The Barris Brothers

The Barris brothers worked at a restaurant owned by their family, and one day were given a 1925 Buick for their help. Although it was not in good shape, they swiftly restored it to running condition, and began to experiment with changing its appearance. This became the first "Barris Brothers custom" car. They sold it at a profit to buy another project vehicle, and their career was born. Before George had even graduated from high school, demand for the boys' work was growing, and they had created a club for owners of custom vehicles, called the Kustoms Car Club. This was the first use of the spelling "kustom," which would become associated with Barris.

In 1951, Sam had customized a new Mercury coupe for himself, and a customer who saw it ordered a similar car. This vehicle, known as the Hirohata Merc for its owner, was shown at the 1952 Motorama auto show and was so popular it overshadowed the best work of Detroit's top designers, on display at the major manufacturer's exhibits. It also established the early 1950s Mercury as possibly the classic base for custom car design, a status it retains today.

Sam decided to leave the business in the '50s, but George had married and he credited his wife Shirley with major assistance in promoting the company, which eventually became Barris Kustom Industries. It began to license its designs to model car manufacturers such as Aurora, AMT and MPC which spread the Barris name into every hobby, department, and discount store in the country and also into the minds of millions of eager model builders.

Continental Kit

A Continental Kit is an upright, external, mounted spare tire behind an automobile's trunk compartment. The term also describes a non-functional bulge that is stamped into the trunk lid or a cosmetic accessory to the rear of the car giving the impression of a spare tire mount.

The legend of how the “Continental kit” was born was from the complaint by Henry Ford II that the trunk of his personal Ford Thunderbird, did not have room for a set of golf clubs without removing the spare tire. The 1956 Thunderbird had its spare tire mounted outside. However, adding weight behind the rear wheels was said to adversely affect steering and handling.

For 1957 the Thunderbird's trunk was stretched 5 inches (127 mm), allowing the spare tire to migrate back inside, although the Continental mounting was still optional. This external spare wheel mount became a customizing aftermarket appearance accessory during the 1950s.

Contemporary examples of Continental kits are sometimes found on customized automobiles. It has become an accessory that typifies "the spirit" of the 1950s. Continental kits were also made popular by the pimpmobile craze of the 1970s.

Dagmars

Dagmars is the slang term for chromed, artillery shell shaped features mounted onto the bumpers of many makes of cars from the fifties and were named after a certain voluptuous film actress.

It was an idea originally conceived by the GM Vice President of Design, Harley Earl and were placed on the front bumper of Cadillacs as more of a styling element than anything else but they also served as bumper guards at the same time.

As the years progressed, the bumper guards became larger and larger and in 1957, they were adorned with black rubber tips known as "pasties".

Cars of the 1960's were minimalist and austere in comparison to the cars from the '50's and and turned away from such styling excess