George Barris (auto customizer) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
George Barris
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Barris in 2013
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| Born |
George Salapatas
November 20, 1925 |
| Died | November 5, 2015 (aged 89) Encino, California, U.S.
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| Known for | Hot rod art, automobile customizing and pinstriping |
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Notable work
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| Movement | Kustom Kulture |
| Spouse(s) |
Shirley Nahas
(m. 1958; died 2001) |
George Barris (born George Salapatas; November 20, 1925 – November 5, 2015) was a famous American designer. He built many well-known custom cars for Hollywood movies and TV shows. Barris created the famous Hirohata Merc. His company, Barris Kustom Industries, also designed and built the Munster Koach and DRAG-U-LA for The Munsters. He also made the 1966 Batmobile for the Batman TV series and movie.
George Barris was born in Chicago in 1925. He and his brother Sam moved to California to live with relatives. Even in high school, Barris was already customizing and selling cars. At 18, he moved to Los Angeles to build custom cars for people. This included the Hirohata Merc in 1951. In the 1950s, his business became Barris Kustom Industries. His company designed and built cars for many TV shows in the 1960s. These included Batman, The Munsters, and The Beverly Hillbillies. Barris also made custom cars for celebrities and other customers. His company even built copies of famous cars.
Barris passed away in Encino, Los Angeles on November 5, 2015.
Contents
Early Life and Car Creations
George Barris and his brother Sam (1924–1967) were born in Chicago. Their father was a Greek immigrant. Their mother died when the boys were very young. When George was three, his father sent the brothers to live with an uncle and his wife in Roseville, California.
By age seven, Barris was already building and changing model cars made of balsa wood. His detailed model cars won contests at hobby shops.
The brothers worked at their family's Greek restaurant. They were given an old 1925 Buick for their help. They quickly fixed it and started changing its look. This was the first custom car made by the Barris Brothers. They sold it for a profit to buy another car to work on. Before George finished high school, more and more people wanted their custom cars. They even started a club for custom car owners called the Kustoms Car Club. This was the first time the special spelling "Kustom" was used, which became famous with Barris.
Barris went to San Juan High School. After school, he would rush to sweep floors at a local auto body shop. He didn't want to work at his family's restaurant. After turning 18, he moved to Los Angeles. He wanted to be part of the growing teen car culture. He opened the "Barris Custom Shop" on Imperial Highway in Bell, California.
George and Sam Barris built their "kustom" designs for private customers. George also built and raced his own cars for a short time. Soon, people from Hollywood studios and famous stars wanted his custom cars. They wanted them for their own use and as props in movies. Robert E. Petersen helped make Barris's cars famous. He did this through car shows and by printing George's how-to articles in Hot Rod and Motor Trend magazines.
Famous Custom Cars and Early Success
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In 1951, the Barris Brothers designed and built the Hirohata Merc. A customer ordered it after seeing Sam Barris's own custom car. The Hirohata Merc was shown at the 1952 General Motors Motorama car show. It was so popular that it became more famous than the cars made by top designers in Detroit. It also made the early 1950s Mercury a popular car for custom designs. Sam also built Ala Kart, which was a 1929 Ford Model A roadster pickup. This car won the "America's Most Beautiful Roadster" award two times in a row. It appeared in many movies and TV shows, often in the background of diner scenes.
Sam left the business in the 1950s. George continued the business with his wife Shirley. The company became Barris Kustom Industries. The company allowed model car makers like Aurora and Revell to use its designs. This helped spread the Barris name to many model builders.
In the early 1960s, Barris and other famous customizers worked on cars for Ford's "Custom Car Caravan." These traveling shows were made to attract younger car buyers.
Barris also used the body of a car called Pulsator to create his snowmobile dragster show car, Ice Kutter.
Customizing Cars for TV, Movies, and Stars
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Barris said some of his first movie work was making soft aluminum fenders. These were for a police car that crashed into a Mercedes-Benz convertible in North by Northwest. The idea was to make the crash funny and prevent damage to the expensive Mercedes. He also built cars for the 1958 film High School Confidential. He loaned some of his custom cars for the "future" scenes in the 1960 movie The Time Machine. Other cars Barris built for films included a changed Dodge Charger for Thunder Alley. He also made a Plymouth Barracuda for Fireball 500. He built the futuristic Supervan for a movie with the same name. He made a Mercury station wagon with many gadgets for The Silencers. He also created a scary-looking Lincoln Continental Mark III for The Car.
In the 1960s, Barris's company started designing many cars for TV shows. Early in the decade, Barris bought the Lincoln Futura. This was a very fancy concept car. It stayed in his collection for several years. Then, ABC Television asked him to create a special car for their Batman TV series. Filming was starting in a few weeks, so there wasn't time to design a new car from scratch. Instead, Barris used the Futura as the base for the Batmobile. Barris hired Bill Cushenbery to help change the car. It was ready in just three weeks. The show became very popular, which made Barris even more famous. Barris owned the Batmobile until he sold it at an auction in 2013.
Other TV cars built by Barris Kustom Industries include the Munster Koach and the DRAG-U-LA for The Munsters. He also made an Oldsmobile Toronado into a roadster for the first season of Mannix. A 1921 Oldsmobile touring car was turned into a truck for The Beverly Hillbillies. He created the "1928 Porter" for the NBC comedy My Mother the Car. He updated the KITT cars for later seasons of Knight Rider. He also made copies of 1914 Stutz Bearcats for Bearcats!.
Barris created a special gold Rolls-Royce for actress Zsa Zsa Gabor. This golden car showed Barris's detailed work. It even had hand-etched window glass with butterflies, roses, and hummingbirds.
Barris built many unique vehicles for other celebrities. These included golf carts for Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Elton John. He also modified 25 Mini Mokes for a record company contest involving the Beach Boys. Barris also changed cars for Hollywood stars. For example, he made a Cadillac limousine for Elvis Presley. He created custom Pontiac station wagons for John Wayne. A Cadillac Eldorado was turned into a station wagon for Dean Martin. He also made a pair of "his & hers" 1966 Ford Mustang convertibles for Sonny and Cher. In 1969, he changed an AMX coupe into the AMX-400 show car. This car was later used in a 1972 episode of Banacek.
In the 1990s, NASA contacted Barris. They wanted to see the designs of his Moonscope vehicle. This was a 1966 design that was a popular plastic model car. NASA engineers were designing rovers for Mars. They were interested in the Moonscope's 6-wheel spider suspension and large wedged tires. Edward Lozzi, who spoke for George Barris, said, "NASA contacted my office and asked for the original designs of the Moonscope from Barris. They said they wanted to study Barris's designs for the Martian vehicles. Barris gave them permission, and NASA sent people to meet with him."
Between 2002 and 2006, Barris also designed two custom Cadillac hearses. These were for episodes of the TV series Monster Garage. Barris's company often builds copies of cars designed by others for TV shows. These include The Monkees Monkeemobile, Starsky & Hutch (Ford Torino), and Knight Rider KITT. Barris also designed and built the "Wagon Queen Family Truckster". This car was based on a 1979 Ford Country Squire station wagon. It was made for the 1983 film National Lampoon's Vacation.
Later Career and Legacy
In 2005, The New York Times asked Barris to customize a Toyota Prius. They called it one of the most popular but least attractive cars in the U.S. The budget was $10,000. A rule was that he could not cut the car's body or change its hybrid engine.
In April 2010, a special George Barris design edition of the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro Spirit was shown. It was introduced at a VIP event at Community Chevrolet.
On November 29, 2012, Barris Kustom and George Barris announced the sale of the Number 1 Batmobile. This happened at the Barrett-Jackson car show and auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. The world-famous car was auctioned on January 19, 2013. After a lot of bidding, it sold for $4.6 million to car collector Rick Champagne from Arizona.
Personal Life
Barris was married to Shirley Nahas from 1958 until she passed away in 2001. They had two children. George Barris died on November 5, 2015. He passed away in his sleep at his home in Encino, Los Angeles, California. This was fifteen days before his 90th birthday.
Cars in Movies and TV Shows
George Barris designed and built cars for many movies and TV shows. Here are some of them:
- Batman — The Batmobile (1966)
- Supervan — King of the Customizers (1977)
- Jurassic Park — car changes (1993)
- Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie — car customizer (1997)
- The Munsters — technical advisor for "Hot Rod Herman" episode (1965)
- Batman — The Batmobile for 120 episodes (1966–1968)
- Mannix — Mannix Roadster (1967)
- The Banana Splits Adventure Hour — car designer (1968)
- The Beverly Hillbillies — car designer (1962–1963)
- The Bugaloos — car designer (1970–1971)
- Bearcats! — Bearcat car (1971)
- Banacek — changed AMX-400 (1972)
- Starsky and Hutch — "striped tomato" Torino (1975–1979)
- The Dukes of Hazzard — car changes (1979)
- Knight Rider — car designer (1982–1986)
Images for kids
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Barris in 2013
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Barris custom work in 1952 performed on a 1947 Hudson
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The Batmobile as seen in the 1960s Batman TV series. Photo by Jennifer Graylock
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George Barris signing autographs at the 2008 SEMA show in Las Vegas, seated next to "Miss Hurst Shifter" Linda Vaughn
See also
- Kustom (cars)
- Kustom Kulture
