Customer Reviews

Barris Cars of the Stars

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The concept of the book is simple. A photo or two of the stars and their Barris modified cars along with notes from Barris about the construction of the car and comments about its owner. There is also a short professional biography of the star in case you don't know who some are (and a few do go back a ways, so they may not be familiar to younger readers).

It's fun to see a time when stars weren't above being seen in flashy customized cars. Sometimes it could be subtle...a repaint and Continental kit for Robert Vaughn's early 60s Lincoln convertible, other times not; like the rebodied Corvette designed by Barris and sold to stars like Bo Derek and James Cann.

For me, the best part is seeing private cars that weren't seen much in their day, like Dean Martin's El Dorado turned into a sport station wagon or John Wayne's modified Pontiac station wagons that gave him more headroom.

What you won't get in this book are looks at cars made strictly for film and TV work....The TV Batmobile, The Munster Coach & Drag-U-La, The Beverly Hillbillies car, The Mannix roadster, The Bearcats! Stutz Bearcat replica, The Car's sinister Lincoln, or the weird advertising and show cars Barris produced in the 60s and 70s.

Much of the material in this book was originally published in the 1974
book "Cars of the Stars" by Barris and Jack Scagnetti. Since that book is long out of print, there is no harm in using many of the photos again for a new generation of Barris and cars fans to enjoy. (The older book has more photos in a larger format including some of the film & TV cars and some in a larger format, so serious Barris buffs may still want to search for one).

So if you'd like to see an overview of Barris' custom work done for celebrity clients, this book is for you.