Vehicle Description
You are looking at a super cool 1950 Chevy Fleetline custom. This
car is full of Barris Kustoms details and badged as a George Barris
car. Built sometime in the 80's and is still in excellent
condition. Slick Black lacquer paint with a few chips her and there
but over all very nice. Custom white pleated inteior with purple
dash and accents. Built 327 V8 with a turbo 350 3 speed automatic
transmission. Full custom detail include: shaved door handles,
louvered hood, frenched tail lights % antenna, air lowering system
with pump, lake pipes, relocated fuel fill, custom switches, custom
spiked shifter boot with loker floor shifter, interior and exterior
Barris Kustoms emblems and paint work, classic Barris etched glass,
wide white walls with classic spinner caps. Tjis car is named
Prowler. We have done a bit of research to find this car in the
Barris Kustoms list online and could not find anything. After many
phone calls it turns out this car was supposedly one of his
personal cars. Since this iconic car builder is no longer with us
we have know way to prove this! If this is one of George Barris's
personal cars it sure is a great piece of custom car building
history! Either way a super cool car that will bring attention
anywhere it goes. Please call for more details. 770-427-VETT (8388)
GEORGE BARRIS George was born in Chicago in the mid twenties. In
1928, he and his older brother Sam moved to Roseville, California
with relatives after their parents died. They both were excellent
students especially in drama, music and drawing. George pursued a
passion for building scratch-built aircraft models which led to
model cars. He won competitions for construction and design. The
family gave the brothers a 1925 Buick in need of repair for the
work they did at their restaurant. This Buick became the first
"Barris Brothers" custom car. The old Buick needed much attention
and their creative urges to make it different took hold. They
straightened the body and added bolt-on accessories before George
hand painted the car in orange with blue stripes. It was promptly
sold to purchase a 1929 Model A. 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 II, 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. The Barris brothers
outgrew their shop on Compton and moved to a larger shop in Lynwood
where the famous Hirohata Merc was born. Sam bought a new two-door
Mercury and knew it would make a great custom. He figured it out
all in his head and began cutting it up and reformed the car. Bob
Hirohata admired Sam's style and brought in his '51 Merc for a full
custom job. Sam finished his car so it could be shown at the 1952
Motorama. It turned out to be the sensation of the show. 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. The movie studios had taken note of Barris
kustoms on the streets and at races and came to George for cars for
their films. One of the first films Barris made cars for was called
"High School Confidential". The success of the initial movie car
venture motivated George to seek business in Hollywood. This
included customizing the personal cars of the stars as well. As the
past forty plus years have shown, this association with the studios
and stars has been long and fascinating. Shirley Ann Nahas,
George's future wife came into the scene and was an integral part
of George's success. She became a strong nurturing partner in
George's life as Sam had already left the business. George
concentrated on promotion as well as kustomizing. The two went hand
in hand. He would travel all over the country in his creations,
with the name "Barris" plastered everywhere he could, covering car
shows and appearing on TV talk shows. In the late 50's Revell began
making model kits of George's cars. AMT soon joined with the "Ala
Kart." Plastic model kits became the biggest selling toys at the
time. Original kustoms and hot rods continued to roll off George's
drawing board. They were built and decorated by the best
fabricators and craftsmen in the business. This pool of talent
included Bill Hines, Lloyd Bakan, Dick Dean, Dean Jeffries, Von
Dutch, Larry Watson, Hershel "Junior" Conway, John and Ralph Manok,
Bill De Carr, Richard Korkes, Frank Sonzogni, "Jocko" Johnson, Lyle
Lake, Curley Hurlbert, "Gordo", and for a brief time Tom McMullen.
Many of them went on to do their own notable work. As the sixties
began, George shifted gears and bought a new shop in North
Hollywood where he designed and built award winning cars. He also
became a father to daughter Joji and son Brett. George continues to
work out of this shop today
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