George Barris is the best-known designer of custom cars in the world. With some justification, he styles himself King of the Kustomizers.

George and his brother Sam were born in Chicago in the 1920s. Due to the deaths of their parents, they moved to Roseville, California as children to live with relatives. Both were good students, interested in drama, music, and design. George was fascinated with model aircraft, and pursed the hobby seriously in his teenage years, winning competitions for his models.

The brothers worked at a restaurant owned by their family, and one day were given a 1925 Buick for their help. Although it was not in good shape, they swiftly restored it to running condition, and began to experiment with changing its appearance. This became the first Barris Brothers custom car. They sold it at a profit to buy another project vehicle, and their career was born. Before George had graduated from high school, demand for their work was growing, and they had created a club for owners of custom vehicles, called the Kustoms Car Club. This was the first use of the spelling "kustom," which would become a Barris trademark.

Sam entered the army during World War Two, while George moved to Los Angeles. Sam joined him there after being discharged. The two built their kustom designs for private buyers, and George also built and raced his own cars briefly. These activities brought them to the attention of the movie colony, and they were soon asked to create cars both for personal use by the studio executives and stars and as props for films, their first being used in 1958's High School Confidential. They also made the acquaintance of Robert Peterson, founder of Hot Rod and Motor Trend magazines and, much later, of the Peterson Auto Museum. His publications and car shows further publicized the Barris style, George himself writing how-to articles for would be customizers.

In 1951, Sam had customized a new Mercury coupe for himself, and a customer who saw it ordered a similar car. This vehicle, known as the Hirohata Merc for its owner, was shown at the 1952 Motorama auto show and was so popular it overshadowed the best work of Detroit's top designers, on display at the major manufacturer's exhibits. It also established the early 50s Mercury as possibly the classic base for custom car design, a status it retains today.

Sam decided to leave the business in the 50s, but George had married and he credited his wife Shirley with major assistance in promoting the company, which eventually became Barris Kustom Industries. It began to license its design to model car manufacturers such as Revell and AMT, which spread the Barris name into every hobby, department, and discount store in the country and also into the minds of millions of eager model builders.

The 1960s would see the firm become heavily involved in vehicle design for television production. At the beginning of the decade, Barris, who loved extravagant design whether his or someone else's, had purchased the Lincoln Futura, a concept car of the mid-50s which had been built by Ghia of Italy. It remained in his collection for several years, until he was rather unexpectedly asked by ABC Television to create a signature vehicle for their new Batman television series. Time was very short as filming would begin in a few weeks, and creation of a new design from scratch was scarcely possible. Instead, he remembered the Futura, which had been designed by the original Lincoln sylists to resemble a shark, with a menacing, agressive front and high tailfins. Barris decided it was a perfect base on which to create the Batmobile. In three weeks the car was ready and the show was immediately a hit, the car becoming one of the most reconizable icons of the 60s and possibly Barris' most famous work. Signature vehicles for other TV series such as the Green Hornet, the Beverly Hillbillies, the Monkees, The Munsters, and Starsky and Hutch soon followed. Barris designs have also featured in commericals, probably the most famous being the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile.

Although Barris today is elderly, he still works out of his shop, assisted by his son and daughter. The firm is remains busy with kustom creation, charitable functions, and even a Barris clothing line. The founder himself is still in the public eye, receiving awards, appearing at auto-related events, and recently being featured on ABC TV's popular show Extreme Makerover .

External links

• Barris.com
• Restoration of the Barris Supervan
• Barris interview from the late 90s
• Barris interview from 2004
• CNN profile from 2001