George Barris'
Monza Fever
Monza Fever. The car the George's built. George Harrington and George Barris. The project was the dream of Harrington, to have a "Porche Killer", the red, white and blue I.M.S.A. Monza that was the inspiration for the future Monza Mirage. He promptly bought the 350 ci V8 Monza and the I.M.S.A. kit but was unable to proceed further. Knowing George Barris' skill in the car fabrication world, the two George's met and the plan was made. Ten months later and the 'Monza Fever' was born. A rainbow of colour was used to paint and accent the Monza. Chromatic Yellow Pearl was accented with the striping combination of tangerine, gold and candy burgundy with Kelly Green, pink and black pinstriping. The story continues below.
Read the entire Hot Rod article by clicking on each page below
The car dissapeared for a time until it popped up on ebay, of all places, and it was not the same car that the George's built. The car was now all one colour, no graphics, no stripes and no pinstriping, just bright yellow. The blacked-out portions were there, the louvers were there, as were the turbine wheels. The car did not sell and remains with the current owner, Dennis T. from British Columbia, Canada. He has had the car since 1999 when he found it in Greenacres,
Washington and he has done some extensive work and restoration on the car. I was able to exchange a few emails with him and he provided me with a lot of info about the car and numerous pictures as well. When he found the car, it was in very poor condition. The interior was "tattered, torn and very dirty", the engines "had been canibalized with a large bug catcher scoop was installed on the carb and a large hole was cut into the hood to accomodate it". The paint on the car was just as poor and "could not be saved or matched and there were issues with the steel under the paint". So Dennis made to the car into what can be seen above. Dennis also stated that the original car had almost everything that could be removed from the car, chrome plated, which was now pitted and/or rusted. it wasn't worth redoing all the chrome so they were cleaned and painted. The suede, shag, valore and velvet interior was straight out of the 70's and was in such a state that it was not worth saving. The car was completely rewired and both the engine and transmission were replaced due to the originals being in such sad shape and not worth rebuilding. The new engine is a "pro built 377 cu.in. stroked 400c.i. aluminium heads, sanders headers, Comp Extreme Series cam the trans is a Tremec TKO 5 spd, Clutch is hydraulic actuated dual friction." Wheel adaptors were removed and a full S-10 conversion done. "The biggest change to the car was the rear end. I removed the bumper, rear facia, lights and supports. I made a mold which dropped the car to the same level as the front, about 6", and installed newer Corvette rear lights."
In closing Dennis recalled meeting George Barris. "I met George Barris at the Spring Show in Spokane Wash. I heard he would be there and wanted him to sign the glove box door of the car. I told him the door was from the Monza he had built he was skeptical until I showed him the personal badges that he puts on cars he has built. I also showed him some pics of what I had done to the rear of the car. He agreed that something needed to be done there and liked the improvement he did sign the door and we had a great chat."
The Barris Monza, Monza Fever, or whatever Dennis is calling it these days, has less than 8,000 miles on it.
H-BODY PAGE
