According to Barris, some of his first film work was making soft aluminum fenders for a police car that crashes into the rear of a
Mercedes-Benz convertible in
North by Northwest. The idea was to give the collision a comedic quality while also preventing serious damage to the expensive Mercedes. He also built and supplied cars for the 1958 film
High School Confidential and loaned some of his customs for the "future" scenes in the 1960 film adaptation of
H. G. Wells's
The Time Machine. Other Barris-built film cars included a modified
Dodge Charger for
Thunder Alley, a
Plymouth Barracuda for
Fireball 500, the futuristic
Supervan for a film of the same name, a gadget-filled Mercury station wagon for
The Silencers, and a sinister rework of a
Lincoln Continental Mark III for
The Car. In the 1960s, the Barris firm became heavily involved in vehicle design for a television production. At the beginning of the decade, Barris purchased the
Lincoln Futura, an extravagantly designed
concept car. It remained in his collection for several years, until he was unexpectedly asked by
ABC Television to create a signature vehicle for their
Batman television series. As filming would begin in a few weeks, there was not enough time to create a new design from scratch. Instead, Barris used the Futura as the base for the
Batmobile. Barris hired
Bill Cushenbery to modify the car, which was ready in three weeks. The show's popularity added to Barris's fame. Barris owned the Batmobile until he sold it at a 2013 auction. Other television cars built by Barris Kustom Industries include the
Munster Koach and the
DRAG-U-LA for
The Munsters, an Oldsmobile Toronado turned into a roadster used in the first season of
Mannix, a 1921 Oldsmobile touring car turned into a truck for
The Beverly Hillbillies, the fictional "1928 Porter" for the NBC comedy
My Mother the Car, updated
KITTs for later seasons of
Knight Rider, and replicas of 1914 Stutz Bearcats for
Bearcats!. Barris created a customized gold
Rolls-Royce for actress
Zsa Zsa Gabor. The golden Rolls-Royce displayed the detailed work of Barris and included hand-etched window glass by Robb Rich showing butterflies, roses, and hummingbirds. Barris built many novelty vehicles for other celebrities. These include golf carts for
Bob Hope,
Bing Crosby,
Ann-Margret,
Glen Campbell, and
Elton John; and 25 modified
Mini Mokes for a record company contest involving the Beach Boys. Barris also modified cars for Hollywood stars. Some examples include a
Cadillac limousine for
Elvis Presley, custom Pontiac station wagons for
John Wayne, a
Cadillac Eldorado turned into a station wagon for
Dean Martin, In the 1990s,
NASA contacted Barris to request the designs of the Moonscope vehicle, a 1966 design that was a popular plastic car model for collectors. NASA engineers designing Martian rovers and vehicles were interested in the Moonscope's 6-wheel spider suspension and large wedged tires. Edward Lozzi, spokesperson for George Barris, stated, "NASA contacted my office and requested the original designs of the Moonscope from Barris. They revealed they were interested in studying the Barris designs for the Martian vehicles. Barris gave them permission and NASA sent people to meet with him". Between 2002 and 2006, Barris also designed two custom
Cadillac hearses for episodes of the cable television series
Monster Garage. Barris' company often builds replicas of non-Barris designed vehicles from other TV series, including
The Monkees Monkeemobile,
Starsky & Hutch (
Ford Torino),
Power Rangers (Turbo Vehicles) and
Knight Rider KITT. Barris also designed and built the "
Wagon Queen Family Truckster", based on a 1979
Ford Country Squire station wagon, for the 1983 film ''
National Lampoon's Vacation''. ==Later career==