5th Annual George Barris Cruisin' Back to the 50's Car Show

A Rod and Custom Street Party in Culver City
Text and Photos by Dick DeLoach; additional photos by Nathan Trujillo

Beautiful downtown Culver City, California, was the place to be Saturday May 10, as 100s of hot rods, customs, classics, muscle cars, trucks, motorcycles and lowriders specialty vehicles turned out for the 5th Annual George Barris Cruisin’ Back to the 50’s Car Show. The event, sponsored by the Culver City Exchange Club to benefit local charities, got underway at 6 a.m. for check-in at the Culver City Armory. Then, at 7 a.m., everyone lined up for a Parade of Cars down Culver City Boulevard to the car show area.

In addition to bringing out legends from the ’50s and famous cars from movies and television like the Munster Coach, Dragula, Cobra’s chopped Merc and Herbie the Luv Bug, Barris also had modern customs from the 2000s on display, including a Dodge Magnum, a Mustang Cobra and a Prius Hybrid with Lambo doors. “I want the kids of today to get excited about customizing their new cars just like we did back in the ’50s,” Barris said.

 In addition to street after street of cool vehicles, numerous food, auto accessory, toy, clothing and lifestyle vendors were also on hand. Major companies such as Meguiar’s, Big Dog Motorcycles, Edelbrock and others even had their 18-wheelers set up. In addition to Barris, other celebrities including Kustomizer “Big Daddy” Vinnie Bergman and actor Chuck Zito from the hit HBO series OZ came out. Live Rock-a-Billy music throughout the day by The Redondos helped create a mood that carried everyone back to their youth. A huge prize raffle was also conducted and everyone got a great goodie bag. For the competition minded entries, there were trophies awarded in 44 classes. Of course all of the local businesses and restaurants in the area, with their Googie* architecture were also open for the event.

“What a wonderful event for Culver City,” Barris proudly remarked. “It was a whole new show this year. This has become a great event for the entire family…it’s one of the best shows we do.”

If you’d like to enter a ride in next year’s show, sign up early. Entries are limited to the first 500 vehicles on a first-come, first-served basis. For information on the 2009 event call (310) 499-4840 or visit www.CulverCityCarShow.com.

*Googie, also known as populuxe or doo-wop, is a subdivision of futurist architecture, influenced by car culture and the Space Age and Atomic Age, originating from Southern California in the late 1940s and continuing approximately into the mid-1960s. The types of buildings that were most frequently designed in a Googie style were motels, coffee houses and bowling alleys.