by **** Youve all heard the saying "Its a small world" well Im here to tell you that it is. I recently drove my hotrod to my job site as I had an appointment right after work and needed to go straight there. One of the electricians on the job that I had become friendly with was checkin out my car and we started talkin cars. His name is Jeff Carr and he asked me if I had ever heard of a car called the "Aztec"? Being pretty well versed in the history of the cars that we know and love I said yes. Well Jeff tells me with pride in his voice that his dad built it! Now its not everyday that someone makes a claim like that so I decided to check out this story. It was true. Seems his dad is the legendary builder Bill Carr. I got the lowdown on the restoration of the Aztec being done by a guy named Barry Mazza down in Florida. Jeff was kind enough to hook me up with his father and I had a wonderful conversation with he and his wife Barbara. What follows is his story as he related it to me with our conversation and some writing that he sent to me. Bill Carr is a hotrodder from way back. Seems that in 1947 at the age of 18 he had already built himself a 29 roadster. Living in Huntington, West Virginia he had plans and dreams of going to California where the hotrods are plentiful. He decided to go and the night before he was to leave his father took the roadster for a spin. Well luck wasnt with them that night as pops wrecked the roadster! It was a total. Bills dad was OK, but now he had no hotrod to go to California with. Depressed but determined he hitch hiked there anyway! After arriving in California he stayed with his brother in Santa Ana. Now that he was here he needed a hotrod. Having always wanted a "real" California hotrod he started collecting all the parts to build one. He got another roadster for $300.00 out of a farmers bean field and proceeded to build it. All the work was done by he and his brother in his brothers front yard. When he was done he drove the roadster back to West Virginia where it was the only "real" California hotrod there. He raced it and beat everybody around. His dreams were all coming true. Later Bill went in the Army and after he got out he moved back to California. He settled in Los Angeles in 1953 and bought a 39 Ford with a chopped Carson top. He met and became friends with George Barris, later moving in with him and an army buddy named Bruce Douglas. He had sold the 39 by this time and bought a brand new 55 Chevy Convertible. It was at this time that he got a new job for an insurance company and with the job came a 55 coupe for a company car. Now not needing the convertible as a daily driver he decided to build a Kustom out of it. He took the car to the Barris shop and started working on it at night and on weekends. Sam Barris lent a hand doing some of the major reconstructive work on the car. Shaving and peaking the hood, Installing Packard taillights, Fabricating a scalloped scoop over the headlights, shaving the door handles, and recessed lockable push ****on electric door openers. It was becoming a really nice Kustom but Bill decided that he wanted to go all out and build a magazine cover, award winning Kustom. He enlisted the help of his friend Bill DeCarr to help him achieve this goal. Bill DeCarr worked for Ford over in Southgate as well as at Barriss shop. He would get off work and then start working with Bill on what would later be known as the Aztec. To pay George for letting him use the shop and equipment Bill worked on other cars that were at the shop. He worked on the Dream Truck, Kopper Kart, A La Kart, and several Mercurys. Putting in more hours than you can imagine he put everything he had into finishing that car! George would help with drawings of the car to visualize their ideas, and both Bills would work those ideas out in the metal. Sometimes the work would progress with out any input from Bill at all, but it always followed the overall theme that he thought out. Everyone worked on the car for 2 years, creating the Kustom that would become so well known. They rolled the car out of the shop for its first show in Gardenia. It was still in primer and it only had a skeleton for the top but the car was well received and garnered allot of attention. The crowd couldnt believe how much work had been done to the car. It was a first! It was time for paint and Bill turned to Junior Conway. He paid him to do all the block and prep work although Bill and others helped at times. Candy colors were just becoming the thing but most people went for the red. George mixed up some bronze and Bill loved it. George laid down a gold metallic base and covered it with 5 coats of the bronze toner, before clear coating it. Then Dean Jeffries, who had the shop next door, laid down the scallops and stripes which set off all the metal work to great results. The car was then shown at Portland and was billed as a Barris design concept! Bill says he didnt mind as he was living with George who was a legend and he had a Barris crest on his car, what more could a young man ask for? Later Bill and Dean Jeffries drove the car across country, following George Barris in the Jane Mansfield Lincoln and a couple of other guys in the Kopper Kart. They were traveling the car show circuit. Stopping in cities like, Columbus, Ohio, and Terre Haute, Indiana. Even a show in Huntington West Virginia, where Bills dad was the promoter. In Washington DC. He met a model named Barbara and they hit it off very well. Eventually they married and she is his wife still. Bill toured with the car for a couple more years and eventually he was pursued by a man named Bobby Wilcoxson who wanted to buy the Aztec. He kept pestering Bill, who didnt think that the guy was smart enough to have the kind of money it would take to buy the car. Finally Bill told him he could have the car for $16,500.00! Well this Bobby put a brief case on the hood of the car and opened it. It was full of $100.00 bills! He counted out the money right there on the hood of the car! Well it turned out that Bobby Wilcoxson was a notorious bank robber and was the most wanted man in America since John Dillenger! The FBI contacted Bill about the car and the money. The FBI was worried that Bobby would come back for the money so they stationed a guy outside of Bills house for quite a while. Bill says he never heard from Bobby again and he is glad! This could be the end of the story but its not. The Aztec turned up on a used car lot some years later in Phoenix, Arizona and then reappeared in New Jersey where Barry Mazza acquired it and started to restore it. He has been in constant contact with Bill getting help for the restoration and it should be done soon. Bill continues to build cars and is starting a Morris truck right now with the help of Bill Hines! He told me that he cant stand to leave things stock and he is just an old fashioned hotrodder. He likes to think back on the Aztec and while he shaped the car he says the car shaped his life. He had a great deal of fun building it and showing it. He made a lot of friends and most importantly he met his wife through that car. Hes looking forward to seeing the car again and for that matter Im looking forward to seeing it for the first time! I thank Jeff Carr for introducing me to his dad, and I thank Bill Carr for sharing his story with me. Thats what its all about sharing ideas and stories about hotrods. Keep building them Bill and we will keep being inspired by them. this stuff is copyrighted... use it without permission and we'll kick you square in the nuts.
Great story. And you've got to admire the walnuts of a "ten most wanted" bank robber who decides to fly under the radar by cruising a well-known, flashy, one-of-a-kind show car around town. Way to go, Sparky.
I remember the impact that car had on me when I first saw it in the August '58 Hot Rod. I wasn't into customs, but that car got my attention - it was a trendsetter. Mutt
Being a young punk in love with cars, the Aztec was the ultimate for me in custom cars back then. It was on the cover of all the magazines even the 75 cent special yearly editions. I almost had a coronary when I walked out my front door and saw THE Aztec drive up Oglethorpe st. in Hyattsville, Md. I had studied every picture of it so there was no mistaking what it was. Later I learned that it was being raffled off. It was on display at Prince Georges Plaza one of the east coast's first shopping malls (out door). I'm sure it was owned by the crook by that time and I'm sure noone ever won it. It made one hell of an impression on this punk kid. It would be like seeing one of Chip Foose' creations drive up the street in front of your house today.The most famous show car in the world drove up my street and I was there at that exact moment to see it. It had to be fate.
Some artsy fartsy ones from the Orlando Rumblers show... I creamed my drawers when we pulled up and saw it sitting there... like it dropped from outer space.
Anyone know if the DeSoto bumpers had to be narrowed to fit that? They look like '58's turned upside down, but if they are there is a good 6 inches cut out of the middle. I think they're '57 with the center raised part added out of somehting else -
In the book Barris Kustom Techniques of the 50's Volume 2, there is a great 18 page write up on The Aztec with lots of detailed pictures. As far as the front bumper goes, the article states: "You can see where the gravel shield had been cut away and the popular '57 DeSoto bumper is being measured for fit. Eventually it was cut and V'd in the center and shortened on the end wrap arounds. It was probably the first usage of this bumper on a custom." Also, the caption for another photo says: "Bill deemed the bumper ends were too long, so they were cut and sectioned." Those bumpers are the cat's meow! Gotta love 'em! E
I was just looking at some pics of this car the other day so I went digging and found it in one of the body shop calendars I just got in the mail. The write-up doesn't give any credit to Bill Carr however, when you have Barris involved I guess it's easy to overlook some of the lesser known names (even if they were the true creative spirit behind the car).
You know I've always thought the Batmobile had many influences from the Aztec. I don't know why, but both have Barris all over them. The DeSoto bumpers were always my favorite element of the Aztec.
Barris, only takes credit for the Batmobile, but it was built by Ford Motor Co. as a factory concept car and purchased by Barris. He did paint it Bat fuzz black so that now means he can claim it as a Barris car. He did build many copies for TV work. In actual fact, **** Dean did most of the work when he worked for Barris. Having said all that, The Aztec was out of this world when it hit the show scene in the late fifties. Totally innovative for a custom.
Not that I'm defending George, but he put almost as much work into the batmobile as he did any other car. He made a good number of changes to the Lincoln concept car to transform it into the Batmobile, at least more than just a paintjob... I never liked the Aztec, or any of the "full customs" in that style. But I can certainly appreciate them and the history behind them. Great post.
I partially agree with Fidgit, if I owned a 55 I wouldnt go that route, but that is what was happening back in the day, and you have to respect it. I saw it at Lead East I think 2 years ago when it was just completed...and MAN does that car command attention! I couldnt take my eyes off it, and every time I looked at it again, noticed a handful of things I hadnt before. Insane! Some parts that story seem to be ommitting (I am sure to completely mess this up) Mazza I believe is from Florida which explaints the palm trees, but Im pretty sure that Bob Nitty (spelling?) of Colonia NJ had quite a hand in restoring it as well. He was showing it at Lead East (when I stopped by his shop, it was in a trailer behind the building), I believe the two of them owned it as a joint kind of deal. To the best of my recollection as well, hearing the recent story of the car, it was at a bodyshop, or possibly two, that were raided and seized due to back taxes or something like that....reguardless I heard the car ended up at a junkyard, and perhaps thats where they (Mazza/Nitty) found the car? It was a drunken evening at a friends shop hearing about the history on the car, but Im almost positive it was p***ed around some criminals and somehow ended up at a junkyard. For what its worth.
George Barris was a promotional genius, and to this day remains an icon of the kustom genre. At the same time, he gets a lot of credit for things that he didn't do. The Aztec is a prime example, this story tells of the hard work and sacrifice that two guys did to build it, and then it is forever a Barris Car. If you read the list of guys who actually did the work in Barris shop, it reads like a who's who of the greatest car builders in the hobby. **** Dean, Bill Hines, Dean Jeffries, Larry Watson, Bill DeCarr, are just a few that come to mind. Then car owners that swapped work for getting their own cars built, like the Aztec and Chili Catallo and the Little Deuce coupe. George must be given credit for making it all happen, and he deserves every accolade that he gets, and he was there at the beginning. I am sure that he painfully aware of the absence of his brother, and of his beautiful wife, who contributed so much to his success. He is a very lucky man to receive the many blessings that he has, and he deserves any credit that comes his way because he is the one that made it happen, with his promotional abilities.
REPLY...Yes, they have been clipped in the middle some 8 inchs and spliced back. They are 57's and the front ends had to be shorten as well. The middle has a 49 Chevy guard section and installed upside down. Over the top is a cut down 57 Olds front license guard, studs welded on to bolt to the bumper. Mesh screen with 1/2 inch 1/4 oval bar formed with studs welded on to secure it to the bumper. This is the deal , I know cause I did the work as told to me by Bill Carr himself....BARRY MAZZ
WORK IN NITTIS SHOP, JERSEY CITY,NJ INCLUDED...striped, primed, new floor and trunk panels, lower rockers,install left door, install new lower rear pan. Then shipped to Florida for restoration.
Barry, it's good to see the car out on the road again. I sent you a PM, I lost your email when I changed computers.
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