (in my best Johnny Mathis voice) it all will end like Moonglow, which sounds spooky enough. I can see where this guy Jim is coming from. In a sense, everyone now almost wants to crucify him for not showing them or restoring them...myself included. But it would have to take a hefty chunk to restore the GS and who knows maybe them Kookie T as well, and if he did have the means, then people would say what took so long and how he is some kinda a**hole for not doin it sooner...myself included again. So it's kinda a "Two Way Street". Whoa, did I just write the title for the insuing Rodders Journal article about how these two icons were kept hidden, never displayed, and...(hypothetically and eventually) subsequently destroyed? I hope not. Either way, it seems like owning the cars is a curse for this man and now he is literally LIVING with his mistakes.
The way this guy sounds, I wouldn't be suprised if he had someone destroy the cars after he dies so no one could have them. If I get up there in years and my shit isn't done I will sell them to a good home except one car that will stay in the family and its done already.
Well put,ZomBrian. When I was building my version of the Kookie car I was talking to Pat Ganahl and he said that he spoke to mr Street? and had asked to see either car. Well mr Street said ok, but no pictures,well Pat figured maybe the guy would change his mind, well he didn't and when Pat came back to Cal. he gave me his number and said good luck. I asked Pat what the condution of the GS was and in his words, un-restorable.So how about the Kookie car, wouldn't even let me see it.Well I figured maybe I'll call and tell him what im doing meaning building a copy of the Kookie car.So I call he answers the phone ,verry gruff like and said what do you want, now remember this is about 20 years or more ago.I told him my Idea and he said I have the real car and I like my Idea better.I said well cool, but could you send any pic's of the car so I could see certain details.He Im not showing anybody that car and for me to forget about it.then I said, well I heard you don't have it anymore and he said that he did and to go fuck myself.Well me being me I replayed with a couple of my own four letter words and a couple 5 and 6 ones to. We never spoke again I don't hate the guy, I feel sorry for him .He is his own worst enemy and yes when somebody doe's buy a car that is famous or not it is there's to do with. weather we like it or not.I wish that some of the people who have owned cars like mr street and others would be more understanding to people like me who are only trying to bring back ,restore or even clone there dreams....... Side note he's still an asshole lol...................Endsville Franco....................
As a teenager, I was fortunate to see the Golden Sahara when it toured car dealerships in the sixties. What most impressed me was the luster and color(s) of the car's Pearlescent finish, made with pulverized fish scales. (I hesitate to call it "paint".) Since then, I have not seen anything that even comes close. Pictures just don't capture it. It appeared very thick, is by now certainly cracked, and would be virtually impossible to replicate. (As would the gold colored, transluscent tires.)
You right..we can't just go banging on his door....We have to "get to know him" Slowly. Find out what motivates him, get on common ground.....It will take time and research, of who in town he trusts and knows, and get to him that way. I've always been very goo at talking to ASS HOLES, and defusing situations, ie, being the only person in the neighborhood the the old scary lady/man would talk to, when I was a Kid... It sounds like it won't be easy, but Steve and I will plan, and work on this !!
How many of you guys here like people prying into your personal life, and making comments on you and what you do. We may not like what he is doing with these cars, but they are his to do as he pleases. As are the cars we own And some of the comments, and mentioned plans to get on his better side are misplaced. this man was extremly switch on in the 50's to modern and new gadgets. So he could well be sitting and reading what is posted here, and that would only make him more pissed off. I love old customs and have spent more than 30 years reading about, building and collecting information on old customs. Over the years many people have taken it upon them selves to track down, buy and rebuild cars that had a history or just a personal place in their past. When such a car had been scraped or the current owner would not part with it. Another option was available. Build a clone of that car! Von Franco did it with the Kookie car There is a growing list of cloned customs out there, so someone has the chance of cloning the Golden Sahara. And they have the choice of two versions.
I do believe the Sahara is currently being cloned.... By a group of guys that are more than capable of it.
holy shit Franco he sounds like a real prick. I guess the cars are technically "his",but I also think they belong to the "world of hotrodding".
This guy is no different than the lazy jerks in every town who have neat stuff sinking into the ground, who always say "It's mine." or some variation thereof. Too bad, but it's never gonna change. Be interesting to see what happens when this guy croaks.
Well said. There's a huge point that's been overlooked in all the venom that's been spewed towards Jim and other wealthy/lucky keepers of these things...... Without Jim, would those cars even exist? Cause that's the way it works with these things. They get 15 years old, the paint cracks and the style isn't current, and next thing ya know......high school parking lot. In another 6 months they're crashed, burned, parted out, and lost to the ravages of youth. You know the most ridiculous thing of all? Once a week we get barn find threads that glisten with advice like "speak the man's language" "put yourself in his shoes" "remember respect, you sought him out" And now cause some dude's kept 2 historical cars more or less intact, albeit unrestored.....he's gotta put up with a lifetime of disrespect? He's not seeking us out. He's not hawking the cars for outrageous prices. And in the case of the Golden Sahara, his involvement is apparently quite deep. That's HIS car, not just financially. Frankly, I wouldn't pick up the phone or answer the door for us either. Collectively, we're crybabies.
Like to think if you are lucky enough to be the caretaker of a piece of historic anything you should at least respect it enough not to let it fade away and degenerate. Most folks don't have a history of being cantankerous about it, and if they do they get what they get. Old Jim, and all the other folks like that made their own beds.
Exactly;it's a piece of history not just an "everyday" rod. If you own such a piece I think you are morally obligated to take care of it and share it.
The Jalopy Journal
