My Day with George Barris

[CircusWagonJim]

I have always been car addicted since before I could talk- my dad and grandfather were serious hot rodders (dad still is). When I was 7 years old I got my first hardcover book on cars- it was called "Cars of the Stars" by George Barris and it included so many cars I was already familiar with like the Batmobile and the Munster Coach- plus a TON more I had never seen before. I was already a fan, but that book made me a SUPER FAN!
I was also a magazine junkie and when my dad would take me to swapmeets I would collect up the old magazines from the '50s and '60s before I was born. By the time I graduated high school in 1984 I had 10,000 magazines going back to the beginning in 1948. George Barris had been there all along from the earliest mags to the newest- and that continues TODAY!
A couple years ago I was at a show and met his son Brett. We hit it off and he was impressed at how much I knew about George and his cars. In the mean time I did a few magazine stories on some of his early cars that were restored. Bret contacted me about a big book he was working on George's life and cars and wanted to know if I was interested in doing the half that included the movie and TV cars and everything from 1960 to present. Would I? OF COURSE!!!!!
So we got together this week and began working together. It was surreal to meet my hero in his castle- the same shop he has been turning out famous cars since the early sixties. 20 feet from where we were talking is the ORIGINAL number one Batmobile. George even signed a fresh copy of that same exact book I got when I was 7 years old!!!
Was a great day!
The book should be done early 2012.