Thanks for posting these. I've seen many of the burned out shop picks, but not in operations shots like these.
Hey Rick, Just want to take a second to let you know how much I admire and appreciate your p***ion for Customs. I usually don't have anything to add to your posts, but always look because I know it will never be a waste of time. So thank you to Gary Birns for taking the photos and again to Rickster for taking the time to put this stuff together and giving everyone such good content.
Gary thanks for sharing and taking the time to scan them... Rik thanks again! For newbs like me this stuff is great!
Thanks to anyone who had a hand in perserving this materiel. This has got me to wondering about who is taking the time to chronical what is happeneing today. Anyone who is involved or even interested in the many phases of car crafting should be continually on the lookout for photo ops that will record the state of the car scene as it is evolving today. If those in the past had been more aware of the posibility that what was happening back them would be of interest to those in the future I'm sure there would have been more photograpic and written records secured for the future. With the many technical advancements in photo and recording devices I'm sure we'll have a more complete record going forward. Frank
Fab32 just blew my mind! Imagine if the Barris brothers and other shops had set up surveilance back then! Watching old tapes of day-to-day activity would be the most! Now imagine if you had at least ten years worth of everyday footage....I would watch every minute!!
That's what I like about this photo set...'59 on was my favorite period. The earlier sled period didn't much interest me in 1959...they were "my Dad's customs" if you will, the past. Of course, I have since learned to appreciate the earlier period in retrospect, but the "modern era" will always be my favorite. The Camino defined the new look and of course, it was a brand new car. I built several new, current year mild customs with Watson influence during the following years.
Here are some more photos from the Gary Birns Photo Collection... although they are not from the Barris Shop they are very interesting anyway. Here are some photos of the 1959 T-Bird that Gary had in the early 1960's The car was named "*******'s Chariot" The car even made Custom Rodder Magazine in 1961... A later version
Gary also send a scan of a very nice Alexander Bros. Barris Detroit Division business Card. I had heard about this Barris Division, but I had never seen a business Card of this... very nice
Gary also tried to buy the Sam Barris built 1957 Chevy El Capitola at one point. But unfortunately a deal was never made. But the good thing about it is that Gary took a lot of nice photos of the car how it sat in the garage collecting dust, before it was finally restored by its current owner. Its really to bad that the current owner is not showing this Sam Barris masterpiece to the public... The amount of body work on this car is amazing. Most of the color separation lines on this car recessed or raised... If you look hard you can see the recessed panels on the top...
WOW!!! Great pictures of the El Capitola here Rik,I have never seen these before.The job Sam did on this car with all the recessed metal is amazing.This car is a little new for the stuff I usually like but I have always loved this car.I tried to push for this one to be at the History Of The Custom show but it didnt happen. Thanks for posting these great pictures Rik.
I hear you guys talk about Jerry Prestons El Camino, anyone have any pics of it? I know a Jerry Preston who was cruisin back then and still today. I keep forgetting to ask him if its him?
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