You may have gleaned if I have not already said it that I am a fan of American cars especially those built in the 60’s. So when my brother in law ( himself a classic American car fanatic) gave me a book named “Barris. Kustoms of the 1960’s” it was only a matter of time before I was inspired to modify and customize some models in his tradition.
He was and some say still is the master of Custom vehicles and even though there are many fantastic custom builders today Barris seemed to be the pioneer in his craft. Some of his creations were ahead of their time and there are still some held by private collectors possibly worth big money if in good condition.
George Barris was commissioned by Ford, Chrysler and other manufacturers along with some film stars to design and custom build vehicles.
The models I have chosen to customize based on Barris’s designs are as similar as I could get them being practical with what you can do with a 1:43 scale model. They are still noticeably Barris and take pride of place in my collection. What is even more pleasing is that most of the models I commenced with were in very poor condition or in some cases were cheap toys that were not all that attractive to start with. In the case of the Hot Rods I have created my own but the initial idea to do some came after reading the book.
In each case I have included a before and after photo of the model.
A 1963 Dinky Buick Riviera before
Transformed into this
Another view
A Sabra 1967 Cadillac El Dorado
I had a few damaged shells of this model which I used for the next two conversions
I used a chameleon paint which shows as teal/purple in different light.
Shows the variation in colour.
A Station Wagon created from a sedan
Rear view
A cheap no name model. I had two which I used for these conversions.
