DailyTurismo

George Barris

October 1 2018

Dick Dean’s: 1970 Shala-Vette

DailyTurismo Uncategorized Custom, Dick Dean, George Barris, Kit Car, Shala-Vette, Volkswagen, VW 3

Dick Dean was born Richard Dean Sawitskas, but ditched his unpronounceable and cringeworthy last name when an announcer at the 1959 Autorama car show gave it an impromptu shortening. A customizer by trade, Dick went on to run George Barris’ famous Kustom City, where he did much of the dirty work on classics like the […]

November 6 2015

RIP George Barris: 1960 Mercury Comet Batmobile

DailyTurismo Uncategorized Batmobile, Comet, George Barris, Mercury, survivor 8

Legendary car customizer and Batmobile builder George Barris passed on to the great junkyard in the sky yesterday, at the age of 89. He was born in Chicago in 1925, but spent his adult years in the SoCal area working on many movie cars including the Munster Coach, 1967 Batmobile, KITT, etc. His imprint on […]