When Beau told us it was time to auction off a big chunk of his car collection, I’ll admit that I was a little peeved. Why wasn’t I consulted? Isn’t a major part of my job to manage certain holdings like the car collection and Beau’s orbital assets, including the only operating steakhouse in geosynchronous orbit? It turns out that, no, not only is that not even close to part of my job, I seem to have made up Beau’s orbiting steakhouse, which I had been calling the International Steak Station. I have zero authority over any aspect of Beau’s car collection. That’s probably for the best. But what I do have are lots of opinions and feelings about many cars in Beau’s collection, including the one I want to talk about today: the Barris T Buggy.
Beau has so many incredible cars in his collection, but I tend to gravitate to the weirder ones — the ones with perhaps less mainstream cachet, but metric gobs of charm. I’m talking about the microcars, the late-1800s Bollées, that dilapidated DKW Schnellaster at the back of the warehouse that I made into the mascot for our podcast – that sort of thing. And for this episode of Should I Sell It, remembering that the antecedent of the “I” there is Beau, not me, we’re discussing one of these stranger, charming cars: a Volkswagen-based, fiberglass-bodied dune buggy designed by none other than Kustom Kar legend George Barris.
Even if you don’t know who George Barris is, you know who George Barris is. He’s one of the most famous designers and builders of custom cars, and unless you’ve spent the entirety of your life encased in carbonite, I know you’ve at least seen one of his vehicles, the famous 1960s-era Batmobile. Most of Barris’ cars were like that – one-off customs (or, kustoms, as he liked to stylize it) that were made for movies or television shows or model kit companies or something like that.
The Barris T Buggy is a little different, in the sense that it may be the closest Barris came to making a production car, because 12 of these things were built. I know a dozen isn’t much of a production run, but it’s a lot more than one — about 12 times more, if my math serves, and that’s something.
So what is the T Buggy, exactly? Underneath everything, it’s a Volkswagen Beetle. Well, sort of. It’s a Volkswagen Beetle chassis, shortened, with a fiberglass body plopped on. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it is: This is the fundamental Dune Buggy formula as defined by the legendary Bruce Meyers, designer of the first true VW-based dune buggy, the Meyers Manx.
The Manx was introduced in 1965, and soon spawned a massive host of imitators, creating a whole new industry of VW-based kit cars of many types, from overt Manx knock-0ffs to replica vintage cars to custom sports cars and vans and everything in between.
In 1970, when Barris designed the T Buggy, the dune buggy craze was at its height; there were all kinds of buggies out there, and the time was ripe for a Barris-flavored Kustom take on the genre: enter the T Buggy.
You could get a T Buggy in two main forms: model and real car. As I mentioned, there were only 12 actual cars made, but there were plenty of model kits sold, because the T Buggy was such a fun-looking machine — a strange and unholy hybrid of dune buggy aesthetics re-written with a cartoonified vocabulary of Ford Model T details.
There were three main variants of the T Buggy made: a truck (based on the C-cab Ford trucks, popular in the kustom scene), a Landau version, and an open buggy version. Based on surviving cars, I think there were more truck variants than the others; Beau’s car is an open-topped one.
Beau’s T Buggy is interesting in a number of ways, not the least of which was that this very car was featured on the cover of the September 1970 issue of Hot Rod:
Beau’s car is also interesting because instead of the expected Beetle engine, it has a VW Type 3 engine, the flatter-profile, slightly more powerful unit used in the VW Squarebacks and Fastbacks:
Those engines weren’t particularly common in dune buggies, mostly because Beetle-style Type 1 engines were ubiquitous back in the day. It’s an interesting choice, though, and likely puts out 5-10 more horsepower than a similarly set up Type 1 engine!
That picture up there shows some other good details like that taillight that looks like an old kerosene taillight, like you’d see on an early Ford Model T. All of the details on the car are Model T-inspired. There’s the little stumpy radiator grille up front (despite there being no radiator on the car), there’s the headlights that are made to look like old acetylene headlamps, too:
It’s a deeply strange combination of aesthetics and styles, metalflake mid-late ’60s dune buggy and spindly, old-school Model T, but Barris makes it work, with humor and charm.
There are other strange details that aren’t strictly Model T-inspired, but also somehow work, like these hexagon-themed windows in the canvas roof. 
The horn also has a very Dr.Seussian look to it, which works with the overall feel of the car.
Also interesting is how the car’s status as a magazine cover model was commemorated; a simple Dymo-style adhesive label was used, but someone made a metal frame for the label:
That’s a lot of effort for one of those basic labels, but I love it. Also, George Barris’ signature is next to it on the dash!
I know Beau was close with George Barris, so this car does hold some sentimental value for Beau, who showed Barris the car, as it was the first Barris car of any kind Beau was able to acquire. So it has a personal story for Beau, as well as some actual Hot Rod provenance, and is just a fun, whimsical thing, no matter how you look at it.
Are those enough reasons to keep it? Or should it go to a new home? Tell us what you think!
[Ed Note: This is part of The Autopian’s new series Should I Sell It, in which Galpin’s CEO Beau Boeckmann decides which of his 100 amazing Holy Grail cars to sell at his RM Sotheby’s auction in November. Expect to learn more about these amazing machines weekly here at The Autopian and on YouTube. -DT].
Torch
If this is going to be a recurring series of articles doesn’t it make sense to discuss the value of the car?
What have other Barris cars sold for recently?
How much is Beau into it?
What is the auction estimate?
I get the personal tie, but Beau has other Barris cars, and this one is not special, not unique, and sort of meh, other than the fact that it was his first one.
I’m on team sell. Though my brother probably would like it. Don’t expect he could afford it.
I’m on the sell side. It just doesn’t seem as special as the last car we voted on and the family history connection doesn’t seem as strong either.
So I think this is one that could be sold
Sell it to Torch to fund the International Steak Station
It’s cool and all, but it feels like an also-ran next to some of the other Barris cars. But it could be the crown jewel in a lesser collection. I think it can safely be sold.
That Meyers Manx catching air, with a seatbelt-less driver… what happens when it lands?
Is it different/safer on sand dunes?
Sorry guys, this car is trying too hard, feels like a cowboy on a T rex with arms that are also sharks. “Wait, the T rex’s arms or the cowboy’s arms?”, you may ask. Doesn’t matter, the tackiness is so hight that creates drag on the international steak station and makes its orbit decay.
I’m not a fan of George Barris, that’s what I’m saying.
Being part Greek (maybe) and with so little representation in the automotive world I feel like I should like Barris’s stuff, I just can’t bring myself to do so. Maybe it was that I was a humorless kid or that I always wanted to build my own cars as a manufacturer and oddball customs seemed too far removed from that, but most of that custom scene was too cartoony for me. I’d never have owned it, so that’s an obvious answer to sell, but this is Beau, not me, and with the personal connection, I’d probably let sentiment win the day and keep it unless there are other examples of his work that I liked better and I really needed to clear space. But then, do you keep an eclectic collection of smaller size or reduce it down by making it a more specialized one? If that specialized one is customs, that’s another vote to keep. If it’s going to become a specialized collection that isn’t customs, then they all need to go and we’re back to square one. I think I waffled enough, so I guess I’ll go with sell.
I never could really get on board with Barris’ work. They were always too over-the-top for me, even when I was eight years old.
I totally agree…it was never my taste.
Mrs. Barris: George, honey… where’s the toaster?
George Barris: On the counter. I turned it into a cartoon sewing machine.
Mrs. Barris: Oh George. That’s so you. Give me a few minutes while I sew us up some toast.
George Barris: Ooh. I love toast.
What’s that Volvo XC90 in the background doing in the toy garage? It looks completely stock, is Jason doing the next Trade-In Tuesday?
For that matter the GAS logo’d late model F150, the sort of thing I’d think would’ve been put to work as a shop truck once its’ time as a show rig was done.
If he likes it and has sentimental value it’s one thing. I understand why there are only 12 of them I don’t see the appeal but I don’t think it’s why he bought it.
So many machinists buy the tools off the wives of guys they knew that died. Most don’t really need the tools or use them any or often. It’s just the idea that it’s this particular person’s tools. And he could do all these things because he was skilled. This sort of seems like that. Just with someone running a custom shop being a designer and fabricator. Something from a mentor and role model.
Sell. But keep the Lagonda.
Extraordinarily tacky. Sell.
The collections stature will improve with this deletion.
I think this is a pretty easy sell call as it has no particular connection to his family or history.
As much as it would be cool for him to keep all these cars he’s not the Sultan of Brunei and my recommendations for keep/sell would be to keep some with particular family/sentimental value and perhaps a few particular favorites/rarities he want to drive or keep as investments and sell the rest.
Cool quirky car with an interesting history.
Another difficult question you’d definitely need the right buyer with a suitable home.
The back window of the top reminded me of My Mother the Car’s 1928 Porter.
https://mystarcollectorcar.com/july-2022-28-porter-what-ever-happened-to-my-mother-the-car/
Spoilers! We don’t know if the Porter’s in Beau’s collection…
I’d keep it if for no other reason than with so few real kits out there (though I bet there’s many, many clones,) and with its provenance, it’ll go to someone who won’t drive it. If you can find the right owner who’ll take it out and put miles on it, maybe it’s a different story.
I was way more interested in EJ Potter’s “Chevy bike” and I was not disappointed!
E.J. Potter’s “Whizzer” Drag Bike – Museum of American Speed
I think this is kind of an odd series. We don’t know how much Beau cherishes it, we don’t know about his desire for cash, we don’t know how much he wants to free up storage space, etc.
There’s a part of me that’s jealous of car collectors, as I don’t have the money or space to become one. There’s also a part of me that’s angry at car collectors, because most such collections just sit, and maybe the owner walks through the warehouse now and again and thinks “Huh, that’s a neat car.”
The decision to keep or sell isn’t up to me. Beau should do whatever he wants.
My money’s still on it being a soft launch for Galpin doing collector-car auctions.
You fine readers love to give unsolicited advice re: our cars, so this is a chance to give solicited advice!
I know Barris was legendary, but to use the automotive parlance of the late 1990s, he was really one of the earliest “riceboys” tarting up cars to make them look much more exciting than they were. In the 2000s we’d make fun of those guys, but now I’m seeing a resurgence in interest in circa year 2000 tuner culture (Mighty Car Mods sure loves “Sex Spec” cars) so I guess the passage of time changes perceptions.
He definitely had skills at sheet metal, but even 40 years ago I thought his stuff was kinda gaudy looking. But I also didnt grow up in the 60s.
The stuff that him and his brother Sam did from the 50’s were great, but once Sam left, George did alot of gaudy stuff.
It was all down hill after the Hirohata Merc
He had a reputation for taking others’ credit, and his was one of the few SoCal Kustom shops of the time willing to work to Hollywood’s hurry-up-and-wait schedule at a time when it was popular for any even slightly high-concept or eccentric characters to have a toyetic “_____Mobile”.
I’m going through something vaguely similar, as I’ve been at my house for 30 years and have accumulated a lot of stuff. Stuff that my son won’t want or need when he moves to Europe with his French wife in a few years. I’ll recycle what I can, give away some, sell some, and throw a whole lot of stuff away.
Yes, this whole series–while fun and interesting–can be handily addressed by my father’s adage: “When in doubt, throw it out.”
“Manx knock-0ffs…“
I’m trying to decipher if Torch is sending us coded messages asking for help…
Careful, Flock cameras might think it’s stolen as a result of being unable to distinguish letters and numbers properly. Soon we’ll being seeing a bodycam of Torch’s arrest on Only Fanbelts.
I…would pay for this.
“Sir, is that grandfather clock stolen?”
4nd
3th
2st
1rd
0ff
YOU CRACKED IT
Lines like this are why I always click on Torch articles.
Jason is a genius.