There’s a really good reason why George Barris is known as the “King of the Customizers.” Apart from nearly single-handedly popularizing the craft of taking existing production cars and turning them into automotive art, he’s also created some of the most recognizable machines for television and film for the past half century.
Recently, Barris was thrust back into the limelight with the January release of The Green Hornet, which featured several remakes of his Chrysler Imperial-based “Black Beauty” custom sedan. Of course, other Barris creations include iconic vehicles like the two trick rods for “The Munsters,” K.I.T.T. for “Knight Rider,” the Monkee’s GTO, and the Batmobile from the 1960’s television live action series.
In fact, his creations were so well known during the 1950′s and 1960′s that his shop and talents helped forged the Southern Californian hot rodding landscape. Barris isn’t sitting back on his laurels, either. He’s whipped up custom iterations of modern muscle cars as well.
The following video is a short look at Barris Customs and a quick walk through his achievements and impact on the hot rodding world, particularly when considering how Barris birthed these machines without the aides of CAD design or digital imaging. Enjoy!
George Barris of Barris Kustom: History and Inspiration from MotorMavens Dotcom on Vimeo.