Like me, Barris remembers these as the glory years. "The '70s and '80s were great for customising. It was the era of the muscle car - your Trans Am from
Smokey and the Bandit, your Pontiac Firebird from
Knight Rider, your Dodge Charger from
Dukes of Hazzard. They were the most fun to work with."
The 80-year-old father of two is in a unique position to judge, having been involved in the car industry since WWII. "After a while you realise that car business works in cycles," he explains. "Back in the 1950s it was all about street racing and hot rods. We were a little crazy, but we wanted to get the most we could out of our cars. The police didn't like us one bit. Here we are, in 2005, and it's all about street racing again - only this time it's 25-year-olds running around in imported Japanese cars equipped with nitrous oxide."
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| ...complete with quad side exhaust pipes |
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George has adapted, though. His services may not have been required for the recent Warner Bros and Disney remakes, but he built most of the cars for the two
Fast and Furious films, as well as Vin Diesel's 1967 Pontiac GTO for the film
xXx. He was also called up to work on last year's
Starsky and Hutch remake starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson.
You can't help wondering, though, if the traditional, iconic movie car is a dying breed. Twenty years ago, all one needed to do in order to gain instant household name status was talk in a camp voice, drive yourself around or perform gravity-defying acts on screen. In an age where the miracle of CGI has made the impossible possible, of mind-blowing fantasies such as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, it's hard to imagine something as simple as a motor car having the same effect. Time will tell.
RELATED LINKS
Don't forget to check out our extensive galleries of
George Barris' Movie Car Stars.
channel4.com/Film's Herbie Fully Loaded Review
Gallery: Herbie Fully Loaded
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great competition.
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