SEMA 2011: The George Barris Bat Ray Corvette

Known to auto enthusiasts worldwide for his outlandish custom car creations for such TV shows as The Munsters, Beverly Hillbillies, Knightrider and most notably, the Batmobile for Batman and Robin, George Barris has recently focused his talents on a another ?bat themed? custom design and a 2005 Corvette was his canvas.

The inspiration for the Bat Ray came to George after seeing a Corvette outfitted with Vertical Doors? new ZLR door kit. With doors open, the Corvette reminded George of the sting ray’s cousin, the bat ray (of the fish variety) and so he penned the design while Vertical Doors performed the actual customizations.

Going with the bat ray theme, the C6 Corvette was given an elongated rear spolier and a unique rear window treatment. The Corvette was given the widebody update with Grand Sport fenders front and back while the stock hood was replaced with a raised hood from RK Sport. Under that hood is an Edelbrock E-Force supercharger and a Bassani custom exhaust. Forgiato provided the 19 and 20 inch deep dish 5-spoke wheels in white which are fitted with Toyo tires. Barris Kustoms did the ground effects and rear spoiler.

The design of the car came about quite quickly for Vertical Doors who told us that the Corvette was completely torn down in the shop just 15 days priorsto the start of SEMA. In fact when we viewed the Corvette on opening day at SEMA, we learned that the Corvette was still awaiting a couple of items to be installed that evening after the show.

Vertical Doors will be offering the opportunity to enthusiasts to buy their own Barris Bat Ray Corvette and will offer the car in three colors: White, Black and Red. Cost for the conversion will run anywhere from $85,000 to $105,000. More details of the purchase program will be coming out soon.

You can see George Barris on SPEED’s Car Warriors where he is the top judge on the show.