George Barris, the creator of the Batmobile and other TV and movie vehicles, died Thursday, his son, Brett, announced on Facebook. He was 89.
“Sorry to have to post that my father, legendary kustom car king George Barris, has moved to the bigger garage in the sky,” his son wrote. “He passed on peacefully in his sleep at 2:45 am. He was surrounded by his family in the comfort of his home. He lived his life they way he wanted til the end.”
But it was the Batmobile, used by actors Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin, that viewers might remember best. Before it was auctioned in 2013, it was briefly on display as a star attraction at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles
Dick Messer, former director of the museum, told USA TODAY in 2005 that Barris’ genius leaned less on careful craftsmanship and more on sheer sizzle.
“George came up with the Batmobile in just three weeks — unheard of, really,” Messer said. The 1955 Ford Futura that was sold in 1960 to auto customizer George Barris for $1
INTERACTIVE:Click through Barris’ most well-known cars
When it was auctioned at a car-collector auction in January 2013 in Scottsdale, Ariz., it fetched $4.6 million.
The 19-foot-long black, bubble-topped car was created from a one-of-a-kind 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car, and transformed into a sleek crime-fighting machine boasting lasers and, of course, a Batphone. This was way before cellphones.
Lozzi said Barris was contacted in 2002 by NASA, which wanted to examine one of his cars designed for a sci-fi film he worked on, The Moonwalker. “NASA studied it to improve the (future) manned Martian vehicles,” Lozzi said.
Barris was still in high school in Northern California when he designed his first fully customized car, a 1936 Ford. Soon after he formed Kustoms Car Club and went to work in earnest with his late brother, Sam.
Over the next 70 years he would design literally hundreds of cars for TV, films, celebrities, heads of state and just regular folks.
Barris operated out of the ramshackle headquarters of Barris Kustom Industries, in a forgotten corner of North Hollywood, stuffed with mementos from 60 years of building some of the most outrageous cars ever to cruise the street and screen.
“Look, I’m just a crazy car guy, and I’m proud of it,” he told USA TODAY. “My love for this nutty stuff keeps me coming in the office every day, 8 o’clock sharp.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
The car customizer’s first shop was Barris Kustom Shop located on Imperial Highway in Bell, Calif. It was later moved to Lynwood, Calif., but Barris continued his association with North Hollywood, Calif. Barris Kustom Industries remains there.
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