George Barris, who created television’s original Batmobile, along with custom vehicles for “The Munsters” and “The Beverly Hillbillies,” has died at 89.
George Barris, who created television’s original Batmobile, along with custom vehicles for “The Munsters” and “The Beverly Hillbillies,” has died, according to The Associated Press. He was 89.
{{embed:node:api/v1.0/url/quote/claude-chalifours-entry-in-barriss-guest-book/george-barris-gb-entry}}Barris Kustom Industries spokesman Edward Lozzi says Barris died Thursday, following a lengthy illness.
Barris was still in high school in Northern California when he designed his first fully customized car, a 1936 Ford.
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After Barris formed the hobby club “Kustoms of America,” his work got noticed by Hollywood, with producers commissioning him a car for the movie “High School Confidential” in 1958. In the early ’60s, Barris opened the shop in North Hollywood out of which he worked until his death.
Over the next 70 years, he would design literally hundreds of cars for television shows, movies, celebrities, heads of state and just regular folks.
But he’s arguably known best for creating the Batmobile from the 1960s “Batman” series, a car he adapted from a Futura concept acquired from the Ford Motor Co.
The Batmobile fetched $4.62 million at auction in 2013.
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