George Barris’s shop produced, of course, not only legendary hot rods and “kustoms,” but also some of the most memorable film and movie cars of the 1960s and 1970s. Among the latter was the “Fireball 500,” created for the namesake 1966 film that starred Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, and Fabian in a medium-octane racing picture, intended to move the popular “teenybopper” stars into a more mature market. Barris constructed the “Fireball 500” at the time that his shop was working on the iconic Batmobile, and somewhat unbelievably, Fireball 500 fit in a meta joke ahead of its time: When another character refers to his car in jest as the Batmobile, Avalon’s “Fireball” Owens snaps back, “I had mine first!”

The “Fireball 500” was based upon a Plymouth Barracuda, customized into a dual-cockpit open roadster with foam-cushioned headrests that then fade into the rear deck, with a second set of taillights installed behind the headrests. Barris extended the rear fenders and added tall vertical taillights as well as ornamental decorations to the rear fascia, and fit flush door handles into the door contours. Rectangular Cibie headlights, a popular touch of the master, were mounted within the grille cavity. Wheel wells were radiused to accommodate Rader chrome alloy racing wheels, mounted with beefy Firestone competition tires. As a final touch, the body was finished in a paint scheme that Barris dubbed “Fireheat,” inspired by the colors of a flame from front to rear.

Like so many Barris creations of its time, the “Fireball 500” did not merely live on-screen. It was also used as the basis for what became a highly popular AMT model kit, and appeared in numerous books on Barris and film cars of the period.

The car offered here, the only “Fireball 500” remaining in existence, now shows numerous differences from the film car, including the shape of its windows and a true “dual cockpit” interior with a division between the front seats; whether these were modifications made by Barris to the original film car, or whether Barris built a second vehicle for promotional purposes, as he often did, is not known. In any case, the “Fireball 500” eventually made its way East, and in the 1970s was found on a used car lot in New York State. Eventually it was restored, and after some time in film car enthusiast John Sbrigato’s collection in New Jersey, was acquired for The Boeckmann Collection in 2023.

“Fireball 500” is as memorable a creation as can be imagined—a muscle car taken to its ultimate, in the skilled hands of Barris Kustom.