Quick George Barris question for General Lee fans

[Ghoste]

I know he takes full credit for it, but what is Barris actual role as it pertains to the General Lee?  Did he have anything to do with it at all?

[Mike DC]

    
Zilch.  

He didn't have anything to do with that car's creation, filming, or publicizing.  

   


George Barris would take credit for your car and mine if there was something in it for him.

 

[69bronzeT5]

He's a nice guy (I've met him) but he bullshits.

[Ghoste]

That's what I thought.  There is a General Lee around town currently that was autographed by some of the DOH crew and Barris happened to be going throught the shop recently and he naturally scrawled his name very largely across the hood and there are some who are convinced that he did the car.  I knew he had little to do with it but I didn't know he had nothing to do with it.  He has always been a much better promoter than a customizer.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Here's how I remember it:

Back in the early 80's he was hired by some promtional co. to build a General Lee Clone to take to the indoor shows.

I -THINK- he built (By this I mean his shop-I don't think Barris has actually turned a wrench since about 1958) two inaccurate clones of the General Lee.

One of them was on Display in St. Louis in '84 or  '85 at one of those wintertime indoor car shows.

Catherine Bach was there to pose with the car and sign autographs.

She was mobbed by the crowd and security wisked her away right before the riot started.

I saw the car there, At the time me and my buddies all spent a long time pointing out all the things that weren't "right" on it.

George Barris's shop or someone else he hired, built a couple of cheap knock-offs back in the day, so of course he takes credit for "creating" the General Lee.

He's a fraud.

[Mike DC]

  
There were indeed some inaccurate clones on display in the 1980s, including the STL area.  But Barris didn't even do those.  

It was a brief deal called GL Enterprises.  They built several displayable GLs out of '69 R/T Chargers.  By "displayable" I mean the paint finish actually shined, the interior wasn't obviously spray painted, the cars were real R/Ts with stick trannies, etc.  None of the actual TV prop cars (including the designated closeup cars) were ever nice enough to withstand that kind of scrutiny in person.

I wouldn't call the cars "accurate" in any modern sense.  But for the early 1980s it was exceptionally accurate just to get the Corvette orange paint and the custom 3ft wide pushbar.


-----------------------------------------


One of these cars was the real factory RT 4spd that was jumped hard in 2006 by that jackass shop in Michigan.  (It eventually ended up "restored" and for sale in lake Villa, IL.)

It needed a total resto including a pretty large shipment of AMD metal.  But that doesn't even begin to excuse what they did to it.  

     

[Daytona R/T SE]

 
There were indeed some inaccurate clones on display in the 1980s, including the STL area.  But Barris didn't even do those.  


     

Ah haaa!

So, Barris is even MORE of a fraud than I thought! 

[ChargersETC..ETC..]

There was a Barris Kustoms General Lee on display around 1999 or so??? at the Portland  Oregon Expo Center . It was billed as a Real car from the TV Series but.... was just a recreation or replica as far as I know . The car had Barris Kustom emblem and the darkest tinted black glass windows you can imagine. If this car was not used on the tv series the Dukes Of Hazzard I don't know how it can be advertised as such???

Also on display that year was a Batmobile, Pokeman VW BUG, Back to The Future Deloren etc....

I think there was also a Barris Kustom General Lee scale model car released a few years back.

[TUFCAT]

In my opinion, Barris was a awful hack and egomaniac.  I thought most of his cars were ugly, except for TV cars for some reason.  I actually liked the Batmobile, Monkeemobile, and Munster Coach.

[Ghoste]

I wonder what used car lot he would have worked at if his brother hadn't been able to create those three icons?

[SG1022]

I wonder what used car lot he would have worked at if his brother hadn't been able to create those three icons?

[Brock Lee]

The Batmobile was a Futura prototype. He didn't design the body, He lightly customized an existing car. How light? Anyone that looks at the car before he owned says "It looks like the Batmobile".

Dean Jefferies built the Monkeemobile, not Barris.

Barris had nothing to do with the Back to the Future Delorian. In the Knight Rider world he built a special convertable KITT, that was the extent of his involvement in those cars.

So to recap, Baris really had very little to do with most of the cars he claims. He even received a very public warning about the Back to the Future Delorians just 3 or so years ago.

[jb666]

There was a Barris Kustoms General Lee on display around 1999 or so??? at the Portland  Oregon Expo Center . It was billed as a Real car from the TV Series but.... was just a recreation or replica as far as I know . The car had Barris Kustom emblem and the darkest tinted black glass windows you can imagine. If this car was not used on the tv series the Dukes Of Hazzard I don't know how it can be advertised as such???

Also on display that year was a Batmobile, Pokeman VW BUG, Back to The Future Deloren etc....

I think there was also a Barris Kustom General Lee scale model car released a few years back.

Odd seeing talk of another BK General Lee here...



Funny, until this thread I had never heard of this guy..

[Mike DC]

  
Barris probably wouldn't hesitate to start taking credit for Mr. Angry if that car was more well known outside the car-guy world.  

He's really that blatant.

[Brock Lee]

He would have taken credit or Noah's Ark by now if he thought he could get away with it.

[Ghoste]

Did he do Dragula?

[Brock Lee]

The Dragula and Munster Coach were designed by Tom Daniels and built at Barris' shop.

[Ghoste]

So basically his whole career is the result of some light changes to a Ford concept car and his brothers skills in the shop?  He did do the Thunder Charger for that Frankie and Annette movie right?

[ChargersETC..ETC..]

So basically his whole career is the result of some light changes to a Ford concept car and his brothers skills in the shop?  He did do the Thunder Charger for that Frankie and Annette movie right?

Do you mean Thunder Alley ?

[Ghoste]

Yep.  The car in it was a 66 Charger that has had photos published of it at Barris' shop before and after customizing.  I know he takes credit for it and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt until someone can show otherwise.  One reason being that the customizing was somewhat like the Batmobile train of thought except that instead of lightly modifying an existing concept car, he took a stock car and loosely copied a concept car.  In this case, the front and rear styling of the Thunder Charger mimic the Charger II show car IMO and then he threw on a Targa roof and wild side graphics.