As the reach of our automotive website continues to expand, the MotorMavens Crew and I have been fortunate enough to attract tons of new and exciting opportunities – they seem to just fall into our laps! You can only imagine how shocked I was when I received an email from the good people at SPEED Channel, saying “we’d love to chat with you.”
As the biggest cable network with automotive programming, SPEED is obviously huge – I’ve been watching various forms of racing on SPEED Channel for years. I had no idea that they were even aware of MotorMavens! I was definitely excited to speak to them on the phone.
Although SPEED Channel is headquartered in Charlotte NC, they are constantly filming shows in Southern California. During our phone call, I discovered that they were actually filming their newest TV program, Car Warriors, only 10 minutes away from where I live! They suggested that we come out and visit, so I invited our lovely Motormavenette Samantha Totem to come out and spend the day hanging out on set with me while they were filming – cool! When the cameras stopped rolling, the very first person we were introduced to was none other than George Barris.
Even if you’re too young to recognize the name ‘George Barris,’ you’ve undoubtedly seen the cars he has created. As the automotive legend behind Barris Kustom Industries in North Hollywood, George Barris has created some of the most iconic cars in movie and television history – the original Batmobile from the Batman TV show with Adam West and Burt Ward; the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard; KITT from Knight Rider; the original A-Team van; the DeLorean time machine from Back To The Future; the Munsters hot rod; and many many more.
As we got ourselves acquainted in between filming, Mr Barris invited us to visit him at his shop, which is like a museum of famous movie cars, toys, and Hollywood memorabilia. How could we pass that up?! I decided to try my hand at shooting a short interview with him, which was expertly edited by Travis Hodges because I don’t even know how to use Final Cut yet! (haha! It’s true. I’m working on it.)
George Barris has accomplished so much in the automotive and motion pictures industries – it’s no wonder he has soooo many incredible stories! We just couldn’t fit them all onto this video (it’s already much longer than the ones we normally post), so you’ll have to tune in to Car Warriors on SPEED every Wednesday night at 9pm to get little snippets of the awesome stories he tells!
:: Antonio Alvendia
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George Barris!! Mad respect dude! Great video!
this is really sweet, i love how much passion he still has in the automotive world.
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome ass video. I love this shit. More stuff like this and less FT-86 talk. I know it’s hard for you Antonio haha
The interview is fantastic!! It doesn’t matter if it’s long, as long as it’s quality! We should put up the extra footage in the forum!
The man, they myth, the legend!
Wow, incredible. Fantastic video, excelent interview! You guys/gals are big time now!
sick!!!!! great interview and video!! George Barris’s story about his shop being burnt down with only 1 car surviving, then going on winning first place in the show is awesome. So much passion and dedication!
@Tram: Yeah man! If I live to be as old as George Barris is, I know I’ll still be as passionate about my cars. No question! I’ll need to find some awesome old school sunglasses like his, if I wanna be THAT cool.
Recognize those glasses? Those are CAZAL glasses. Same brand that MC Hammer and a bunch of other rappers used in the late 1980s. I think LL Cool J and them used to rock em too. Pretty rare. When I complimented him on his glasses, Mr. Barris said, “I got them because they have tinted glass on the sides, and my wife wouldn’t know when I was sleeping in church.” LOLLLL
@Om1kron: HAHA! Well, I’m not sure how I feel about the FT86 to be honest… but YES! I totally hear you! We’ll try to do some more cool stuff like this in the future! =)
“I’m George Barris – and I’m a MOTOR – MAVEN!” That about sums it up. If I ever wanted to give an example of what The Passion Principle is all about – this is the man. This is what keeps us all doing what we do and we’ll all be really fortunate if we get to love it for as long as Mr. Barris has.
@JMac: We actually DO have some extra footage! The only bad part is… the audio is kinda scratchy cause I didn’t set the mic recording level correctly. #FAIL. I wonder if people wanna see it even if the audio is kinda crappy… in the story, he WAS talking about how he used to street race back in the day. haha
Great interview of an amazing player in the car game. GREAT STUFF!
Such an awesome video!
George Barris is the man!!!! Sick!
Dude, Mr. George Barris said “I’m a MotorMaven”. You can’t get any better than that!
Super Rad video guys!
RAAAD! George Barris is LEGEND! This is TOO COOL GUYS! Seriously – I still can’t believe Antonio and Travis got to film this… DAMN! I mean He built the 1st BATMOBILE! And Vans are COOl because of him. Too frikkin cool man, & speed channel as well? That is the ONLY channel I watched when I had cable. And he did the General Lee – a “TRUE CHARGER”. Daisy Dukes had me too, I wonder if he knew catwoman? To this dae she is my ideal lady 😉 MEOWRRR.
NO but, this is too sweet, I wish I would have met him, travis you beast, great job as always. Keep it up guys!
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Good job! This is a dope feature!
Great video! I enjoyed that interview piece! I’m looking forward to seeing more. Hollywood cars have always been a great interest of mine.
Dope! George Barris, the man of all vehicles. I wonder how many kids there are out there that’s like George Barris? In fact, Antonio, you remember Sarah? The one I bought to IDRC? Her little 15 year old brother is working on some old ass Chevy from ground-up!
Wait a minute, so Antonio.. This guy you met.. He made a time machine… Out of a DeLorean?! Hahaha dude I missed that DeLorean in the first part till’ I realized something unique in the beginning that I ignored on “ACCIDENT”.
Antonio… Your rising success has brought a tear to my eye. Mad respect for your dedication and hard work. You and your boys are gonna make it big because of that. Congrats. The video was fantastically done. When you see Jimmy Shine next time punch him in the neck for me. lol
Man can not wait to see whats up and coming at Barris Kustom shop next… Didn’t he design the 2010 Camaro also?
Nice one Antonio – video was tres cool
This awesome! I love hearing stories from legendary characters like this guy.
Supersupercool. Totally down.
In other news, I watched and episode of this show and they were doing something with old school mustangs or something, and one of the teams put a hardcore lift kit on the thing.
It was…really bad.
But Barris, on the other hand, is super cool! Neat interview!
What I wouldn’t give to be able to sit down and really talk to a guy like George Barris! But I guess this interview is the next best thing!
PPPLLLEEAASSEEE do more stuff like this! Awesome video man!
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Every time I watch this I get reminded of why I love cars and what we do. He definitely brings to light how the automotive lifestyle is isn’t just something you see but experience and consume. Very, I mean VERY inspiring interview guys. Just couldn’t think of anything to post before.
I grew up around these very cars. My father “LARRY GONZALEZ” helped build many if not most of them. drove them across the country for barris and then some. What i cant figure out is wheres the appreciation? i find nowhere a mention of my father. what kind of crap is that! if it wasnt for my father where would you be?