Custom Car Legend George Barris Dead At 89

by Cameron Aubernon

November 6th, 2015 7:19 PM

custom car legend george barris dead at 89

Thursday afternoon, legendary car customizer George Barris left this mortal coil at the age of 89, leaving behind a decades-long automotive legacy.

The self-described “King of Kustom Kulture,” Barris was customizing cars long before turning a Lincoln Futura concept car into the first of many iconic Batmobiles, according to The Detroit Bureau. He and his brother, Sam, began customizing while in high school in Roseville, Calif., using the money earned from working on a 1925 Buick to buy and build a 1936 Ford.

Following World War II, the Barris brothers headed to Southern California to create one-offs for many a celebrity looking to spruce up their Bentleys, Packards and Dusenbergs, including John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.

When Sam left the customization business in the 1950s, George and his wife, Shirley, took hold of the flame by starting Barris Kustom Industries; their son, Brett, would soon follow in their footsteps. Many customs would leave their shop for the car show circuit over the decades, including the Ala Kart, Fireball 500, The Invader, Moon Scope and Redd Foxx Red.

Hollywood helped Barris become a household name when it called for his custom touch. Aside from the Batmobile, he also helped put The Munsters in the Munster Koach, and turned a beat-up jalopy owned by a few hillbillies in Beverly Hills into a war machine.

Sometimes, the automakers themselves would give Barris a call. Toyota and The New York Times asked him to customize a Prius, though the customizer wasn’t allowed alter the body too much. Thus, the hybrid received little more than a new paint job, detailing, and buffing.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Brett made the following statement.

Sorry to have to post that my father, legendary kustom car king George Barris, has moved to the bigger garage in the sky. He passed on peacefully in his sleep at 2:45 am. He was surrounded by his family in the comfort of his home. He lived his life they way he wanted til the end. He would want everyone to celebrate the passion he had for life and for what he created for all to enjoy.

Barris would have been 90 on November 20. His wife, Shirley, passed away in 2001. His brother, Sam, died in 1967. His son, Brett, and daughter, Joli, survive him.

Photo credit: The Conmunity/ Flickr/ CC BY 2.0

#Dead #Death #GeorgeBarris #Obituary

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10 of 28 comments

-Nate on Nov 08, 2015

Thanx for the memories Mr. Barris , R.I.P. . -Nate

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THX1136 on Nov 08, 2015

Anyone know who did the Man From UNCLE car? (Too lazy at the moment to put the google on it.)

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- RideHeight on Nov 08, 2015
  
  http://www.c-we.com/piranha/
  
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- THX1136 on Nov 08, 2015
  
  @RideHeight Thanks RH!
  
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- VolandoBajo on Nov 08, 2015
  
  @THX1136 I just figured out why your name sounds familiar. The student film project of Lucas was THX1138, wasn't it. But if so, then why THX1136, instead? Or are they totally unrelated?
  
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- THX1136 on Nov 11, 2015
  
  @VolandoBajo You are correct, sir (or madam as the case may be). I chose 1136 figuring other fans who might want to use the handle would choose 1138. This way I'm two entities earlier in the series, so to speak. I had heard about the film in Eye Magazine and it sounded like an interesting story. It never made it to my area - central Iowa - so I didn't see it until several years later on the CBS Late Night Movie. Enjoyed it thoroughly. I eventually got it on VHS tape, but Warners did a poor job on the "pan and scan" in places. Was happy to see it on DVD, but wish George would have included the original cut along with his tweaked out director's cut.
  
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- Drzhivago138 on Nov 11, 2015
  
  @THX1136 What a coinkydink, that's where my username got its number too. Pared down to 3 digits to fit a 12-character space.
  
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- VolandoBajo on Nov 11, 2015
  
  @THX1136 I figured it must be something like that. FWIW, I am a man (and have been all my life except for the time I as a boy). Volando Bajo means "flying low" in Spanish, what it feels like to be highway cruising, especially at night, in my 97 Grand Marquis. Since both of the words have gender in Spanish, the "o" ending indicates masculine. If it were feminine, the two words would have ended in "a" instead of "o". I first saw THX 1138 while I was in college, not that many years after Lucas was. It was the first official release cut. I later saw the director's cut, but it was so long after I saw the original that I didn't really have a feel for what had changed. It was probably the first sci-fi film I ever saw. Godard's Alphaville was the second, though it also can be classified as a French nouvelle vague film; both are atypical...preludes to the first main stream one, at least to me: 2001 A Space Odyssey.
  
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- THX1136 on Nov 14, 2015
  
  @ VB: I didn't want to just assume you were a guy as I am certain there are women who are into cars also. George added a bit more to the overall "feel" of the underground environment - expanded roadway systems, larger cityscapes, etc. He also re-edited a few scenes dialogue wise - like when THX confronts SEN at SEN's living quarters. As I mentioned, while I like the DC I wish he would have included the original cut also. I was a huge fan of 2001. I've seen it on everything from Cinerama to outdoors on a bed sheet to regular TV. For me it was the first "serious" sci-fi film dealing with space. Most that proceeded it seemed less so. I bought the book "The Making of 2001" which came out on paperback shortly after the film. After reading all the things that the film innovated and the detail to which Kubrick went to get "things right", I was even more impressed and enamored. I have not seen Alphaville although your mention has encouraged me to seek it out.
  
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- VolandoBajo on Nov 16, 2015
  
  @THX1136 Alphaville is in an entirely different vein. If you watch it expecting something in the vein of THX 1138 and 2001 A Space Odyssey you will be disappointed. But it is a good "alternate future" film in its own right...an old school Mickey Spillane-style detective on a planet that is a parallel to Earth, but run by a totalitarian regime. A completely heartless and cold place which the detective, Lemmie Caution, must overcome or be destroyed by. Just to give you a small vignette, people who are considered to be enemies of the ruling group of that planet are condemned to death, and the death sentence is imposed by making them walk the plank into a shark-filled pool. Caution decides that there is no way that he can compete with the technology, but that perhaps he will be able to devise a strategy that might be able to exploit a weakness in their rigid way of doing things. The movie is the story of how that struggle plays out. Some people will like it, and others will be left saying "WTF?". And some may do both. YMMV. Personally, I liked it, but for entirely different reasons than those for why I liked the other two.
  
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