History

www.kustomrama.com

George Barris

Famous kustom builder, born in Chicago in 1925. George is the younger brother of Sam Barris. George was named after his uncle. After their parents died, Sam and George moved to Roseville, California in 1928 to live with relatives. Seven years old George began to build balsa wood models of cars and planes. By the time he was nine George was entering and winning model contests sponsored by local hobby shops. He took home prizes for both construction and design. The model car hobby has followed George for the rest of his life. In Hop Up May 1953 you can read that already at that time the shop and his apartment were filled with small cars of all sizes. In the same article you can also read that back in the days George used to chop, channel, and section his toys. Testing out new custom tricks and paints. Recent pictures of George Barris in his shop also shows small cars in all kinds of sizes stacked everywhere.
In school both George and his brother Sam began to show a great interest in fine arts, and they were encouraged by their family along these lines. The lower grades in school did not offer too much in the way of music or drama so they began taking special classes after regular hours and on Saturdays. This interest undoubtedly stemmed from their being of Greek descent, a nationality that is world famous for its sculpting, painting, music, and drama. George in particular took music lessons by the dozens, and became very talented playing the piano and the saxophone.
In 1938, when the boys went on to high school, George got his first car together with his brother Sam. George was 13 years old at the time. The car, a 1925 Buick, was a gift from their mother. The 1925 Buick became the first Barris Brothers custom car.
About the same time the boys’ training in the arts reached even greater proportion. Their singing in particular won them acclaim at many of the local theaters. That the brothers should have so little regard for the restaurant profession grieved their parents. The theater, they said, was no place for respectable children. When the singing voices of the boys came to the parents over the radio one evening they decided that the theater might not be such a bad idea after all.
After going back and forth to school, music lessons, and various theaters, the brothers had soon run the last bit of use out of the old Buick, so they decided to sell the car and invest in a more recent car, a 1929 Ford Model A Cabriolet. As with the Buick, the Model A also received a new paint job, it also had a lot of accessories added to it. After the Model A, George bought a 1932 Ford Roadster. George’s interest in cars, as objects of art, began to mount. He believed that even the latest styles could be improved upon so he began spending all of whatever spare time he could find at a small body and fender shop. At first he watched quietly the way the men did metal work, then as his wonderment climbed he began asking questions. At last the owner put up with George and his endless questions, and put him in to work. He let George do a little welding, as he let George “set in” the license plate of a 1936 Ford. The shop owner was quite surprised at the fine job George did on the car, even if George had run into a lot of trouble. George knew after his first custom job, that restyling automobiles was the thing for him.
George went on to hang around the back yard shop of legendary custom car builder Harry Westergard. George began helping Harry whenever time would permit. George carefully followed the instructions of his new friend who eventually taught him such necessary formalities as layout and paneling. Doing these odd jobs at Westergard’s shop brought in a little extra money. With the money George bought a 1936 Ford Coupe, the first car in which he had sole interest. Between the staggering amount of school and working with Westergard, George also found time to work on his 1936 Ford Coupe. The coupe was completed in 1941.
Interest in his various studies was still foremost, and George began studying harder than ever. In addition to the courses already mentioned, he took up shop work, mechanical drawing, designing, and an additional course including singing and orchestration.
When George had started on Sacramento College he knew for sure what his true calling was. He had tried to take a course in design but the college curriculum did not offer this. So he settled half-hearted on a commercial course. By the time he had completed his first year at college World War II was well under way, and in 1942 Sam Barris joined the Army, while George was turned down. George turned to the Merchant Marine, and was subsequently told to go to Los Angeles and await assignment to a ship. George packed his belongings, including what body tools he had managed to accumulate, and headed southward. George had traded the 1936 Ford Coupe for a 1936 Ford Convertible months earlier. While awaiting assignment to a ship, George started hacking away at his convertible. Before he knew it the car had received a thorough Barris treatment. His new friends in Los Angeles lauded George on the fine job. Such things as push button doors and deck lids were practically unknown, so his new friends urged him to stay and do body work if he could arrange it.

As time went on, George was never assigned to a ship, so he got a job in a body and fender shop. This didn’t last long however. The foreman demanded George to straighten fenders, but George wanted to chop or channel something, anything would do.¹ So he quit the job and went on to work for Jones’ Body, Fender & Paint Shop instead where he worked his way up to foreman. According to George he gained a lot of basic experience while working at Jones’ Body, Fender & Paint Shop.

Late in 1945 Sam was discharged from the Navy and he returned to civilian life. He looked up his long lost brother in Los Angeles in order to find out what he was up to. George and Sam sat down and talked about old times. The old 1925 Buick came up, and the boys had a good laugh remembering the work they had done to the old jalopy. In the middle of the conversation George said “Hey, man, I’ve got an idea. Let’s go into the custom business together!” Sam reminded him that he had no experience as either a body man or as a painter, except from from the work he had done to the old Buick. George began teaching Sam, and after a few weeks he decided that his older brother would pass for a body man. George and Sam pooled their resources and rented a small shop on Imperial Avenue in Los Angeles. The year was 1946, and Barris Kustoms was born.

In August of 1951, George went to Europe to study European automotive styling. The influx of European styling had began to enter the American scene, so George decided to go abroad to see what was behind it all. On his trip George visited Italy, Germany, and France. His main purpose was to study the styling trends, but also to visit several European auto shows to see what effect American cars had on the European public. George returned to California full of new designs and ideas in October the same year.

In 1958 George married his girlfriend Shirley Nahas.

Throughout the 1950s George worked extensively with show promoters all over the country, but especially in California. George saw the opportunity to make good money there, so with the help of his wife Shirley Barris, as his show manager, he organized several shows, including the International Motor Sports Show in Hollywood in 1959, and the first annual Bakersfield Motor & Boat Show in Bakersfield, California, in 1960. Doing the shows turned out to be very time consuming, so George went back to working with other show promoter such as Harry Costa, Blacke Gejeian, Harold Bagdasarian, and Bob Larivee.

The model car business had long been one of George’s great interests. He worked with AMT, which turned his long line of customs and hot rods into scale models. The Ala Kart had become the basis for one of AMT’s most popular kits, and AMT Vice President George Toteff could see that his company’s association with George and Barris Kustoms was distinctly to its advantage. Budd Anderson from AMT and George got together with Toteff and came up with a plan to create cars for AMT that would serve as prototypes for model kits. The first of these cars was the AMT Styleline Thunderbird issued in 1961. AMT created the Custom Car Caravan which toured the country showing the AMT Styline Thunderbird. The Custom Car Caravan became the seed for the Ford Custom Car Caravan.

In 1961 George opened Barris Kustom City, a huge facility capable of any sort of auto building and service. His association with the Ford Custom Car Caravan put enormous pressure on the shop. Within two years he had 25 full time employees working for him, including body guys, painters, sanders, metal shapers, mechanics, upholsterers, fiberglass workers, and general handymen. George was constantly on the road with the Custom Car Caravan and AMT. The business was now taking up an enormous slice of George’s day, and he had less time working as a journalist and photographer.

George was willing to share his knowledge to readers on how they too could build or own their own custom cars or hot rods. He published a series of Spotlite Books.

George Barris is still alive and kicking, and is running his Barris Kustom Industries from 10811 Riverside Drive in North Hollywood, California. In an interview with DiecastSpace called “Take a Ride on The Wild Side with George Barris!” in 2009 George tells the listeners that he is done with old shoeboxes and Mercuries, and that his main focus these days are in designing and kustomizing new cars such as the Toyota Prius, Chevrolet Camaro, and the Dodge Challenger.

Sam Barris

Samuel Barris was born on October 6, 1924 in Chicago, Illinois. Sam is the older brother of George Barris. When Sam was 4 years old, his mother died, and an aunt and uncle brought George and Sam to California to raise them as their own.

Sam grew up in Roseville, a suburb of Sacramento. In School Sam and his brother George began to show a great interest in the fine arts, so they were encouraged by their family along these lines. The lower grades in school did not offer too much in the way of music or drama so they began taking special classes after regular hours and on Saturdays. This interest undoubtedly stemmed from their Greek descent, a nationality world famous for its sculpturing, painting, music, and drama. Sam showed a great promise in the way of music, even going so far taking voice lessons. Sam was also very athletic, he could run, jump, and swim nearly as well as boys twice his age.

George and Sam used to hang around local body shops after school. In 1938, when the boys went on to high school, George got his first car together with his brother Sam. George was 13 years old at the time. The car, a 1925 Buick, was a gift from their mother. The Buick became the first Barris Brothers custom car. While George was spending a great deal of his spare time in, and under the car, Sam was busy setting athletic records. A few of the records stood through the years. In 1953 he still held the San Juan High School track record for the 1/4 mile sprint and for the 100 yard dash.

About the same time the boys’ training in the arts reached even greater proportion. Their singing in particular won them acclaim at many of the local theaters. That the brothers should have so little regard for the restaurant profession grieved their parents. The theater, they said, was no place for respectable children. When the singing voices of the boys came to the parents over the radio one evening they decided that the theater might not be such a bad idea after all.

After going back and forth to school, music lessons, and various theaters, the brothers had soon run the last bit of use out of the old Buick, so they decided to sell the car and invest in a more recent car, a 1929 Ford Model A Cabriolet.

In 1942 Sam Barris joined the Army. Late in 1945 Sam was discharged from the Navy and he returned to civilian life. He looked up his long lost brother in Los Angeles in order to find out what he was up to. George and Sam sat down and talked about old times. The old 1925 Buick came up, and the boys had a good laugh remembering the work they had done to the old jalopy. In the middle of the conversation George said “Hey, man, I’ve got an idea. Let’s go into the custom business together!” Sam reminded him that he had no experience as either a body man or as a painter, except from from the work he had done to the old Buick. George began teaching Sam, and after a few weeks he decided that his older brother would pass for a body man. George and Sam pooled their resources and rented a small shop on Imperial Avenue in Los Angeles. The year was 1946, and Barris Kustoms were born.

Sam was the quiet part of the dynamic duo, while George was the more aggressive and motivating force, Sam lived in his home with his wife and two children. Sam’s chief ambitions, except for creating the perfect car, was to become a member of the Los Angeles police force. In 1951 he fulfilled his dream and joined the force. For 15 months he pounded a beat in and around the Lynwood area. Pounding metal all day and walking for half the night proved to be too much of a chore for Sam, so he had to drop the police force job. In Hop Up May 1953 Sam told Spencer Murray that he hoped to be able to return to the force some day, and he had set his sights on the investigation division.

As Barris Kustoms was progressing in the 1950, Sam was unhappy with his life. Family pressure, the wants for an easy-paced life and the need to return to Roseville all boiled down, and Sam moved back to northern California. At the time he left there were a lot of projects going on in the shop, the Aztec was one of these. The Aztec was one of the last full custom projects Sam worked on. According to The Big Book of Barris the Aztec was not completed until long after Sam had left the business. This means that Sam must have left Barris Kustoms around 1956-1957. Sam continued to do some custom work in Sacramento at Barris North. But Sam wanted out of the industry, and the El Capitola was the last full custom he completed in 1960.