George Barris IN THIS FEATURE The humble hybrid Barris kustom cars From green to mean A hybrid hotrod? Barris, best known for creating TV's original Batmobile, has been in the custom business for more than 60 years. At his workshop in North Hollywood, Barris has built countless star cars including such classics as The Munsters' Koach, The Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee, Starsky and Hutch's Gran Torino and Knight Rider's KITT. Barris Kustom cars - you have to spell it with a K, says George - are part of Hollywood history and, thanks to his latest project, he's a part of Hollywood's future as well. Barris explains: 'The New York Times contacted me and asked me what I thought of the Prius and I thought that style-wise it could be a nice project for Kustomizing.' George's most famous creation: the Batmobile Toyota USA provided the car, with the caveat that Barris wouldn't chop the Prius up in his trademark style or mess with the complex electronics. 'They told us to go ahead and do some character work on the car without affecting the warranty.' On a budget of US$10,000 and in just nine days, Barris and his team transformed the unassuming Prius into a major head-turner. Full Story
holy crap! he turned the Prius into a this? ->[Broken External Image]:http://objects.electricitypond.com/SES/images/thumbs/CRW_9354.jpg fugly!
Ya, I was not to impressed either but you have to keep in mined this is the guy that made kit and the bat mobile. He is not exactly a relevant car customizer.
Ok, Toyota gave this dude a Prius to totally ruin, but won't give me one for running this site??? Posted on HybridScoop, by the way. Thanks for showing me the article, Hawk: http://www.hybridscoop.com/2006/03/06/holl...-his-own-prius/
I don't care how famous George Barris is, I've never thought much of his "talent." And his bastardization of the Prius is the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Michael
No worries, happy to contribute. This site was a huge help in my decision to purchase my 06 Prius. Just got it last week.
Congratulations on the nice new addition Hawk. Thanks for the post. I'll be watching out for you around Seattle. Boy that Barris Prius bastard is butt ugly
Here's the image [Broken External Image]:http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2006/barris-prius/03-large/barris-prius.jpg ... dude, this thing is like ... eew.
Looks more like Hawkman than Ultraman...still if my dog looked like that Prius, I'd shave his butt and teach him to walk backwards. :lol:
I give the guy credit, actually. It can't be easy to dream up ways of making these things uglier, but he pulled it off!
The "Great Northern" locomotive color scheme (see for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Locomot...ay_%28US%29.JPG ) has some charm, but otherwise: Eww!
I'm no real fan of Barris (his wife yelled at me for taking a picture of the Batmobile instead of paying $20 for an "autographed" picture). But on the Back to the Future forum there was (now no longer) a picture of his attempt to covert a DeLorean into Doc's Time Machine. The result was very bad, but somehow it had information suggesting that he had done the conversion for the BTTF movies, rather than Universal. He may not have told the people who were displaying it (very ugly and not accurate), but shows that as "king of kustomizers", maybe it's time for a regime change.
It does kinda grow on ya, "Not" It will end up in a museum or a private collection somewere.. I think he could have made it look like a 70' superbird or something.. It is one FUGLY lookin car though.
