George Barris is a
legendary vehicle customizer, well-known for his celebrity creations that
include the Batmobile, Munster Koach, KITT from Nightrider and the Dukes of
Hazard’s General Lee. In addition to
building vehicles, Barris authored many “how to” articles for magazines, such
as Hot Rod Magazine, Motor Trend, Car Craft and Rod & Custom. As a pioneer
and icon in the industry, Barris continues to actively influence the industry’s
styles and trends. A regular attendee at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Barris is
admired and respected by many in the industry. He was also my friend and that's why I was saddened when I found out earlier today that he died last week.
In 2014, I interviewed George for Autobody News. Here are some excerpts from that interview:
Q: Tell us about the first car you got paid
to customize and a little about your childhood.
GB:
My parents owned a restaurant called Dan’s Grill in Roseville, CA right on the
edge of town. When I was 15, my dad taught me how to be the dishwasher but it didn’t
interest me at all, so I focused on my models pretty much. About a year later,
we moved to San Juan, CA and that’s where I got my first customizing job. A kid
drove up in a 1932 Ford and told me he wanted to customize the car. I told him
that I was going to put in a set of cat eye tail lights and he agreed to pay me
10 bucks. 10 bucks! And that’s when I determined that I would make it a career.
I thought, I’m going to be a big customizer and a billionaire! (laughs) I made
up my mind right there that I would name my company Kustoms of America. I threw
that “C” out of there and turned it into a “K.” People use it now all the time,
but I was the one who came up with it when I was 16.
Q: Your first passion was building models
as a teenager and you won a lot of awards for doing it. Please talk about that
hobby and how it turned into bigger and better things.
GB:
As I said before, we grew up in Roseville, CA and one day I went to the five
and dime store and saw a flyer announcing a model airplane contest. I would go
in there with a model car and they would tell me, ‘This is for airplane models’
and I told them I’m into cars. I want four wheels, not two wheels! We stuck to
it and eventually we started winning some contests. That’s how we started in
the model business with Revell. Then, in 1960, I started working with Aluminum
Model Toys (AMT), a company that was making models for all the car companies.
So, I was able to see how the new cars looked before they hit the market. That
way, I could create models of them well before anyone had seen them, so I had
an advantage there. I made custom kits for those vehicles and then eventually
we started making 3-in-1 model kits, so that the hobbyists could pick which
design to use. That way, they could customize the models and use their
creativity. During that time Lee Iacocca from Ford Motor Company started
something called the Ford Custom Car Caravan, where they would take this little
racing track and go out there and do model racing. We went to all the World of
Wheels and Motorama shows and it got very popular real fast.
Q: Meeting Robert E. Petersen (the founder
of Hot Rod and Motor Trend) was also a big deal and brought you a lot of worldwide
attention. Your “How-To” articles in these magazines became popular as well. Describe
that long-running relationship with Petersen and how it brought the Barris name
to the hot rod world.
GB:
We called him “Pete” and I met him when he was 18 and he was putting on a car
show in L.A., and everyone loved it. After that, he started Hot Rod, then Car Craft, Rod & Custom and I got involved in all of it. As a
result, people all over the world got to know my name. I wrote columns and
helped Pete with his “little book” series and we also started the very first
Motorama car show, which we held right next to the Chinese Grauman’s Theatre in
Los Angeles and that was a winner and a half. I had 60 cars in there, including
the Batmobile and the Munsters cars and it was the #1 car show in the world. They
closed down Hollywood Boulevard and that was the first time that ever happened.
Don Prudhomme did a burnout with his dragster right down the middle of the
street. Boy, that was an exciting time!
Q: Of all the celebrities you customized
vehicles for over the years, who was your favorite?
GB:
There was one young man and I was doing a limousine for him and he would come
into the shop to visit and check on our progress now and again. One day, he
walked into the garage area where we were working on the car and started
talking to my guys one-by-one. He knew everyone’s names and everything about
them, asking about their kids and families, etc., because he really cared about
them. He wasn’t just doing it to impress anyone , he was doing it because he
wanted to. And that was Elvis Presley—a really wonderful man. He cared about
people and did everything for everybody. He was an exceptional individual. I
did a Cadillac, a bus and a limousine for Elvis and we became very good friends
with him and Priscilla. He was a real car guy, that’s for sure.
Q: Some of your first film work involved
working with Alfred Hitchcock. After that you worked with Orson Welles and
provided special vehicles for movies like The
Car, The Silencers, Thunder Alley and Fireball
500. How was it working with top names and creating cars for the film
industry?
GB:
My first movie was High School
Confidential with John Barrymore. Jr. where we built a cute little chopped
Chevy for that film. They wanted to use it in a race scene and roll it over.
But as hard as I tried, I could not roll that car, because it was too low to
the ground. So we had to get a lift and a cable down on that vehicle, to flip
it and drop it. A whole career started right there. We went on to work with
Sonny and Cher, Fireball 500, Gone in 60 Seconds, Super Van, Mag Wheels
and High School Confidential was the
start. As far as Alfred Hitchcock, yes we worked with him on North By Northwest. He wasn’t a car guy,
but he was interested in what we were doing to get this car in his film. The
most interesting film or TV car that we created was for the TV show Knight Rider. The studio wrecked the car
every episode, so we had to fix it pretty much every week. They always broke
the fiberglass nose piece on it and one day the producer told me this is
costing us a lot of money. So, I made a mold of that nose and created a rubber
one and didn’t tell them about it. The next time they wrecked it, I just walked
over there, popped it off and showed them! We had to do a lot of funny stuff to
make these cars work and it was a lot of fun. We also did the Blues Brothers film, building a lot of
police cars, Blade Runner and Thunder Alley. We worked with Clint
Eastwood, the Rat Pack, Michael Jackson and Bob Hope and so many more!
Q: In the 1960s, you got more involved in
T.V., which is where you really made your name. During this time, Batman, The Munsters, Mannix, the Beverly
Hillbillies, My Mother the Car, The Monkees, Starsky and Hutch, Banacek and
Power Rangers were touched by the
Barris magic.
GB: The Batmobile is definitely the
most well-known of all the cars I’ve created. I wanted it to be the star of the
show, right along with Batman and Robin. I told the producers, I’m going to
have rocket launchers, oil squirters—I am going to make this car a star. And
that’s why it was such a hit, because it had all these different things it
could do. The oil squirters were made out of lawn sprinklers and those were
what we used. Beverly
Hillbillies in 1960. I met with the producer and they said we need a
jalopy. How am I going to find a jalopy in Beverly Hills? So, I traveled to San
Bernandino and that’s where I saw a feed store. The owner of the store had an
old 1922 Oldsmobile four-door sedan and he cut the back off of it and made it
into a feed truck so he could carry his hay. So, I took pictures of that and
went back to the producers and that eventually became the car for that show.
I was on that set all the time and it was a great experience. The first Batmobile they wanted was all flat
black, but when it came out of that Bat Cave it looked terrible. So, I found
some glow orange paint and outlined the car with stripes so they would reflect
and man, that made it pop. It was a people car and that’s why it became so
popular. The first show I did was the
Q: You’ve been nominated to the SEMA Hall
of Fame. Please tell us some of your greatest memories of SEMA Shows over the
years.
GB: I remember back when SEMA first started in
1963 and they had 18 tables. It was basically a hot rod show back then. All the
old-timers were there and I was representing California Custom Accessories. I
did all their aerosol paints and the different parts we designed for them.
That’s how I started with SEMA and then of course it exploded to where it is
today. They asked me recently do you want to be in the SEMA Hall of Fame and I
said of course. At first they said, you don’t qualify because you don’t
manufacture aftermarket parts. And I told them I was making aftermarket parts
before you were born! (laughs) I’m honored to be associated with SEMA and proud
to be in their Hall of Fame.
