Fins

Barris Kustom Techniques of the '50s:
Flames, Scallops, Paneling and Striping

Barris Kustom Techniques of the '50s:
Grilles, Scoops, Fins and Frenching

Recently I reported on the old Top Chop book we revived from the “out of print” file and put back into production. That went so well that we decided to do it again. This time however, we’ve purchased the rights to four books written by master customizer George Barris.

Most motorheads know the name George Barris, but what most of them don’t know is that George did a tremendous amount of photography during the early days of customizing. From how-to segments that show his brother Sam leading a fender, to finished car features, George turned out story after story, all of which ran in the magazines of the period.

Apparently George was smart enough to keep the original prints and negatives, because about eleven or twelve years ago a small publishing company gathered up all that archival film and created four George Barris customizing books. The books eventually went out of print, but, as I said, we’ve been able to buy the rights and plan to re-issue the books. Not only are these books filled with how-to articles from the ‘50s and ‘60s, they also contain interesting side-bars and interviews with icons like Dean Jeffries and Von Dutch.