George Barris, customizer of iconic Hollywood cars for television shows and movies over four decades, died on Thursday in his Los Angeles home. He was 89 years old.
Barris is credited with designing iconic automobiles for television shows including the Munster Koach, the Green Hornet’s car, the jalopy from “The Beverly Hillbillies” and K.I.T.T. from “Knight Rider.”
But he’s arguably best known for creating the Batmobile from the 1960s “Batman” series, a car he adapted from a Futura concept acquired from the Ford Motor Company.
Barris was born in Chicago in 1925, moving to Southern California after the death of his parents several years later. He and his brother began fixing up cars in their teen years, opening the Barris Brothers Custom Shop in Los Angeles in 1945.
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.
