George Barris, the renowned designer of the first Batmobile designed many incredible cars in his lifetime, and now one of his greatest and most powerful creations, the Snake pit Dragster goes up for sale and the automotive world couldn’t be more excited.
Born in 1925, Barris found his way to his chosen profession quite early and in no time — he was customizing cars, and he started the company Barris Kustom Industries. He customized many classic cars of the era (the 50’s and 60’s) and made quite the name for himself, as the customizations totally revamped the cars to please a younger clientele. From there, all the attention garnered him some work in Hollywood. It was at that time that he re-worked many cars for tinsel town and soon would create one of the most popular and important television cars in history.
These days, superhero films are a dime a dozen, but when the original Batman television series hit the small screen, it was rather big news as the colorful comic book character was finally coming to life. Many were excited, but perhaps the biggest buzz was centered on the Batmobile that Barris designed for the show.
But the Batmobile isn’t all he was known for as he designed many incredible cars. Specifically, the SnakePit V8 Dragster now making headlines once again after all these years.
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The vehicle is definitely an incredible sight and the designs were way ahead of its time. The car was intended to shock and not only aesthetically. The true intent for this car was power, and when we say power, we mean brute strength and speed. Did they deliver? You bet. Barris and his team created a monster worthy of its ominous name, according to Yahoo.
The car took four years to fabricate and cost about a hundred Grand. Not much these days, but back then in the early 1970s, it sure was a pretty penny. They put everything imaginable under that hood, including six Ford 351ci V8 power plants, 48 exhaust pipes and interestingly enough, two automatic Ford C6 gearboxes! Now talk about power.
The result?
A twenty-three-foot long car that reaches a whopping 300 mph!
Sadly, Barris passed on in 2015, but his legacy continues in the great vehicle designs he left behind—and ones that the world still talks about today.
The SnakePit originally sold for a cost of what was put into it in 1975, which was the aforementioned 100 000 and was in a private collection until 2006 where it was once again sold for $30 800, which isn’t much at all. But now, after being sequestered in storage for twelve years, the car is now going for $750 000! Now talk about profit. Still a considerable difference from what the original Batmobile sold for at auction—an incredible 4.6 million dollars—this car too shows his range and what he was able to do mechanically compared to what he was able to do aesthetically.
All in all, these cars are perfect examples of mechanical genius.