Barris Kustoms' 1949 Ford

Von Dutch striping the woody

Mom's Dream Car! In the official program for the 1955 Motorama, Sam Barris' 1952 Ford convertible was listed as "Mom's Dream Car." It featured a full padded safety interior, 5 impact safety belts, a baby bottle warmer on the dash, and a diaper bag dispenser behind the front seat. Developed in 1975, this photo shows Sam's wife with the car in front of the Pan Pacific Auditorium. 15 years old David Target took the photo during his first trip to California. The Von Dutch painted woody wagon parts hauler can also be spotted in the photo. Photo from The Brad Masterson Photo Collection.

1949 Ford Woody Wagon owned by Barris Kustoms. George Barris bought the car in order to haul parts for his shop. After everyone in the shop banged it around for several years, Barris had the shop repaint it, and add some flames. Barris doesn't remember who actually did the flames, but he says they were done in-house. In November 1954, It was demonstrated in The Barris Korner how to lay Flame Paint Jobs, the wagon was used as a demonstrate car.

After driving it around for a couple months, Barris had Von Dutch come in to do the pinstripe outline on the flames, some other "simple" striping, and letter the doors and tailgate with the shop name, address, and phone number. But, as with all things Von Dutch, nothing was ever a "simple job". Here's George Barris' account of Von Dutch striping the wagon: " Von Dutch came in one afternoon to do a little striping on our flamed Ford woody wagon. It was supposed to be a simple small striping job. He opened up a bottle of wine, and started striping away, while we worked on other projects. The next thing we knew, it was Midnight and he wasn't finished, so I left him in the shop, and went home. "When I came in the next morning, he was still striping. He had written a story into the pinstriping about the shop, and in doing so had turned a simple job into an art project that worked its way around the wagon. It was pretty wild, but typical of Dutch".

Magazine Features and Appearances

Rod & Custom November 1954
Rod & Custom March 1955