Customs car history barris customs att:rikster

i am very interested in the history of this car. my grandfather worked with the barris brothers in the early day before they left sacramento. and he always talks about one car that he later wound up buying. from his description this could be the car. i would love to find pictures of it at least to show him and confirm. any help on it's history would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cool. Here is a link to the album of the car on Riksters site.

http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_car_photos/beautiful_custom_cars/barris-1/joe_urrittas_41/

 

WOW!!!! That is really neat! What happened to it? When did he sell it? He must have some really really great stories!

 

Very interesting... I have always wondered what happened to that car.
The car was built for Joe Urritta and it used to be dark green, but was later painted maroon.
Please tell us more about the car your father described.
K13 already gave the link to all the photos I have of it.
The car was featured in the August 1953 issue of Rod & Custom.

Please keep us informed.

 

Wasn't that Sams car at one point?

 

No, he built it though. It was a car that was built Sam, and not a joint effort.
It was built from a two door sedan with a convertible windshield.

 

The Four-Foot Ford?

 

well close.... "4 foot Kustom"

The car was shown at the first Oakland Roadster Show

 

Gottcha..

 

do you guys no if the car was built in sacramento or l.a.? i'll call my grandpa tonight and get all the info i can. after reading the info on riksters sight i don't think it's the same car. my grandpa said if i remember correctely that the car he had was built for a police officer in woodland ca.

 

I have no info about this car being built in Sacramento.
All I know is that it was shown at the first Oakland Roadster show in early 1950. But Barris moved from Sacramento to LA not to long after WWII. And I'm not sure when exactly this car was built by Sam.
Joe Urritta was from Fresno.

Another car that is really low is the John Vara 1941 Ford, that was later sold to Johnny Zaro. This car was later sold by Johnny, and is still around today.




More photos of this car here:

 

Wasn't there a custom merc that was built for a police officer? I seem to remember something like that.

 

This is awesome! I always liked the "Four foot Kustom"

 

Built by.

 

Joe Uritta's 41 has always been one of my favorite customs.

I believe before Bob Larivee had Rod Powell build the gold 41 based on this car, the original was found in a land fill and was too far gone to rescue.

Rod probably knows more about this than I do, so I hope he sees this thread.

Mick

 

Would love to know more about the one in the land fill...photos?

Rod powell built the one that Harry Bradley desinged based on the Urritta Ford. Harry's designs where really great, Rod was not really to happy wit the end result as far as I know.

 

Hes probably talking about Songzonis merc.

 

I was thinking the same thing. I didn't want to even attempt to spell his name though. He worked at the Barris shop right?

 

I think its Sonzogni... not sure though.. But yeah thats most likely the one LowCab is talking about... quite a different car so I don't think this is the car this thread is about.
Frank Sonzogni was a cop that worked after hours at Barris. He and Sam Barris did the body work on the Hirohata Mercury... but that.. is a different story.

 

Trying to keep this on top...

Any news?

 

hey rickster i didn't get a chance to call tonight. i will tomorrow for sure. i got rapped up working on my car. and then i had the shipper finaly show up to pick my truck up that is headed to australia. i am on it tomorrow tho.

 

Great... thanks, looking forward to hear more about this. And to see if we can figure out which car is is/was

 

Pretty excited about this! Some new unheard kustom history. Wouldn't it be funny if he was like yeah by the way I have pics of Sam chopping his Merc in 49... hahahahahaha

 

hey rick my grandfather worked with barris and Bertolucci in the early days. he has no pictures that i am aware of. but he has a great memory. if your interested in talking with him he has great stories. let me know if you would like to talk to him.

 

Man if only camera phones where around in the 50's!!

 

I send you a pm...

 

Great thread Glendale! According to the Big Book of Barris, Joe Urrita drove his Ford to the Barris Brothers in february 1950, so I guess the one from the Sacramento area must have been another one. Do you know if it was a 1941 Ford, or could it have been something else?

Also was the work done by the Barris Brothers, or was it just done before they left Sacramento?

Would have been kool to identify this car, and also it would have been kool to know if Rod Powell have more info on the whereabouts of the Urrita Ford!

 

nuther bump!