Filed under: Aftermarket, Hybrids/Alternative
King of the Kustomizers pimps a Prius!
You've gotta love those wacky folks at The New York Times! They gave George Barris (pictured), the guy who gave us the original TV-show Batmobile, 10 grand and a white Prius and had him - what else? - Kustomize it! More pictures of the Tangerine Gold result are here (registration required). I'm waiting for a west coast paper to take up the challenge and sign up Chip Foose or Boyd Coddington.
In the process the Times found a few backyard hybrid hot-rodders who dared to tinker with the Prius'
electronics and drivetrain. I'm sure this is only the beginning…
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
iQuack 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Great idea: design spinner wheels to generate electric power for recharging the batteries.
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Sean Flanagan 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Boyd Coddington would just chop the roof off, tub out the trunk, throw on some off-the-shelf Boyd Coddington wheels, replace all the metal panels with poorly-made fiberglass panels, send it out to be re-upholstered, get it back and complain, yell at a bunch of people, hang the doors wrong, call it a Boydster(R), get pissed off at Chip Foose, and fire someone.
Chip Foose would start sketching, design a different car, disassemble the entire Prius to see what would be salvageable, build a new chassis, handcraft all the body panels, paint and polish each part individually, order special glass to fit, lay out the paintwork by hand with masking tape, finish 3 years later, call it "The Green Lantern", and win the Riddler.
And they'd show the whole process on a Discovery network two months later.
Then Orange County Choppers would be contracted by Toyota to build a bike based on either the Prius Boydster(R) or The Green Lantern. The Teutels would travel to California to take a tour of the Toyota design studio, then they'd stop by Foose Design and Boyd Coddington's shop. They'd say everything was "pretty cool to see" and Junior would say "This trip has really inspired me to come up with something pretty unique." He and Vinnie would work for hours painstakingly laying out metal wire webs, and then Vinnie would go to use the flowjet to make fins and handlebar risers. Someone would mess up the welding on the gas tank and not notice, they'd call in Nubs to look at the bike and he'd stand there saying "OK" over and over, knowing there was no real reason for him to drive all the way the hell over to stare at a bike that's going to be painted one color. Once they got the paint back, Junior would stare at the gas tank, rubbing his fingers over it, then yell "Hey Pop, come take a look at this!" They stare at the flaw in the tank, then call Nubs and tell him he has to respray it and they need him to drop it off at 6 am the next day because they have a show to go to in Tokyo and the bike has to be out 7 weeks ahead of time so their drivers can get a head start. Then they'd fly out to Tokyo, stand around at the reveal looking tough, and some mid-level executive would present the bike and congratulate them on their work.
A couple weeks later, the two cars would be up for auction at Barrett-Jackson, both with an estimated expected bid of over $400k. The Boyster(R) will sell for $470k and the Green Lantern for $2.3 million. Then the bike would be on eBay struggling to meet its reserve.
I need to watch less TV.
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Kamil 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
OMG, LMAO @ #2... good s____!!!
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Non-Bizarro Adam 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Sean, you're my hero.
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ernie 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Foose is a master, but does anyone else think coddington is a rip-off scumbag who doesn't treat his employees well? Ever time i watch his stupid show, I wonder where he got to where he is ... then I read that foose used to work for him, and thats probably where he got his design ideas from. Now he just has someone do an artists rendering, and he leaves it up to his employees to figure it out ...
P.S. that prius is still slower than my SRT-4.
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Insolent1 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
So it IS possible to make the Prius uglier than it already is.
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salguod 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
I can't believe I wasted my time registering to see 4 pictures no bigger that the one you put up. One was before, one was Barris with a spray gun, one a detail of Barris pinstriping and then the one you showed. None really tells me what the CAR actually looks like! Isn't the point of a custom car to look at it?
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Tracy Dawson 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Good things they still showed us some photos guys, the reason they leave it to that size is to keep its audiences drooling and keep the excitement until what he is doing is done. I actually posted same pictures of it, you can find it here: http://spaces.msn.com/members/autopartscorner/
Great idea it is..great pics too!
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Tracy Dawson 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Good things they still showed us some photos guys, the reason they leave it to that size is to keep its audiences drooling and keep the excitement until what he is doing is done. I actually posted same pictures of it, you can find it here: http://spaces.msn.com/members/autopartscorner/
Great idea it is..great pics too!
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EyePaint 10:49PM (12/18/2005)
Barris is a fraud. He takes credit for other people's builds and is just selling his name. He's so old he can barely walk, let alone build a car. His partner Bergman is not much better. And yeah, I agree that Coddington is a jerk. No amount of skill justifies his attitude. Let's see more on Troy, Foose, Eddie Paul, and anybody but Barris!
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