George Barris

In 1951, Sam had customized a new Mercury coupe for himself, and a customer who saw it ordered a similar car. some of his first film work consisted of making soft aluminum fenders for a Ford police car that crashes into the rear of a Mercedes Benz convertible driven by Cary Grant's character in North by Northwest. He was unexpectedly asked by ABC Television to create a signature vehicle for their Batman television series. Time was very short as filming would begin in a few weeks, but Barris pulled it off and constructed the now iconic car - once which he brought and personally drove during the Bullrun 2005 rally. Because of the jet power and other high-tech gadgets, Barris exclaimed thatbecause of the Batmobile, the 2005 Bullrun would be the "most exciting race the Bullrun has ever seen!" Between 2002 and 2006, Barris also designed two custom Cadillac hearses for episodes of the cable television series Monster Garage. Barris also builds replicas of non-Barris designed vehicles from other TV series, including The Monkees (Monkeemobile), Starsky and Hutch (Ford Torino), Power Rangers (Rad-Bug, Turbo Vehicles, and SPD Cars), and Knight Rider (KITT).