The Chevrolet Corvette is, arguably, the most definitive American sports car. It’s also one of the most mass-produced sports cars ever. With eight generations so far, the Corvette is hardly the most exclusive American performance car out there, which allowed plenty of custom shops and DIY-ers to have a go at reinterpreting the Corvette, guilt-free. We already covered exquisite builds like the one-off, home-built, 1968 Chevrolet Corvette Lightweight S/C and Keith “Ivan” Ball’s, one-off King Rat Corvette, as well as the more practical, Chevrolet C3 Corvette Sportwagon, but now you are looking at something a bit more unusual that turns the C3 Corvette into a weird hybrid between a stylish boulevard cruiser, WW2 airplane, and a flying car from the Jetsons show.
From the creator of the first Batmobile
Responsible for the radical redesign of the C3 Corvette is none other than George Barris. The man behind the name is responsible for many unique builds, including the first Batmobile, which was used in the 1966 Batman series. Another thing he is known for is the idiosyncratic use of the letter “K” in custom shop names like the “Barris Kustom City” and “Kandy Lac”, seller of “Kandy Kolors”. Unfortunately, as reported by the Washington Post, George Barris passed away in 2015, at the age of 89. "The King of Kustomizers" as he was often referred to, built cars for various celebrities including the actor Clint Eastwood, and film producer Frank J. Monteleone, to name a few. Among his other creations that saw screen time were the Koach and the Ford 289-powered Drag-U-La, seen in the Munsters series. To top it all off, one of the seven C3 Corvettes, redesigned by Barris had a brief appearance in the original Knight Rider series. It was a white car with gold accents and a beige soft top.
Futuristic looks and WW2 aircraft design cues
As you can see from the images, the aesthetic modifications were comprehensive and none of the C3 Corvette’s original body panels remain. The front end is no longer sleek and there’s a huge, chrome grille that dwarfs even the one on the Lincoln Continental Mk3. The headlights are your generic, square design with bottom-mounted turn signals that can be seen on plenty of vehicles, made between the mid-1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. These in particular come from a 1978 Ford Granada. The Corvette chassis was also stretched, although we do not know by how much. This gave the car a longer hood and a more phallic appearance (queue the compensation jokes).
George Barris, himself, referred to the project as “a 1930s-style modern sports car.” This explains some design decisions like the split windshield, which is a classic throwback to the 1930s and somewhat reminiscent of WW2 combat aircraft. The same goes for the quartet of exhaust pipes coming out of the front fenders, on both sides, which are joined in a single exhaust pipe that ends at the rear wheel, similar to the 1965 Shelby Cobra 427 S/C. This wasn't the first Corvette-based project "the King of Kustomizers" would show the world. Barris was involved in modifying Corvettes since the 1950s as suggested by a custom, 1958 Chevy C1 Corvette, featured on Corvetteforum.com.
The only exterior feature that gives it away as a C3 Corvette is a kink in the belt line around the doors and the rear quarter panels, characteristic of the luscious forms of the C3 Corvette. Behind the rear seats, the previously clean, sloping tail-end now features integrated cowls. The rear ends with a chrome-finished blade that resembles an airplane rudder. The said piece is flanked by a set of round headlights protruding from the rear quarter panels.
The internet provides images of only three of the seven examples of the Chevrolet Corvete C3 Barrister Custom. The first one is an example built on a 1979 model-year, Corvette, finished in blue with white accents and your typical, chrome finish on the grille, exhaust, taillight housing, wheels, and rear blade. Our sister site, HotCars covered this particular, custom, C3 Corvette back when it was listed for sale on Mecum auctions. The second one had a brief appearance in the original Knight Rider series and was similar to the first one, except for the white and gold, two-tone color scheme. The third car is a 1982 C3 Corvette, finished entirely in black, with a golden (instead of chrome) finish on the aforementioned places. The all-black with golden trim C3 Barrister was listed at Bonhams and sold for $51,520, back in April 2019. According to Hagerty, the 1982 C3 Barrister Custom was built for American pianist, Liberace. At the time of writing this, there is no information regarding the other four examples or whether they have survived.
A more upscale interior
Unlike the exterior, which was completely changed, the original layout of the C3 Corvette interior remains unchanged. However, it has been completely refurbished. As customization was a big aspect, each of the seven C3 Corvettes, modified by “Barris Kustom City” was spec’d differently. As you can probably guess, the interior is much more upscale than the original car, with the main highlights being the generous use of wood trim and leather on all possible contact surfaces. Some examples featured an interior, almost entirely finished in Alcantara.
Performance was an afterthought
None of the sources talks about engine upgrades. To the best of our knowledge, all seven cars had the 5.7-liter Chevrolet 350, OHV, V-8. Earlier models, reportedly, had the 300-horsepower version of the engine while later ones, likely due to the strict emissions, were rated at just 200 horsepower. Power went to the rear through a 700R4, four-speed automatic. All C3 Corvette Barrister Customs retain the stock front and rear independent suspension and four-wheel disc brakes, which at the time, provided more than adequate performance. Nevertheless, at least some of the seven custom C3 Corvettes built by George Barris are out there, and while we doubt one will come up for sale anytime soon, you can be sure that anything built by “the King of Kustoms” is collectible.