Growing up I used to watch lots of TV with my grandfather. One of the shows that we loved to watch together was the original 1966 Batman series with Adam West and Burt Ward. When I heard that George Barris, The King of Kustomizers and creator of the original bat vehicles, was going to be at Cobra Joe’s Dream Car Classic, I was rather excited. We got to Hollywood Boulevard early to catch all the cars coming in, but turns out 9am wasn’t early enough! The Batmobile, Batcycle & Batcoptor were already there. Luckily, there wasn’t a lot of foot traffic, so we were able to get some unobstructed shots.
It was a real treat to see a piece of television history accompanied by the man that created it so many years later. As Barris arrived, the original Batman theme song was playing. When he emerged from the black 67 Nova, the first thing everyone noticed was his huge smile and the giant bat symbol on his shirt.
We stood and watched as he waved to the crowd and said his hellos. All I could think was “wow this man is the reason why we modify cars. He truly is a legend!” After a few minutes of meet and greet, Barris was ushered over to a tent so he could sign autographs, so we went back to work.
1974 Bricklin SV-1. Ever heard of it? Well, neither have I. This car was in impeccable condition. I had the pleasure of speaking with the owner (also named Steve) for a little bit. He told me he found the car in this condition, like it had been kept hidden away in a vault or in a barn, as is the case with all cars. Right?
He started it up for me, and it sounded like it just rolled off the assembly line. Steve went on to tell me that this car was pretty much the precursor to the DeLorean DMC-12, which was first prototyped in 1976 – the last year the Bricklin SV-1 was made. Hmmmmm…coincidence?