George Barris dead

[agnoraan]

For those that have ever had an interest in the American custom scene, George Barris has passed away aged 89. He was very influential in the custom scene along with his brother Sam at Barris Kustoms. He built cars for the stars, along with creations for film and tv, such as the TV Batmobile Munsters Coach etc. RIP George

Nige

[Roger King]

I was huge fan from about 13 onwards. When I had my paper round, the owner ordered Hot Rod mag for me from the US, that'd be from about '67 onwards. Oh how I wish I'd kept them! Barris was something of a hero, though I know opinions of his work these days are very mixed.

[agnoraan]

It was generally Sam Barris that did most of the bodywork and George photgraphed everything and publicised it. It's just a shame that in latter years he used to lay claim to having built or worked on cars when he evidently hadn't. A case in point being the Monkeemobile. It was well documented thatb Dean Jeffries built it, but in later years George Barris laid claim to building it, quite why he would do this on regular occasions is beyond me. The Hirohata Merc that the Barris' built is one of my all time favourite cars and to think that this was a brand new car that they cut up and transformed

A relatively standard Mercury





The Bob Hirohata Mercury which included pretty much all of the customising techniques such as chopped roof, made pillarless, nosed, decked, fadeaway doors etc




cheers...Nige

[catsx11]

.

[agnoraan]

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C306949#

Yeah, he also made some right horrible creations too

cheers...Nige

[Roger King]

How can anything with 6 351 V8s be horrible? Awesome, yes...

[nikbj68]

...Trying to persuade Sue that it`s an economical vehicle, if each engine does 8mpg, and there are 6 of them, that`s 42MPG!!!


I`ll get my coat.

[Roger King]

...Trying to persuade Sue that it`s an economical vehicle, if each engine does 8mpg, and there are 6 of them, that`s 42MPG!!!


I`ll get my coat.

Make sure it's a warm one. What happened to the other 6mpg?

[agnoraan]

How can anything with 6 351 V8s be horrible? Awesome, yes...

It looks like a load of coffins glued together and the write up on it was total tripe

cheers..Nige

[agnoraan]

Now this is a six wheeler with style, the old Wolfrace Sonic with twin V8 engines that actually worked and drove Built by Nick Butler at Auto Imagination back in the '80's