---
title: "Hollywood’s Iconic Barris Kustom Car Shop Is In Danger of Closing"
description: "This corner lot, the birthplace of a number of Hollywood-ready builds, is on the market."
date: "2021-08-07"
modified: "2021-08-07"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin V. Shaw"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kristin-shaw"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/41882/hollywoods-iconic-barris-kustom-car-shop-in-danger-of-closing"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "News"
---

# Hollywood’s Iconic Barris Kustom Car Shop Is In Danger of Closing

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2021/08/Barris-Kustom-HERO.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Colorful Hollywood fixture and [“King of Kustoms” George Barris](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/22356/mecum-to-sell-george-barris-hollywood-oddities-collection-at-harrisburg>) passed away in 2015 after decades in the industry, but his 10,000-square-foot warehouse, shop, and showroom live on. Once the genesis for some of Barris’ most famous builds, like the Munsters Koach and the [Batmobile](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/32463/the-newest-batmobile-looks-like-a-mid-engine-muscle-car-with-a-twin-turbo-v-8>), the building (and its valuable corner lot) is for sale for nearly $4 million.

The commercial real estate market is steamrolling forward; unless someone ponies up some real money to preserve the building as a historic site, it’s most likely going to end up as a new set of condos or another retail outlet with only a fraction of the flair.

![message-editor%2F1628358937719-4.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1628358937719-4.jpg>)
**Cameron Bevan, [YouTube](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVLaZX-CS14&t=70s>)**

Memorabilia from the [Barris Kustoms](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/17462/the-750000-george-barris-snakepit-is-a-six-engined-land-speed-record-car-on-acid>) era will be boxed up and moved to the Oxnard-Ventura area. From there, Barris’ daughter Joji Barris-Paster will work toward creating a collection open to the public.

“It *has* to be, and we want it to be, because he would have wanted it that way,” Barris-Paster told the [*L.A. Times* in an interview](<https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-08-05/barris-kustom-industries-for-sale>).

George Barris and his brother Sam skyrocketed to fame in the growing customs market of the 50s with a number of radical builds like the 1951 Hirohata Mercury and a 1929 Model A delivery truck they dubbed Ala Kart. Made even larger than life in the venerable Tom Wolfe's 1963 Esquire story "[The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby](<https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/cars/a39541/kandy-kolored-tangerine-flake-streamline-baby/>)," Barris didn’t shy away from the Hollywood life. Instead, he gravitated toward it more than ever after his brother retired from the business in the early 60s.

![message-editor%2F1628359037038-2.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1628359037038-2.jpg>)
*CarCrazyCentral YouTube screencap*

![message-editor%2F1628359050808-3.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1628359050808-3.jpg>)
*MotorMavens YouTube screencap*

![message-editor%2F1628359486441-5.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1628359486441-5.jpg>)
*CarCrazyCentral YouTube screencap*

While the one in the showroom is a copy, the original jet black Batmobile Barris built was once a Lincoln Futura concept car he bought from Ford for a single dollar. In a whirlwind three weeks, he and his team transformed it into the supercar of the Caped Crusaders, and many years later Barris sold it for more than $4 million (the return on investment is mind-boggling).

Pieces of Barris’ work are everywhere. After scraping together $500 in cash, then-teenager Jim McNiel scooped up the [Hirohata Mercury](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/9320/3-cars-added-to-the-national-historic-vehicle-register>) in 1963 from a used car lot and restored it in the ‘80s with the help of automotive historian and author Pat Ganahl of *Rod & Custom* magazine. [Today, it sits on display at the Petersen Museum](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/39875/petersen-automotive-museum-is-re-opening-with-a-drool-worthy-supercar-exhibit>) in Los Angeles, where anyone can visit it and gawk at its beauty.

I hate to think about this historic site as something else, but it looks like it's going in that direction. I'm still hoping for someone to swoop in and save it [like McNiel did for the Merc](<https://www.hagerty.com/media/video/jim-mcneil-is-the-down-to-earth-savior-of-the-iconic-1951-hirohata-mercury/>).

*Got a tip? Send the writer a note: kristin.shaw@thedrive.com*

## Author
Kristin Shaw is the former Weekend Editor for The Drive and a current freelancer in both the automotive and aviation worlds. She’s a big fan of anything car-related and calls on her technology background on the corporate side to explain engineering and high-tech concepts. Now living in her sixth state (New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, and now Texas), she is thrilled that working from home is now mainstream.

### Author social links  
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