Barris does get the girls, I'm not sure how though. He wears sungl***es for a reason, let's just say his eyes aren't looking at faces. I've had a few run ins with him and they have been interesting to say the least.
Yeah, you can figure it out by looking at old photos. There's George in a spotless shirt and in the background was Sam, looking like he hadn't washed his overalls since WWII. Later,after Sam moved North, 'ol George had other talented guys getting dirty in the background.
A couple of years ago I tried to buy a car from George (on behalf of a customer with some very deep pockets), it was the Aston Martin DB5 that was in the James Bond movies. Only 4 of these cars were bought by the film studio, one of them was subsequently stolen so only 3 of them are the "real deal" authentic cars as used in the movies. George claimed that his was one of those 3. After a number of phone calls back and forth I finally asked him for the VIN so that I could verify the cars history, he went off on a rant and called me a "Joker" and that my customer didn't have enough money to buy his car! Last year my customer bought the one of the real James Bond DB5's at auction,.........paid over 2 million dollars for it! Obviously George's car is bogus!
George, the King of Kustoms? more like the King of Bad Taste! Just took a friend on a tour of my old "hood" and stopped by Kustom City, its looking pretty shabby these days......
Here's another of the gang. My dad's got his head turned. Sam Barris is standing behind his Cadillac convertible. That's my other uncle with the shades on.
Freaky...I think I followed the story and sale of that one in the only mag I subscribe to.....weird that there's a HAMB connection to it!
Where were all you guys in the 40's and 50's... Well guess what? George WORKED at Barris' Kustoms... Wether or not you think he's a blow-hard, dude was there. He actually had a hand in building all the customs we drool over. He may not have refined every chop, or slung all the lead... But he had his part in making customs what they are. How many of you RULERS can say that? ....And like it or not, 'Ol George increased the value of that clipping exponentially. Thank him next time...
I think we owe the man a little more respect. He was there at the beginn ing of everything that we hold dear today. Sam Barris was a metal working genius, but George made it all happen. They worked together as a team. Some of the greatest craftsmen in the world had enough respect to work for, or with, Barris. Bill Hines, **** Dean, Bill DeCarr, Junior Herschel, Larry Watson, Von Dutch, Dean Jefferies, and many more that I can't remember, worked for the man. Just his age demands respect. No one has done more for the hobby. We don't have to like everything that he has done, but there is only one George Barris.
If you think of Customizing as a separate 'hobby' than Hot Rodding, I'll bite... Who has done more for Customizing than George Barris? Understand of course, there most likely would be no Winfield, Watson, Martinez, Junior, etc, etc, etc, without Barris... I personally have met many more talented, humble, and stylish original customizers in my time... But I wouldn't want to argue that a single one of them has "Done More for Customizing" than George Barris.
There was a news story on George & Barris Customs about 8 years ago over here and George from what I understand did renderings on how things were to be done kinda like Chip Foose does today. They showed a few of the original drawings that he did from the 50s. It was a really good piece especially to a then 16 year old.
beauishere. Those pictures must be some of the rarest I've seen. Absolutely fabulous! About George-Sam After what I heard, George started working on cars before the war and hanging around Harry Westergard. This story is from his own website, but it tells that George was working on the cars, but Sam was THE metalwizard. Don't see anywhere at this point in history, that George just cruised around and Sam did all the hard work. But he started the shop and maybe was a bit of "boss" when his brother came back from the war and joined him. They used a lot of talented handymen and George more got in to designing (not like in the design studios of today!) and promoting the shop, which has become THE most wellknown custom shop in the history of mankind. And the cars they built... His work after mid 50's is really not my cup of tea. But he is worth more than just a lot of bad words... ----------------------- The brothers interest in cars intensified during their teenage years as they discovered "the black art" of body work by hanging out after school at local bodyshops, including Brown's and Bertolucci's in Sacramento. George created his first full custom from a used 1936 Ford convertible before he graduated from High School. This automobile lead to their first commercial customer. Shortly after George formed a club called Kustoms Car Club where the first use of "K" for kustoms appeared. After Sam entered WW ll, George moved to Los Angeles where his talents began to flourish. He soon opened his first shop in Bell, a Los Angeles suburb in late 1944. Sam joined him after his discharge in 1945. They opened a new shop on Compton Ave. in Los Angeles. The shop was known as the "Barris Brother's Custom Shop". Sam's natural metal craftmanship served as a perfect foil to George's desire to design, paint, manage, and promote. George began to race at Saugus Speedway around 1947. But this hobby was short lived as the business expanded and took up all his spare time. Other forces began to take place, the first Hot Rod Show produced by Robert 'Pete' Petersen founder of Hot Rod magazine. The Barris brothers were asked to exhibit the only custom car in the show. The reaction was very positive. Modern automotive magazines were being published which provided coverage of the custom car business. George began photographing autos professionally and writing for the magazines. He was able to promote his business by demonstrating their techniques through how-to articles. ---------------------- George formed "Kustoms of Los Angeles," which was initially restricted to Barris customers and later became "Kustoms of America." The group grew out of weekend custom runs which George help put together. Kustoms of America is still a major club today that has a major cruise in Paso Robles. ------------------------ I do agree that George really have high thoughts about himself and that's never a good thing. But he actually is one of the true originators of our hobby today. And was brilliant in telling everyone that Barris Kustoms was, as well... Just my two cents...
Two pictures to back up ChevyGirls's point. The funny thing was, George's wife was just outside the frame of the pictures. She started talking to the model with the same friendly Grandmotherly warmth as she would have spoken to a Brownie selling Girl Scout Cookies. Probably most women her age at the time would have been up tight about it. This was at the 50ith GNRS in 1999.
Well... George is responsible for the bio you forwarded. I haven't said anything negative about him in the posts. My only reference is the time that my father spent at the Barris shop in LA. As everyone acknowledges, Sam did all the heavy metal work. George helped sand and keep things up. According to the bio, George started the shop. That is questionable. My dad says that it was clear Sam was the boss. If you do the math, George says he opened the shop when he was sixteen. By himself. Probably happened a little differently. Sams been gone a long time and George probably believes his own hype. Doesn't hurt anybody though. Just nice for others to know the truth.
You are absolutely right. He was there, and he is en***led to the Respect he has earned. And so are the other guys that were there too. If it is unclear who has done the actual work on a certain Car, I dont feel bad asking questions about it. We have a chance to record History accurately, or simply fall in line with the Books, Magazines and TV Programs that just appear to repeat the same version of things. Take the Batmobile for example... Did he build the thing or did Cushenberry? Its not that long ago... It shouldn't be too hard to find out for sure. Facts are Facts, the rest is just Drama and personal opinions.
The pursuit of facts can be as much about drama as it is about truth... The facts are that nobody who supposedly built the cars that Barris has taken credit for has ever come out convincingly to discredit Barris. It's always unsubstantiated, and it's always "I heard so and so really did that car..." Barris has never claimed he did all the work that came from his shop. I think guys are extra critical about Barris because he is such a self promoter. Do we really know who did ALL the work on ANY famous car... Hot Rod, Kustom, sports car, dragster... Here's an example... Guy opens a shop... He builds a few cars... He promotes his shop... He's good at it and his shop grows... He needs some help... He hires a 17yo kid to help out (Jr. Conway)... The kid learns a lot at the shop... He eventually moves on and opens his own shop and becomes successfull in his own rite (best custom painter in the world)... So, when he was a 17yo kid working for Barris, were they Barris cars, or were they Jr Conway cars? Lots of guys worked on lots of the cars that Barris is credited with way back to the beginning. But it was his shop.
Some info on these sites... http://www.1966batfan.com/futurabat.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batmobile Fact? I dont know. I wasn't there...
Hey, I wasn't referring to YOUR post. And I can do the math... Your pics and story is some of the best things I've seen in a long time! The thing I'm talking about is that he definitely was there and created the Barris Kustom cars and also made the shop world leading in it's genre. With all the how-to's in mags and all. That George later has the stupid taste of taking credit for others work and also hold up his own importance in the actual BUILDING of the cars, has nothing to do with what I'm talking about here. I am only talking about his importance for custom cars around the world from an initial view. That Sam was the premier builder is not any secret on this board... In the Barris DVD he talks about Sam being home with the family and himself, Nick Matranga and the boys were out using the kustom cars as they were meant to... Pick up nice girls... And he still has the taste for it. Believe me, the pics from the party when he was in Sweden earlier this year was...VERY much ***s, I tell ya! Wearing a viking helmet... I leave the details out for sensitive listeners...
I beg to differ too! I call bull **** on the bull ****.Bill Hines just to name one of a few. Bill started in 1941!If it was not for Bill and many other builders that some of us know there would have been no "Barris Kustoms".
Good thread. I'm glad to see both sides well argued. I must say that I think the above comment might be stretching a fairly long bow, however.
He who signs the checks and he who receives the checks usually receives the credit and usually takes responsibility for what he creates, sells, promotes, etc. George does seem to take all the credit but sometimes does give credit where credit is due...I'm glad he is out hounding all the chicks because with that jacket and those gl***es he very easily could have gone Liberace on us...Can't think of anything of his in the last 50 years that I have liked but I have to admire his longevity and how much of a livelihood he has managed to create by being a tireless self promoter
If any thing , he provided a way for the fellows to pursue thier creative outlet... How many got started, and then realized thier full potential while working for barris custom? I think bill hienz worked there?, **** dean.. the guys that built the aztec 55 chev.. there was a la cop that did freelance work there that had an amazing merc. Dare I say that the situation was similar to the boyd coddington garage tv show? boyd "built" the cars.. but if you noticed al, dan , and a few others were who were really getting dirty. barris is credited with building the surf woody, but I think it was desigened and built by people working at the shop. when it was released from the barris shop, then it became barris built. I have often thought that the reason we lost sam so early was becuase he was the one slinging all the lead , while george was making deals and promoting the name. The dobie gillis coupe was a mistake. I couldnt believe that they did that to the chrisman coupe when I found out that they were the same car years ago. I agree with metalshapes.... find the original steel batmobile, and take all that comic book **** off of it. BRING BACK THE FUTURA!!!! we can leave one of the fibergl*** copys in a museum for the kiddies to look at.
It seems that George did a lot to do***ent the cars being built back then, aside from his role with the shop. I agree that respect is due the guy, even with his flaws. Funny thing is, when the guy dies you'll all be lining up to kiss his *** (just as it happened with Boyd).
Evel good luck with the DVD I wouldnt kiss his *** or Jesse's or Jimmy Sine my **** You guys have to stop worshipping little tin Gods
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