As the story goes, back in the early 1970s, 64 university teams built cars to compete in the Urban Vehicle Design Challenge, with this machine coming out of the labs at the University of California – Los Angeles. The Gremlin was donated to UCLA by American Motors and Ford provided a 351 Cleveland V8. The UCLA team worked with suppliers such as Hooker, Edelbrock, Union Carbide and none other than Kustom Kar King George Barris to get the supplies needed to convert the V8 to run on hydrogen and get the car competition ready. The Impco-provided hydrogen tanks in the back only gave the Gremlin a 68-mile range, but considering the lack of fuel injection and sophisticated electronics, that’s not bad.

via Autoblog — We Obsessively Cover The Auto Industry.

Show Times:
Friday 5pm – 10pm
Saturday 10am – 10pm
Sunday 10am – 5pm

Admission:
Adults $16.00
Seniors $14.00
Youth (6-12) $8.00
Kids (5 & Under) FREE

2 day Adult Pass $28.00
3 day Adult Pass $40.00

Parking:
$5.00 (Pay Upon Exit)
VIP Parking (If you own a pre-1970 specialty vehicle):
Front grass of Tradex at no extra cost. (Thanks to the BC Hot Rod Association)

This annual show is western Canada’s biggest indoor speciality vehicle extravaganza. Classics, custom, vintage, imports, racing, high performance,
street machines, and much more. More than 50 commercial exhibitors, 60 car clubs and 250 specialty vehicles.

Sponsored by longtime supporter, Lucas Oil Products of Canada, this year’s event will be action-packed, with more features, more entertainment and more live motorsport demos than ever before! Showcasing more than 250 of the Pacific Northwest’s finest Hot Rods, Muscle Cars, Classics, Customs and Race Cars, the B.C. Classic & Custom Car Show will also feature numerous unveilings of custom car creations by some of Western Canada’s most talented car crafters. Also on hand will be representatives from 30-plus car clubs and more than 70 commercial displays from some of B.C.’s top automotive aftermarket companies.

Continuing with our theme ‘Cars, Stars & Guitars!’, we are very pleased to announce the encore appearances by both the ‘King of Kustomizers,’ Mr. George Barris, creator of the world famous Batmobile, courtesy of Killer Customs & Performance, AND Mr. Chip Foose, star of the hit TV series ‘Overhaulin’ and quite possibly the most well-known custom car creator on the planet. Chip will have a number of ‘Foose Design’ vehicles on display including the ‘Hemisfear,’ the incredible one-off custom street rod, which will be making its Canadian debut at the B.C. Classic & Custom Car Show (check it out online at www.foosedesign.com). Both George and Chip will be on hand the entire weekend signing autographs, posing for photos and selling their exclusive Barris Kustoms and Foose Design-brand merchandise.

First 1,000 fans through the doors each day will receive a complimentary pass to the drag races courtesy of Mission Raceway Park!

For more information contact the show producer at:
604 539-7223
customcarshow@shaw.ca

Famous kustom builder, born in Chicago in 1925. George is the younger brother of Sam Barris. George was named after his uncle. After their parents died, Sam and George moved to Roseville, California in 1928 to live with relatives. Seven year old George began to build balsa wood models of cars and planes. By the time he was nine George was entering and winning model contests sponsored by local hobby shops.

via George Barris – Kustomrama.

Yvonne Decarlo With Munster Car

Not entirely unrecognizable from her full-tilt glam studio days, Yvonne wore green makeup and a long, black fright wig with a silver streak as the wife of Frankenstein’s monster-esque Herman Munster. In a way, (along with Carolyn Jones as Morticia on “The Addams Family,” which also ran from 1964-66) Yvonne De Carlo’s Lily may have helped to spawn early goth chic, introducing long black hair, flowing empire-waisted gowns, and bat necklaces to the mainstream public.

De Carlo’s Killer Ride
De Carlo relished the role, going so far as to have her black 1966 Jaguar sedan tricked out by Hollywood customizer George Barris with spiderweb hubcaps, gold coffin rails in place of a luggage rack, and coffin-shaped door handles. The pièce de résistance? The traditional Jaguar hood ornament was replaced with a brass wolf’s head with gleaming ruby eyes.
During the later years of her career, Yvonne used her Scream Queen status granted by “The Munsters” to propel her career towards a second wind in B-horror movies to help pay the bills. Quite often, she was cast in the role of a seemingly innocuous housewife. Lurking beneath the surface of her famous, sparkling gray eyes, Yvonne’s characters harbored a startlingly evil nature, capable of killing someone in cold blood.

Read the rest over at the Ghouls on Film blog.

George Barris became the early face of lowriders by combining his creativity with his passion for cars and developing one of the first businesses to customize lowriders for sale. George and his brother, Sam, used their expertise in body work to straighten fenders, bolt on accessories, and use paint schemes that were unheard of during that time. Lowrider creations from the Barris brothers flourished into a very lucrative business. George used his business sense to introduce lowriders to Hollywood which resulted in not only the use of lowriders in many well known movies such as High School Confidential, but it also helped him “become the person” to contact when Hollywood stars wanted to transform their personal vehicles into lowriders.

Read the rest of the story at Lowriders-Design.com
Richard Gazzo is a successful writer offering advice on where to buy cheap rims, custom wheels including custom chrome wheels, spinning rims, wire wheels, automobile rims, alloy wheels and more.

BuggyShow

BuggyShowGaryGeorge

Buggy with new owner, Gary Hillman (r), and creator, George Barris (l)!

BuggyShowGeorge

George Barris worshipping, I mean autographing the Buggy!

Barris at the Buggy

Buggy

Seen in public for the first time since being sold at auction in 1983, the Bugaloo
Buggy is pictured above featured in a car show in Sweden, April 10-12. George
Barris attended and signed the Buggy!

“George loved it and done a piece on TV about the car. I also built some new wings
and got them fully working as well. It really did look like it came alive when they
started flapping!” – Gary Hillman

How fantastic is that!

NewBuggy

NewBuggy

The Bugaloo Buggy has been found – AGAIN!
The last we knew of the whereabouts of the Buggy was in France in dark, underground storage.
Well, I am happy to say the Buggy is back in the light and has a new owner, Gary Hillman!

The Buggy is now in London and in the process of being fully restored. In fact, the Buggy will
be shown for the first time in over 30 years in a car show in Sweden in April. George Barris
is also scheduled to attend – what a reunion! I will provide details and pics of the show when
available. For now, enjoy the newest Buggy photos!!

I’m so happy I could fly!!!

Bugaloo Buggy

the Bugaloos Buggy, featured on “The Bugaloos” television series. Since the concept of the show, starring Martha Raye and the four Bugaloos, showed the group with wings enabling them to fly, it was determined logical for the car to “fly” and to “ride” on water. The buggy was equipped with two large flapping butterfly wings, and twin screws installed under the rear body for high-powered water sporting. Oversized headlights looked like the eyes of a bug, while the taillights were tunneled portholes that illuminate at night. Wide oval Firestone tires were installed on Ansen one-piece sprint wheels. The interior was individualized for each Bugaloo – each star having his/her own telephone system and Muntz stereo tape system with individual earphones. The buggy was painted in a green, yellow and orange butterfly theme with orange and purple pinstripes.
- Cars of the Stars, ©1974

showbuggy

The Bugaloos buggy was another television show car constructed especially at the Barris Kustom shop for Krofft Productions. The producers desired a small, wild-looking, fun buggy to incorporate into their new NBC-TV series. To supply an automotive interest for the series, Barris built the buggy in late 1969 to be used in the 1970-71 TV season. His motivation: the vehicle was to possess all of the fun characteristics that made the Meyers Manx dune buggy famous – yet push the concept beyond the envelope with attention-getting color and design elements. The goal was a completely different and vibrant look. Using a four-passenger body mounted on a Volkswagen floorpan, the buggy actually looked just like a bug – mixing well with the show characters who could fly and walk on water like little flying insects. The design featured a T-shaped rollbar set over the rear wheels with a pair of “wings” that gave the effect of an airborne bug yet allowed plenty of space for television camera maneuvers. The chassis rolled on Ansen Spring alloy wheels, highlighted with orange spoked centers. The fully fendered four-wheeler featured oversized headlights that looked just like bug eyes. On the outside, the paint scheme was a wild combination of green, yellow and orange applied to copy the markings found on a butterfly’s wing. There was much more. The interior was fitted with four custom bucket seats with leaf-like design elements that continued the buggy’s nature theme. Four Capitol Communications telephones and four Muntz stereo tape cartridge players were also installed. A four-tone horn was on board as well, offering a distinct tone for each one of the characters. Fully street legal, The Bugaloos buggy was used extensively in the show. When the series was introduced to the airwaves, Barris contracted with model kit manufacturer MPC to design a plastic model kit based on the program vehicle (which never saw production. See MCP catalog in Collectibles).