James Bailey

Each team has a mill and a lathe along with tube bender and exhaust bender ,30 ton steel plate shear ,metal brake ,bead roller, plasma cutter etc. etc. and a full spray booth , upholstery shop , wood working tools; way more than they need. Plus the parts on hand in the warehouse .....straight axle, Must 2 front suspension, air ride, brake kits, alloy driveshafts and on and on .

pcar928fan

I think the 288 GTO was one of Ferrari's best looking cars of the modern era! Great looker! I like the idea of a Turbo 355 as the starting point too! That would be one VERY EXPENSIVE conversion all the way around though!

Mongo

I wouldn't. A 360 or a 430 yes, however the price to do one of those cars is equivalent to turbocharging a Gallardo. The Lamborghini gets HUGE gains from it, not that I'm saying the Ferraris wouldn't of course.

James Bailey

couple more pictures

928 at last

You mean "THE" George Barris???
He was one of my idols "back in the day"
Cool to know he's still around and active!

James Bailey

Yes same George

blown 87

As a person who has never been to California, and knows little about the car culture there, and this may just be me, but when I imagine what the crusty old "Knows it all car guy" looks like in my mind, it sure as hell looks a lot like Jim does in that picture.

dr bob

That "crusty old car guy" in the above picture is George Barris. Jim is sporting the Tall Santa Claus look in the first pictures, with George looking a little elfish in stature comparison anyway. I thought there should have been a Rat Fink t-shirt in the mix but no such luck!

Landseer

When did Barris build this car?

I'm told he built this blue one a long time ago and innovated with the 'Mini-T' chopped radiator.

Following these fabricators is fun.

danglerb

Most of this type of show when they say aftermarket, they mean a big variety of FREE parts.

Black Sea RD

Hi Jim,

Fantastic purchase on the buggy and having the living legend George Barris sign it! I built models of some of his creations and there are probably many car builders/designers who have been influenced by him and his creations.

As far as the 928s not being selected for that show, I say that's a good thing. The 928 is a European car and one that is a very unique looking car. To me it is not an American Hot Rod and and doesn't lend itself well to American Hot Rod customization. IMHO that just cheapens the 928.

The cool thing to do would be to customize the 928 as the 911 owners are doing with the "R Gruppe" 911s, they modify the 911s using custom parts that either did or look like they came from the Porsche factory for their special one off track or special order customer cars.

Another group is the 356 "Outlaws" crowd that customize 356s. They make them look as if they were special creations from Porsche. A lot of their work and techniques have direct links to the American Hot Rod culture but with a European flair.

In fact I have an idea for an early 928 5 speed I would like to create but got too many irons in the fire at the moment to find a good candidate and get it done by myself.

Looks like you are having a blast. Have fun and please keep these kinds of posts coming!

James Bailey

Thanks guys I hoped you would find it interesting. Sponsorship is a big consideration with any show. NAPA being the main one. In some ways it might be best that the 928 was not used since they tend to use the sawzall a lot !!! I actually helped buy a few of the cars used on the show finding two "the same" being the challenge at times. The 1972 Plymouth Satellite ended up not having a twin and was not used.

blown 87

No, I was talking about Jim, George looks like a retired accountant.
How wrong could I be?

dr bob

Jim is the retired investment banker. George is the grizzled car guy.

How wrong were you?

James Bailey

But Dr Bob I was a new car salesman long before I got into investments. But there were many parallels in those "professions".