George Barris (auto customizer)

George Barris (1925 to 2015), born George Salapatas in Chicago, was an American designer and builder of Hollywood custom cars. After moving to Los Angeles at eighteen he and his brother Sam built custom cars for private buyers, including the Hirohata Merc of 1951, which overshadowed Detroit designers when shown at the 1952 General Motors Motorama. His firm, Barris Kustom Industries, popularised the Kustom spelling, licensed its designs to model car makers, and built vehicles for film and television, among them the Munster Koach, DRAG-U-LA and, from the Lincoln Futura concept car, the 1966 Batmobile. Barris also built custom cars for celebrities and replicas of cars from other series. A Universal Studios order in 2007 told him to stop implying any involvement with the Back to the Future films.