We love movie cars at MotorBiscuit. What makes them so interesting is that they often have behind-the-scenes stories that are just as, if not more compelling than the parts they played on screen. In a new video, Craig Lieberman explains how iconic customizer George Barris almost bought the Fast and Furious Toyota Supra.

George Barris wanted to buy the Fast and Furious Toyota Supra

The year is 2001, and Craig Liberman has just served as the technical adviser on The Fast and the Furious. He gets his bright orange Toyota Supra back from the studio just as it appeared in the film, and he is ecstatic. Craig fell in love with cars he watched in film and TV, growing up like the iconic Batmobile from the 1966 TV show. Now Lieberman had a movie car of his own. Though, he soon realized that owning a movie car isn’t quite what he expected.

Eventually, he decided to put the car on the market, and one day he gets a call from George Barris. For those who don’t know, George Barris is the creator of the very same Batmobile Craig grew up watching on TV.

Barris made an offer for the Fast and Furious Toyota Supra, but it didn’t quite go the way Craig had hoped. Barris started with an offer that was “to put it bluntly, insulting,” said Craig. From there, the interaction only got worse, and Barris even threatened litigation. Talk about things escalating quickly.

George Barris is a legendary custom car builder

Some of our younger readers may not know the name George Barris, but chances are, just about everyone reading this has seen his work. Barris is a prolific custom car builder who found a niche creating custom vehicles for Hollywood productions. One of Barris’ first projects is arguably his most famous and recognizable.

As previously mentioned, Barris created the Batmobile featured in the 1966 Batman television show starring Adam West. Barris created the Batmobile after buying a one-off concept car from Lincoln called the “Futura.” According to Lieberman, Barris bought the concept car for just $1 before transforming it into the iconic Batmobile that fans know and love.

After creating the 1966 Batmobile, Barris created other notable TV cars such as the “Munster Koach” and “Drag-u-la” from the TV show The Munsters. Barris continued to make outrageous cars for film and television into the 90s and early 2000s. Eventually, Barris wanted to buy movie cars as part of his public appearances at car shows and other events. That is probably why he wanted to buy the Fast and Furious Toyota Supra in the first place.

George managed to get his hands on cars from The Fast and the Furious

George never did get his hands on Craig’s Fast and Furious Toyota Supra. However, Barris did manage to acquire other cars that were used in the film. At one point, George owned the “Hero 1” Green Mitsubishi Eclipse driven by Paul Walker. Though, eventually, he sold the car.

After selling the Hero 1 Eclipse, Barris bought one of the stunt versions of the Eclipse and attempted to restore it in his own “unique” way. It was polarizing, to say the least. Craig goes into much more detail in his YouTube video.

Though, Barris was always known for doing things his own way.