Barris Superteen 1968 Firebird

The 1968 Superteen Firebird was created by well known customizer George Barris as a giveaway car for a popular 1968 ABC-TV talent show. Barris's
creation was popular enough at the time that a plastic model kit manufacturer named MPC created a 1/25 scale model kit of the Superteen Firebird (photo
below). Barris's creation was quite unique, but upon closer inspection, his styling cues appear very similar to those sketches submitted to Pontiac back in the
Fall of 1967 by designers Gene Winfield and Harry Bradley. If you recall, Gene Winfield was actually under contract as a consultant to the plastic model kit
company AMT, so he knew what the 1969 Firebirds would look 2 years in advance (see previous page on the "The 1969 Trans Am Design" for more info).
From the 1968 Superteen Firebird's large "tunnel" style hood scoops, positioned at the leading edge of the hood, to the side scoop air extractors, to the
floating rear deck lid spoiler, one wonders if Barris was influenced, or perhaps had actually seen (dare we say stole) the 1967 Winfield/Bradley sketches. If
Barris did not have any previous knowledge of those sketches, one wonders how two different customizers could come up with nearly the identical designs
for the hood, side scoops, and rear wing.