The Aztec and Bank Robber "One Eye" Bobby Wilcoxson!

We got this forward to us from Pat Ganhal and its quite and interesting story about the
fate of the Aztec. It from the www.alnussbaum.com site.

Link to Story THE AZTEC and "ONE EYE" Bobby Wilcoxson!

"One Eye" Bobby Wilcoxson liked fast women, fast race horses and fast cars. With proceeds from one of his bank heists, Wilcoxson bought one of the most famous hot rod's ever customized: The Aztec. A 1955 Chevy, the Aztec was many things but fast one not one of them.

William "Bill" Carr, an insurance company adjuster from Hollywood, California by way of West Virginia, moonlighted as a hot rod customizer in the 1950's. Carr worked nights in a shop owned by George Barris, the legendary hot rodder and famous creator of the original TV Batmobile, the Munster's Coach, and the Black Beauty from the Green Hornet, just to name a few.

Carr bought a brand new 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air and customized it. The Aztec appeared at a hot rod show in Washington D.C. in June, 1959 where Carr told a Washington Post reporter $20,000 had been spent customizing the Chevrolet Bel Air convertible.

Sometime in 1961 or 1962, Carr sold the Aztec to "Bob Wilcox", one of bank robbing "One-Eye" Bobby Wilcoxson's aliases. Carr was paid some cash and given a new Pontiac. A short time after the deal was done, FBI agents showed up at Carr's house asking questions.

Before it was known publicly Wilcoxson was a wanted man, he left the Aztec for safe keeping in Phoenix, Arizona, in my grandparent's garage. My father, a young auto body and fender repairman and an expert car painter from Salinas, California, visited his parents in Phoenix and looked the car over. I was with my father on that that trip - at the rip old age of two!

"Most of the body was molded from lead so it was a heavy car," Jim Hurley said. "It was so heavy that changing one flat tire required a floor jack lifting the frame behind each wheel well."

Wilcoxson was soon named on the 10 most wanted public enemies and the FBI seized the Aztec from my grandparents garage. As the story goes, the G-men tore the heavy car apart looking for stashed loot, weapons and evidence, according to Wilcoxson's half-brother, Jim Hurley.

The Aztec was next auctioned to a man in New Jersey who modified the original customizing, and sold it. The FBI eventually seized the car again when one of its subsequent owners was caught transporting illegal drugs. Thus, the "Curse of The Aztec" was born.

The car sat rotting away in a New Jersey junkyard. Barry Mazza, a hot rod man now living in Florida, acquired the corpse of the Aztec in 1991, barely saving the classic's remains from the jaws of a car crusher.

Today, thanks to Mazza's tender loving care, The Aztec is restored to its original customized glory. The popular car appears periodically at hot rod shows around the country.

Coming Soon! Barris Kustom City By Morgan & Phillips Vintage Style Tees

Were proud to announce our new line of Barris vintage tee shirts. This vintage line will include some of the great Barris's designs from the 50's 60's and 70's straight from the Barris collection.

We teamed up with MORGAN & PHILLIPS who is doing all the recreation of the designs, printing, marketing and all that is entailed in the production of a clothing line! We thanks them and look forward to all that will come of this.. So stay tuned for more!

New Barris Kustom City by M&P will be available late January-Early February at M&P dealers and online at www.barriskustomcity.com &  www.morganandphillips.net

ORIGINAL BARRIS KUSTOM CITY LYNWOOD TEE

ORIGINAL ALA KART WINNER TEE

ORIGINAL BARRIS BATH TUB TEE

The Art Of George Barris Book in the works!

Brett Barris and Doug Nason has been hard at work for the past 2 years on a new book "King Of The Kustoms - The Art Of George Barris" that is published by Last Gasp who also did "The Art of Von Dutch" and "The Art Of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth". We here at Barris Kustom City have been digging through George's archives to bring you rare and never before seen images of the many Cars, Toys, Bikes and every thing else that George did in his life time as the King of Kustomizers. Look out for the book later this year!

PROMOTIONAL RELEASE:
KING OF THE KUSTOMIZERS: THE ART OF GEORGE BARRIS

By Brett Barris and Douglas Nason

Published by Last Gasp (The Art of Von Dutch/ The Art of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth)Release date – Fall 2011

“King of the Kustomizers” is the sobriquet given to George Barris, the most phenomenal kustom car builder ever. His contributions to American car culture include 

creating some of the best known cars of the 20^th Century, like the original TV Batmobile and Munsters Koach, as well as made-to-order vehicles for movies, TV, corporate sponsors and the private use of the rich and famous. A multimedia artist in his own right whose designs have embraced toys, model kits, mini-bikes, motor homes and motorized surfboards, Barris has also enjoyed success as a photographic chronicler of celebrity and pop culture over decades, capturing the car-crazed zeitgeist of his times as it carried him to the crest of fame itself.

The definitive work on a legend, “King of the Kustomizers: The Art of George Barris” features over 200 pages jam-packed with rare, never-before-seen photos, concept drawings and blueprints covering the full spectrum of Barris’ design genius and celebrity lifestyle. Written by an all-star line-up of contributors, the book traces his extraordinary life and trendsetting work within the contextual intersections of art, society and history, while a generous selection of Barris tribute art by a legion of artistic admirers showcases his enduring influence and legacy. Coming soon to a bookstore near you, this is one ride you don’t want to miss!

Lynwood Slide Show With New Fire Pixs

I put together this slide show for the Fire Party and I thought you guys would get a kick out of it!! 

A few weeks ago I was going through some images at the shop when I came across a sheet of film negs.. I noticed one of the shots has a burnt up car in it a closer look and it was the Jag on a trailer... So I took the number on the sheet and went back to the files and looked at the few sheets before and a few after and sure enough there they were.. A bunch of never published images of that horrible day. It felt pretty neat to find these..

The first few minutes are fire shots the rest are just random shots at the lynwood shop...

And feel free to visit barriskustomcity.com we have good stuff for sale

Some Barris Cars Had Bad Luck! Part 4 - The Ala Kart

The Ala Kart was one of the only cars to survive the Lynwood fire and make it's mark in Kustom history. It was sitting next to the paint booth and just happen to be where the fire stopped. While George felt like it was the end of his career the support from his wife Shirley,
the guys in the shop and the good friends from Northern California like, Blackie who would make the drive down and help George finish the car kept him going! the Ala Kart went on to win the Grand National Roadster Show in 1958 and in 1959 and became the first show car model kit from A.M.T.

In 1960, Owner Richard Peters father demanded him to sell the car so he could focus on the family's agri-business. George had by then made an agreement with AMT to make a model of the car, without involving Peters. In order to rectify the deal, Peters ended up selling the car to AMT for promotional purposes. 


AMT bought the Ala Kart in 1961 and the model kit was released late that year. The Ala Kart model kit sold more than 1 million kits the following year.


In a weird twist of faith the Ala Kart in the possession of A.M.T caught fire. In order to make the car more drivable in and out of shows, the Hilborn injectors were swapped for four Stromberg 97 carburetors. In November of 1963, while the Ala-Kart was being driven by AMT's Budd Anderson, an electrical wire shorted out and melted the plastic fuel lines which allowed gasoline from the electric fuel pump to set the engine compartment ablaze doing serious damage to the hood and leaded cowl. The February 1964 issue of Rod & Custom reported the story in an article titled "The End of the Ala-Kart". For the next year, the winner of 2 AMBR awards and over 200 other top trophies was stored in a Detroit garage. After receiving many letters from Ala-Kart fans, AMT sent the Ala-Kart back to Barris' North Hollywood shop for restoration, coinciding with a re-release of the kit, which was chronicled in the September through November 1965 issues of Rod & Custom. At that time Rod & Custom proclaimed it "America’s most popular Hot Rod."


Words: Piero Deluca - Kustomrama.com

If you look to the far right of this picture you can see the cowl of the Ala Kart

What it became

The End Of The Ala Kart

The Rebirth of the Ala Kart

Some Barris Cars Had Bad Luck! Part 3 - George's 1941 Buick

So the story that George told me about this one is and amusing one..
Apparently they were hanging in Culver City and they saw some cute girls so the approached them
and started talking to them. The girls boyfriends didn't like that they were talking to these Kustom
guys and so a fight broke out and in the mist of it all the cops showed up and arrested George for being
a part of the fight. Well one of his buddy's decided to to hop in George's car a get it out of the area so they wouldn't impound it and sure enough while George is in the holding sell he hears "APB ALL UNITS REPORT TO ACCIDENT INVOLVING 1941 BUICK" George knew right away that it was his!! what a bad night!! So it turns out his buddy was trying to get out of the area quickly and lost control and smashed the diver side.

After the dust settled, George decided he could fix it up and update it at the same time. The damaged 1941 Cadillac grille was replaced by a cut down 1946 Cadillac grille, the large smooth hubcaps were replaced with Cadillac Sombreros.

Some Barris Cars Had Bad Luck! Part 2 - Rod and Custom Dream Truck

By far one of my favorite Kustom trucks is the The Rod and Custom Dream Truck. It began with  a 1950 Chevrolet 1/2 ton truck originally owned by Spencer Murray of Glendale, California. Spence bought the car after he went to work for Hop Up Magazine as he needed another set of wheels in addition to the Von Dutch striped 1954 Chevrolet hardtop that he and his wife shared. The car would eventually be known as "The Dream Truck", and was designed by Lynn Wineland following suggestions from more than 2500 Rod & Custom magazine readers. It all started in Rod & Custom September 1953 where The Dream Truck was presented as a rolling laboratory that readers could help develop.
The "Dream Truck" made its rounds to all the great Kustomizers of the time.. Including Curly Davis of Davis Custom Shop in Burbank,  Gene Winfield of Winfield’s Custom Shop in Modesto, Bob Hirohata,  Dean Jeffries, Larry Watson, Bob Metz, And of Course  Barris Kustoms added quad headlights, scoops to the roof and hood, and front and rear grille openings formed by molding together 1957 Stude baker front pans. After Bob Metz had fit the car with new rear fenders and fins, George Barris painted it bright white with scallops. The car was later painted metallic lime gold with a fresh burgundy red scallop design by Larry Watson.

In 1958 The Dream Truck was nominated as one of 28 "Top Customs of the Year" in Motor Life July 1958. October 21, 1958, on the way to the 4th annual international Motor Sports Show in Des Moines, Iowa, the Dream Truck was Wrecked. The truck that was hauling the Dream Truck blew a tire, causing both pickups to land upside down in the roadside ditch. The car was sent back to California, where George displayed the wrecked version on car shows. Repairs of the truck after the accident was estimated at $3500 plus paint, so the remains were sold. Soon after the truck's near demise, the engine and transmission were sold, and separated from the rest of the car. The wheels and tires were stolen, and the 1956 Chevrolet Corvette steering wheel and assorted dash gauges disposed of.

Info and images from www.kustomrama.com

1950 Chevrolet 1/2 ton truck that had a long road of Kustomizing ahead of it..

 

Photo provided by Richard "Fuzzy" Fuerholze

First Version

Second Version

Third Version

Forth and Final Version Before the Accident

Then the truck towing the Dream Truck blew a tire and flipped

After the crash George displayed the wrecked remains of the car

After this the the Car was sold off for 1000.00

 Bruce Glasscook found the Dream truck in a shed near Stockton, California in 1971. The owner refused to sell it, and it took Bruce 8 years of begging before he was able to buy the car in 1979.
Bruce hired Carl Green and Wesley Jones of Bartlesville, Oklahoma to take on the major job
of restoring smashed up truck.  The restoration is top notch and was finished  and hit the show circuit and is now part of the Kurt Mc Cormic Collection.

 

Carl Green and Wesley Jones during the restoration of the Dream Truck.

10:30 AM, October 21, 1979, exactly 21 years after the accident Carl 

Green begins laying pearl coats over the white underbase.

Kurt McCormick taking the Dream Truck for a spin in 2002. Photo by Dave Darby