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Funny how some people impact your life in profound ways, and you don't even realize it till later in life. King of the car customizers George Barris is one such person, one of these great people I call the "Memory Men" -- he helped shape my formative mental memory banks, yet only recently did I learn how deep his impact was! Turns out this artistic automotive genius gave birth to the classic custom cars I/we/you know and love, from the Munsters coach (yes, I admit, I loved that wacky show, and my former rock band played the Munsters theme, don't get me started).... to the red rebel rocket General Lee on Dukes of Hazzard .... to the black beauty Batmobile from Batman (camp classic of the century -- the show, that is, not Barris's creation, which is way more cool than camp, and still is!)... and another classic also born in 1966, the Monkee-mobile. Skip ahead two decades and there is George again, making moviegoers like moi marvel at his tricked-out time travel DeLorean in Back to the Future! One cannot imagine any of these classics of entertainment without the Barris touch in them; he truly is "da Vinci of VaVoom" (or, if you prefer, "da Vinci of da Vehicle").

And so it is with a mixture of excitement and sadness that I announce the L.A. auction on May 14 of some of George's innovative internal-combustion inventions. Excited for George that he is getting a lot of well-deserved mega-attention (witness the cool tribute on USA TODAY's website, at http://www.usatoday.com/life/graphics/georgebarris/flash.htm ).... but sad that his gems are not all going to some Barris Museum of Wonder Wheels where legions of fans future and present can check out his creations forevermore. But then again, as long as those crazy cool cars remain etched in my memory, our collective memory, I guess they will last forever... safe and sound, and legend bound.